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How true, how true!

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

The Deacon was on the right track - interest was definitely a "bad" concept in the ancient world.

However, as it developed into a concept pretty early on and under the influence of the great empires like Rome, "usury" became associated with excessive interest rates and with taking advantage of the weaker party in a transaction.

The problem with charging interest and with the power to tax is that they can be abused.

One of the fathers at our church had a good homily about Jesus' anger with the money lenders in the Temple. I always pictured the Temple as a sedate place, instead of the center of life for the community, including life's more mundane aspects. That's one of the problems with picturing ancient places, they seem so sedate. Now I picture a bustle of people there, including some selling sacrificial animals at a huge markup and loaning money to people at extreme rates of interest. (Of course, I also picture it with postcard racks - but that's in part because of how it was portrayed in the famous documentary maker David L. Wolper's version, which was actually quite fascinating, if you ever get a chance to see it.)

Hi,

I was thinking of this and about the Tomistic argument against interest.

I think what changed is the nature of money and of lending.

The Latin Catholic sources agree that an investor is entitled to have a return over and above of the original amount invested because of the risk he/she took in investing.

Well, modern lenders can claim to be taking risks when lending money as their main business.

On the other hand, money borrowed is a good the borrower is using for his/her own benefit. In that light, interest could be seen as a "rental fee" paid for the good being used.

If I rent a house, I am expected to pay the rent and also to return the house to its owner in the same conditions I received it.

Likewise, if I rent money, I am expected to pay the rent (that is, the interest) and also to return the money (that is, the principal) to its owner.

Reasonable wear and tear in the case of the house can be analogous to devaluation because of inflation of the principal.

But as I said, interest must be reasonable, but then again, so should rents be and a 3 bedroom apartment next door to my home goes for over $2,800 a month. We live in an unreasonable world.

Shalom,
Memo

Dear Friends,

I had a prof who used to say this:

Karl Marx died and was judged worthy of hell.

St Peter rang up the devil and said to him, "Here comes the "interest" on your "kapital!"

Cheers,

Alex