Christian economic morality: the medieval turning point

Abstract

It is one of history's paradoxical commonplaces that capitalism came into being within a Christian culture that was hostile to money. Little thought has, however, been given to the reasons for that hostility, though they are not self‐evident. While it is true that the Church Fathers displayed great hostility towards material things, medieval theologians had no qualms about revising the theses of the Early Church to suit the needs of the moment. We seek to explain the virulence of this early form of anti‐capitalism by the connection that was made between material concerns in the broad sense – money, but also sex – and an anti‐world that was supposed to be dominated by the Jews. A study of the discourse of thirteenth‐century Christian theologians enables us to highlight the links between hostility towards money and hatred of outsiders, which may help to explain the continuing prevalence of this rejection within various modern forms of discourse.