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LibralAteoJesus
Guest
What was it?
Early Christianity, was it a philosophy, a religion or a political movement?
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tonyrey
Guest
A religion based on a philosophy with social and political implications. It is incompatible, for example, with Marxism or Fascism.
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LibralAteoJesus
Guest
Is it compatible with Capitalism?
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tonyrey
Guest
Not with unbridled Capitalism which exploits people and causes needless suffering.
po18guy
Well-known member
It is, as described in the scriptures, “the Way.” It transcends all human institutions and concepts. Let’s reverse the question: Capitalism is compatible with Christianity only inasmuch as it conforms to the teachings and example of Christ. Christ taught that the worker deserves his wage, yet all that He taught must also inform our consciences so that we deal with one another justly. All human institutions and forms of interaction are arbitrary and have been conceived of in the mind of man, rather than revealed to man by God. In essence, internalization of and adherence to Christianity forever alters your being.
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St_Francis
Guest
I would say that Christianity is *not *a religion based on a philosophy. It is a way of life based on the love for us of God, and our reciprocal love for Him and consequent love for our neighbor. Any philosophy associated with Christianity is derived from Christianity, not a basis for it.
The proper question is: Is capitalism compatible with Christianity?
Christianity should be the basis for everything else, not the other way around. A capitalism in a deeply Catholic society, based on the principles taught by Christ, would, because of the deference to Christ’s teachings, be compatible.
A capitalism in a non-Christian society would look very different and be incompatible in some or many ways with Catholicism.
Notice that I use the terms Christianity and Catholicism inter-changeably. Since you are asking questions about “Christianity” on a Catholic forum, I assume you are referring to the true Christianity found in the Church established by Christ. Protestants also call themselves Christians, and Protestantism is also called Christianity, but I am not referring to either of those because they are too diverse and different from Catholicism.
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tonyrey
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GangGreen
Guest
Capitalism where the employer treats its employees with dignity = OK
Capitalism where the employer treats its employees as replaceable things with no intrinsic value = Bad
Today we have capitalism which has become work more for less pay. Where companies are more focused on the bottom line than keeping their workers happy and compensating them fairly according to their output. This is where Christianity and capitalism do not mix.
Capitalism where the employer treats its employees as replaceable things with no intrinsic value = Bad
Today we have capitalism which has become work more for less pay. Where companies are more focused on the bottom line than keeping their workers happy and compensating them fairly according to their output. This is where Christianity and capitalism do not mix.
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Abu
Guest
The Church founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gave His authority to Peter as His Supreme Vicar and the other Apostles, was essentially to teach, sanctify (lead to holiness) and rule in His Name. Within eighty years it was known as the Catholic Church – meaning a “universal” and “orthodox” religion of faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (the Blessed Trinity).
Early Christianity: a system of beliefs and practices based on the teachings of His Church on Jesus as Saviour, in the New Testament, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the seven Sacraments, Her Tradition and Her Magisterium (teaching authority).
Now the sneer of “capitalism” came from the Karl Marx of Communism, and Bl John Paul II in Centesimus Annus, 1991, clearly dislikes the term, preferentially substituting instead, and seeing the great worth of, the “modern business economy” and the functioning of the “free market”, as well as the “market economy or simply free economy.” (#42).
Thus Bl John Paul II teaches:
‘42. Returning now to the initial question: can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress?
‘If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a “business economy”, “market economy” or simply “free economy”.’
po18guy
Well-known member
In the past 100 years or so, it seems that the pendulum has swung from corporate greed to union greed. While it is clear that some corporations have busted unions, it is likewise clear, from the recent need for automotive corporation bailouts, that some unions have also contributed to the busting of corporations. It is more complicated than that, but that is the nuts and bolts of it.
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tonyrey
Guest
In the UK where many children go to school without breakfast and the poor have to choose between eating and heating the pendulum has swung back to corporate greed on a massive scale…
po18guy
Well-known member
Industrial disease? Well, it is a pendulum.
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tonyrey
Guest
Industry has declined like everything else - except the bank balances of the plutocrats!
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StrawberryJam
Guest
There are theocrats out there as well.
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afungusamongus
Guest
It may have been religious and it probably was a philosophy but it really did not have much political influence in the early days. The early church was marred by terrible prosecution.
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