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charity One way that Jesus’ message of concern for the weak has successfully expressed itself has long been through charity. In his ministry, Jesus demonstrated concern for the needy, and the evangelists expanded on this theme. The early church devoted itself to institutional charity and has never let up. Augustine identified charity as the act by which Christians love God, and Thomas Aquinas identified charity as the foundation of other Christian virtues. The church’s tradition of charity has now been bequeathed to the modern welfare state. Charity was a big part of the early church. Those who had first dibs on the charity offered by the congregation, naturally, were the clergy themselves. It’s funny how those bishops are always writing themselves into the action. But after the clergy, there was plenty left over to share around, and plenty of need for what was being shared. Charity became harder to pull off once new recruits started flooding in and Christianity became more generally popular, starting in the 100s and 200s. To accommodate the new recruits, the church eased way back on how rigorous one’s life was supposed to be. One didn’t have to live ascetically to be a Christian any more, and people who weren’t all that committed started joining. The church became less a congregation of exceptionally holy people and more a collection of regular sinners. Back when being a Christian meant giving up one’s worldly life to part of the body of Christ, you could be pretty sure that the other Christians in your congregation were pretty serious. They’ve given up a lot to be there with you. But once there was no real sacrifice to becoming Christian, there were all sorts of people in the community. And if there are handouts in the community, some people might join up just for the handouts. Donations slacked off, exhortations to give increased, and late in the 500s the bishops finally instituted explicitly expectations for donations (tithing). In pagan Rome, first magistrates and then emperors controlled an ever-expanding dole. The free food was first grain and later included olive oil, pork, and wine. Once the Roman church became official, for it to have practiced charity can hardly be deemed exceptional. One way or another, the emperors needed to keep the teeming masses of Rome fed, or else they’d create unrest and some political enemy would rise in power and maybe even take the empire. In the middle ages, charity picked up to the point at which donations to the needy were so rich as to be wasteful. By tradition, the poor got a fourth of the church’s take, as did the bishop, the rest of the clergy, and the fund for maintaining worship. To ratchet up their own incomes, the clergy appealed for more and more donations; and the increased income for the clergy meant a similar increase in funds for worship and for the needy. By tying charity to the bishops’ own incomes, the system made sure there was plenty for the poor, maybe too much. The civilized Judaism that Jesus inherited featured charity as well. The prophets especially are known for calling on the Israelites to care for the unfortunate. Charity goes back to priestly rules, such as forbidding farmers to glean their own fields so that widows and orphans can scrounge them for food. In the priestly rules, however, one’s donations aren’t to the poor but to the temple as sacrifices, where the priests could take their cut.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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