Essay Sample about The Biblical and Patristic Readings

The biblical and patristic readings come together and talk about somewhat similar ideas on the views of economic life. Most of the ideas that are talked about may be similar but some have different views on what the causes are and the way the issues may be solved. The most important idea I’ve gathered from the biblical and patristic views on economic life is to share one's possessions with others, especially those who are less fortunate. The Economic and Catholic definitions are similar in the idea of what makes one considered poor, the only difference is that the Economic definition primarily focuses on those who are lacking financial resources, and the Catholic Definition focuses on those who are materially impoverished. So the primary difference is Economics focuses on the financially poor, and Catholics focus on the poor in regards to possessions.

The Christian Scriptures say that poverty isn’t always the result of an individual’s laziness, or the cause of natural disasters or enemy actions (such as a war breaking out and destroying one's land, crops, and cattle). It is also attributed to the social conditions, often the result of greed and manipulation from those who are more powerful. Such greed and manipulation in the present day would be if the company you work at is becoming extremely successful and producing much higher profits, but instead of your employer increasing your paycheck or putting the money back into upgrading the work environment they pocket the money themselves to make their life more luxurious. This social cause is the exact opposite of what God intends for his people. That a nation under God is a nation that is charged with the responsibility to protect and provide for those who are of weaker members. That being said God wants people to volunteer for programs that help those who are poor, give away unneeded clothing, food, appliances, and anything that can be seen as having an excess amount. We will talk more about these intentions later. 

The biggest issue that contributes to poverty is the possessions of property and resources in the human race. Every author from the biblical and patristic text explains that we should only possess what is necessary to survive. Clement of Alexandria discusses the problem in the relationship between wealth, salvation, and the social order. Those who are concerned for their own deliverance from harm or loss will only use what they possess to find self-sufficiency. It denotes a standard of living that should enable one to lead a life constant with human dignity. This human dignity is the recognition that humans possess a special value natural to their humanity and are worthy of respect simply because they are human beings, thus every human being is to be treated with respect. Chrysostom would agree with Clement, and will also that dispersion of property is wasteful to the economy and is a cause of greater poverty. He denotes an example of being wasteful with a family of 10 children and 2 parents. That is, if all 10 children move away, separately, that they would need 10 houses, 10 tables, and everything else in this proportion, but if they were to stay together they would only need 1 of everything and this coming together would lead to a greater economy. If Chrysostom was alive today and saw the culture of the United States he would most definitely call our economy wasteful, because almost every household has children leaving at a certain age and going to find their own place of property. There are some cultures in the world today that do live by this idea that a family will stay together on the same property.

The other human possession of resources is also a big matter in how the biblical and patristic texts view economic life. They all come to the same conclusion that God gave every human the same noble birth, so all of humanity should possess all things in common. God created the goods necessary for humans to survive, not to possess these created goods. He didn’t intend for people to use them for a form of soft living, but they distribute to the needy. Like I said before, God would want us to share our unneeded clothing, food, shelter, and all other unnecessary resources with those who are in poverty. For the possessions of resources, not to share your own with others is the biggest form of robbery. According to Chrysostom, the rich have the property of the poor. This meaning, those with superfluous resources that could be wasted in the hands of the wealthy, could be shared with the betterment of those who are materially impoverished so they can survive. This struggle could be solved nowadays, when you go to the store only buy what you know you will use and not let go to waste, and if by chance you know something will go to waste bring it to the food shelter or find someone who requires it to survive. These authors are not saying that those who are wealthy are evil, it is those who don’t know how to properly use it that is evil. 

The biblical and patristic views on economic life mention multiple methods to resolve the issues of poverty. These methods include supporting one's burdens, and the sabbatical and jubilee year. The first method I will briefly talk about was discussed by Augustine Of Hippo and is about supporting others of their burdens. When Augustine talks about supporting the burdens of others he focuses on the rich supporting the poor and the poor supporting the rich, not the poor supporting the poor and rich supporting the rich. Augustine reads out that the burden for the poor is that they are lacking the common materials to survive, and the burdens of the rich are that they have excess materials that allow them to live luxuriously. Augustine believes that the rich should support the poor persons' burden of not having enough, and in the same way to have the poor support the riches burdens of having too much. This means that the rich would be sharing their excess materials to allow the poor to have common goods, and with the sharing of goods, the poor would relinquish the rich from having too much. This process would equal out the burdens of these individuals, and the outcome would be just as God had intended life to be. As every member of the human species has all the same essence and the same destiny.  The next method is presented by the Hebrew Scriptures as a time to relinquish one of poverty called the Sabbatical and Jubilee Year. The Sabbatical Year slightly resembles a sabbatical leave one may have from work. The differences are that a sabbatical leave is a time for an individual to pursue their interests, travel, or anything they may want to do while taking a break from work. The Sabbatical Year is a religious time that occurs once every seven years and its primary purpose is to forgive one of their debts and release those who are slaves to another. This sabbatical is a time meant so no one is in constant debt and provides the poor with the opportunity to live off the bounty of the land. Now, the Jubilee Year implements all that the Sabbatical year stands for but is occurs once every 49 years. The biggest difference is that the Jubilee Year is a time to return all alienated land to its rightful owners. This was intended to reverse the slide into poverty, not concerning itself with the preventing behaviors that are not morally right or fair treatment of an individual.