Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T23:39:00.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

26 - Wealth, Almsgiving, and Poverty

from Part VI - Contested Bodies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2023

Bruce W. Longenecker
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
David E. Wilhite
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
Get access

Summary

The study of wealth, poverty, and almsgiving in early Christianity has been burgeoning for the last two decades, and it has made significant strides in our knowledge of Christian identity formation in interaction with the Roman imperial society in the first three centuries of the Principate.1 This chapter examines the indispensable role and comprehensive impact of wealth and poverty on the journey of salvation through the lens of patristic authors, seeking to treat the topic’s salient issues and provide brief surveys of the status quaestionis for the noted topic when relevant.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Select Bibliography

Brent, Allen. Cyprian and Roman Carthage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).Google Scholar
Brown, Peter. Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures; Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2002).Google Scholar
Brown, Peter. Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350–550 ad (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).Google Scholar
Clarke, G. W. The Letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage, vol. 1 (ACW 43; New York: Newman, 1984).Google Scholar
Clarke, G. W.Some observations on the persecution of Decius,” Antichthon 3 (1969), 6873.Google Scholar
Countryman, L. William. The Rich Christians in the Church of the Early Empire: Contradiction and Accommodations (New York: Edwin Mellen, 1980).Google Scholar
Downs, David J. Alms: Charity, Reward, and Atonement in Early Christianity (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016).Google Scholar
Finn, Richard. Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire: Christian Promotion and Practices 313–450 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).Google Scholar
Finn, Richard. “Portraying the poor: Descriptions of poverty in Christian texts from the late Roman empire.” Pages 130–44 in Poverty in the Roman World. Edited by Atkins, Margaret and Osborne, Robin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).Google Scholar
Frend, W. C. H. The Rise of Christianity (London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1986).Google Scholar
González, Justo L. Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance, and Use of Money (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1990).Google Scholar
Groh, Dennis E.Tertullian’s polemic against social co-optation,” Church History 40 (1971), 714.Google Scholar
Hengel, Martin. Property and Riches in the Early Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974).Google Scholar
Holman, Susan R. The Hungry Are Dying: Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maier, Harry O.Clement of Alexandria and the care of the self,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62.3 (1994), 719–45.Google Scholar
Michaels, J. Ramsey. “Almsgiving and the kingdom within: Tertullian on Luke 17:21,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1988), 479–83.Google Scholar
Osiek, Carolyn. Rich and Poor in the Shepherd of Hermas: An Exegetical Social Investigation (CBQMS 15; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1983).Google Scholar
Osiek, Carolyn. The Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999).Google Scholar
Raditsa, L.The appearance of women and contact: Tertullian’s De habitu feminarum,” Athenaeum 63 (1985), 297326.Google Scholar
Rhee, Helen. Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012).Google Scholar
Rhee, Helen. “Philanthropy and human flourishing in patristic theology,” Religions 9.11 (2018), 121.Google Scholar
Rhee, Helen. “Wealth and poverty in Acts of Thomas.” Pages 111–18 in Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, vol. 5, Poverty and Riches. Edited by Dunn, Geoffrey D., Luckensmeyer, David, and Cross, Lawrence (Strathfield, NSW: St. Pauls, 2009).Google Scholar
Rhee, Helen (ed.) Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity (Ad Fontes: Early Christian Sources; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017).Google Scholar
Sage, Michael M. Cyprian (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1975).Google Scholar
Worterstorff, Nicholas. “Has the cloak become a cage? Charity, justice, and economic activity.” Pages 145–68 in Rethinking Materialism: Perspectives on the Spiritual Dimension of Economic Behavior. Edited by Wuthnow, Robert (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×