collapseofindustrialcivilization | What is often lost in our current infatuation with Enlightenment
thinking is the degree to which the Pre-Enlightenment Church managed
commerce, financing, and general market forces. In fact, the Church
maintained an iron hand on issues such as usury, which was condemned and
not distinguished from the “normal” practice of charging interest until
the late 19th century.
In the age of Church hegemony, which lasted for centuries, it was
considered immoral, and grossly so, to profit in any way through trade,
charging interest, or commerce which resulted in a profit without
actually performing any work. specifically, any rent seeking activity
was forbidden.
Things that are considered commonplace today, such as raising prices
for items needed in a disaster, (supply and demand) were thoroughly
rejected by the Church and considered inconceivable during that time.
Thomas Aquinas brought forth these concepts in the theory of Just Price in his Summa Theologica circa
1274 AD. Although this was clearly a Pre-Capitalist economy, much
learning was put towards strict management of commerce dating back to
the money changers being expelled from the temple in Biblical times- a
theme oft repeated through the Dark Ages and well beyond.
For centuries, civilizations knew full well the dangers of markets
and unconstrained commerce, and there is more than a passing connection
between this realization and theology, present in virtually all
religions throughout time.
This reality has been brought to the fore with the recent, and controversial, exhortation Evengelii Gaudium from
the Roman Catholic Pope. Pundits have been zeroing in on the more
provocative aspects after his release of the document last month. I’ve
read all 244 pages of it and I’m here to tell you that he has pretty
well burned down the Christian right’s moralistic narrative along with a
good bit of the more mainstream conservative cohort.
For those who have dismissed previous Papal exhortations (as well as
any other messaging, written or otherwise delivered) as irrelevant and
hypocritical drivel, and I count myself on this list, the recent missive
is a shocker. Let’s take a look as some selected passages:
