"Do Not Claim Anything as Your Own" On The Economic Practices of the Early Church
by ROMAN A. MONTERO
“C
ommunism is a nice idea in theory, but it can never work in practice.” So goes a refrain surely familiar to anyone who grew up this side of the Berlin Wall. Given the horrors committed by Marxist-Leninist regimes during the 20th century, one can understand such caution. However, in researching and writing my 2017 book, All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians, I became increasingly convinced that the first generations of Christians practiced what can properly be described as communism, and that passages to this effect in Acts 2 and 4 (e.g., “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common…”) are not idealizations or hopeful anticipations. Rather, they describe real practices, practices which were normative for the first Christian communities, and which differentiated the Christians from the surrounding culture. This arrangement included in its reach people of different social classes and ethnicities. I also became more and more convinced that these practices were not only to be found in Jerusalem for a short time but were practiced throughout the Roman Empire well into the second century. Of course, the term “communism” often sets off alarms, especially for those who grew up during the Cold War. But allow me to clarify what I mean. In All Things In Common, I use a general — non-political — definition, which is more or less the classical definition: any social arrangement or relationship governed by the rule, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This is distinct from quid pro
St. Martin divides his cloak with a beggar (fifteenth century) Martin Schongauer Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
jacob's well
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