The anti-usury arguments of the Church Fathers of the East in their historical context and the accommodation of the Church to the prevailing “credit economy” in late antiquity

Abstract

The evidence the Church Fathers offer about the economic practices of late antiquity are often dismissed as empty rhetoric. The aim of this article is first, to examine the historical value of their arguments against usury in the light of papyrological and hagiographic sources as well as οf archaeological findings; secondly, to assess the extent to which the churches and monasteries in Syria and Egypt accommodated themselves to the “credit economy” of late antiquity; and, thirdly, to evaluate the reasons for the church’s compromise with the established credit practices and its impact on the implementation of the Christian redistributive ideals.