All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early ChristiansAll Things in Common gets behind the "communism of the apostles" passages in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37, using the anthropological categories of "social relationship" espoused by David Graeber and other anthropologists. Looking at sources ranging from the Qumran scrolls to the North African apologist Tertullian to the Roman satirist Lucian, All Things in Common reconstructs the economic practices of the early Christians and argues that what is described in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 is a long-term, widespread set of practices that were taken seriously by the early Christians, and that differentiated them significantly from the wider world. This book takes into account Judean and Hellenistic parallels to the early Christian community of goods, as well as the socioeconomic context from which it came, and traces its origins back to the very teachings of Jesus and his declaration of the Jubilee. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in Christian history, and especially the socioeconomic aspects of early Christianity, as well as anyone interested in Christian ethics and New Testament studies. It would also be of interest to anyone interested in possible alternatives to the ideology of capitalism. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Economic Relationships | 15 |
The Essenes a Jewish messianic Community | 27 |
4 | 38 |
5 | 48 |
6 | 70 |
The Theological origins of Christian sharing | 83 |
A Universal Community | 104 |
A Brief survey of some other studies | 110 |
Conclusion | 118 |
| 125 | |
Other editions - View all
All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians Roman A. Montero Limited preview - 2017 |
All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians Roman A. Montero No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
ability according Acts apostles century Christian community comes communist concept considered culture debt described distribution document early Christian community early Christians economic practices economic relationships equal Essenes ethic example exchange expected fact fellowship followers formal communism framework freedom friends friendship gift given giving god’s going graeber greek groups hand held hellenistic holding human idea ideal important included individuals informal communism James Jerusalem Jesus Jesus’s Jewish Josephus Jubilee Jubilee and sabbatical kind kingdom land laws least letter lives look luke means moral mutual nature neighbor obligation one’s passages person political poor principle question receive relations rich Roman rules seems seen sense sharing simply social society someone sources talk teachings term things in common tradition universal violence wanted wealth widows