It is a shock to discover that Tyrannosaurus is closer in time to the cell phone than it is to Stegosaurus.
It is likewise a shock to learn that Cleopatra is closer in time to AI than she is to the building of the Great Pyramid.
And it is an even greater shock to American conservative Christians to learn that ancient and medieval Catholics are closer in spirit to Communists than they are to Libertarians and MAGA.
Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. (Acts 4:32)
St. John Chrysostom: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.”
St. Gregory the Great: “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”
St. Basil: “Are you not then a robber, for counting as your own what you have received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished which you receive, the garment of the naked which you hoard in your chest, the shoe of the barefooted which rots in your possessions, the money of the penniless which you have buried in the earth. Why then do you injure so many to whom you might be a benefactor.”
“Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: “On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.” (Compendium 177)
And, O Libertarian, before you reflexively blurt out something like “Yeah, but that is all up to the individual and the state has no business intruding…”
“The responsibility for attaining the common good, besides falling to individual persons, belongs also to the State, since the common good is the reason that the political authority exists…. The individual person, the family or intermediate groups are not able to achieve their full development by themselves for living a truly human life. Hence the necessity of political institutions, the purpose of which is to make available to persons the necessary material, cultural, moral and spiritual goods.” (Compendium 168)
And yes, I’m aware that Marxism/Leninism is very different from ancient and medieval communalism,.However, my point is that Christian communalism is even more different from the insane concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a tiny minority while billions of people starve to death and face nuclear annihilation from rich dipshits and inheritors of vast wealth who think themselves members of the Master Race sent by God to weed out the Unfit.
The great error of Communism is that it says, “Let us do evil to lift up the poor and powerless and establish the Kingdom of Heaven right this very second!”
MAGA says, “Let us do evil to crush the poor and powerless and establish the Fourth Reich of the White Ubermenschen on the backs of the inferior right this very second.”
The far Left seeks good goals by evil means. The far Right seeks evil goals by evil means.
The gospel seeks good goals by good means–or it is not the gospel.
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2 Responses
Better than the Fourth Reich, we could call MAGA the “Turd Reich.”
John the Baptist (the greatest prophet, according to Jesus): “Let him has two cloaks give one to the one who has none.”
I get what you are saying, Mr. Shea. Spot on. But that meme is wrong. Christians did not become communists in a “very literal sense,” if by “communism” they mean “Marxism,” because Marxism is inherently materialist. That doesn’t mean it isn’t right about a lot of things. Marx’s critique of 19th century industrial capitalism was pretty spot on. He diagnosed the disease quite well. It’s his proposed cure that isn’t so great.
If we want a good semi-modern take on Christianity’s proper response to capitalism, I wouldn’t look to Marx. I’d look to Dorothy Day, Wendell Berry, RERUM NOVARUM, G.K. Chesterton, E.F. Schumacher, or from the arts: J.R.R. Tolkien. I am also super impressed by what little I have read (so far) of Malcolm Guite. I think we may have finally what happened to at least one of the Blue Istari. I think he’s hiding out in England, smoking a pipe, and writing spectacular books.
And no, I did not forget Belloc. I omitted him on purpose. Not that he wasn’t right about a lot, but I have always found his writing so dense as to be almost impenetrable. I can’t read Belloc without downing a triple espresso first.