Wealth and Poverty in Christianity

“It is not a great thing or desirable to be without any wealth, unless it be we are seeking eternal life. If it were, those who possess nothing - the destitute, the beggars seeking food, and the poor living in the streets, would become the blessed and loved of God, even though they did not know God or God’s righteousness. They would be granted eternal life on the basis of this extreme poverty and their lack of even the basic necessities of life!” - Clement of Alexandria In her book, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome , historian Mary Beard includes a rare image of interaction between the very rich and very poor in ancient Roman society. This is from a very faded illustration from the House of Julia Felix from first century Pompeii depicting life in the Forum. In it, a wealthy woman is handing a hunched beggar a coin. While this might at first seem to be a touching scene, this illustration is not a celebration of generosity but depicts what one is not supposed to do, akin to New York City ...

De divitiis , written by an anonymous author in the early fifth century, is oftentimes seen and treated as an alarming - indeed, heretical - example of the ancient roots of Communism. It isn’t, of course. But the author does raise a series of uncomfortable questions about the immorality of inherited wealth, observes a causal relationship between the wealth of the few and the destitution of the many, and holds that Christians must get rid of their wealth to enter the Kingdom of God. The author’s most famous conclusion certainly seems radical - “Get rid of the rich and there will be no poverty” - yet it was the very same conclusion other Patristic writers had come to regarding the need to focus on living with just enough.  Rather than being seen as a source text for communism, historian of late antiquity Peter Brown holds that the ideas contained within De divitiis are, in fact, simply more pointedly argued views of perspectives that were held by a broad spectrum of ancient Christia...