Bringing profit to neighbors The church and economic Theories from zero-sum To muTual benefiT Jordan J. Ballor
per capita, essentially no economic growth happened from antiquity to 1500 AD. At the same time, great inequality existed in the material wealth and experiences of daily life between the elites—kings, queens, emperors, and later popes and bishops—and nearly everyone else. Massive inequality and widespread poverty were unalterable and universal realities of the ancient world. Moreover, those who enjoyed a position at the top with greater wealth and privileges often had obvious advantages: they were in some way bigger or faster or stronger (or all three)—more often than not simply by virtue of birth. They expanded power and influence through conquest of other peoples and extraction from their own. The mighty ruled, taking what they wanted, and their underlings scraped out as much of a living as they could with the leftovers. Some technological advances—chariots, for example, or iron swords—temporarily gave one ruler or group an advantage over another. But the basic theme remained: the wealthy rulers enjoyed the vast majority of whatever material and social benefits existed. The worldview that makes sense of these realities is today called the theory of “limited good”: only so many goods exist to go around, so wealth claimed by the rich must by definition have been taken from the poor. In a world defined by extraction and conquest, the only people with power clearly achieved it through force and at someone else’s expense.
bearing no fruit
The world asks, “What does a man own?”; Christ asks, “How does he use it?”—Andrew Murray (1828–1917), Dutch Reformed missionary in South Africa Economic growth doesn’t have much of a history, at least for the first few thousand years. By the measures we use today, such as gross domestic product
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In the Middle Ages, this view of limited economic good corresponded to the regimented hierarchy of feudal society: the aristocracy and nobility were born to rule, while peasants and serfs were bound to be ruled. The medieval European world was complex and highly stratified. Authorities and jurisdictions competed: emperor and pope, prince and cardinal, lord and bishop. The Middle Ages shared with the ancient worldview the basic perspective of a finite number of material goods. The feudal economy revolved around lands dedicated to farming and agriculture.
Christian History
Limbourg brothers, CaLendar miniature from the Très riches heures du duc de Berry. 1416 . ms. 65 , f. 7 v. Photo: rené-gabrieL ojéda—rmn grand PaLaise / art resourCe, nY
out standing in their field The medieval economy centered around agriculture and land ownership, as illustrated in this 13th-c. book of hours.
