Thomas More and the problem of charity

Abstract

This article examines the impact and influence of the term ‘charity’ in the polemical exchange between Thomas More and William Tyndale. Much of More's criticism of Tyndale's unauthorized 1526 New Testament centres on this word, or rather its absence, as Tyndale opted to translate agape with the more general term ‘love’. Matters of linguistic usage traversed more complicated questions of interpretation and rhetoric, however, even as scriptural imperatives to perform charity lent sanction and urgency to both writers. Indeed, Tyndale's translation represented to More the larger dangers implicit in charity, which was vulnerable to misappropriation (as well as mistranslation) by heretics. This essay places their debate in the context of contemporary developments in poor relief, which exhibit comparable hermeneutic tendencies, ultimately suggesting that the problem of the heretic and the problem of the false beggar posed similar challenges to ‘charitable’ readers during the period.

Review of periodical literature published in 2012

“…Thomas More and William Tyndale debated ideas of ‘charity’. Gurney places the More–Tyndale debate within the context of contemporary developments in poor relief. McCallum considers ecclesiastical poor relief and its reach outside of the parish bounds.…”