Managing Financial Resources in Late Antiquity

This book examines the views of Greek Church Fathers on hoarding, saving, and management of economic surplus, and their development primarily in urban centres of the Eastern Mediterranean, from the late first to the fifth century. The study shows how the approaches of Greek Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom, Isidore of Pelusium, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus, to hoarding and saving intertwined with stances toward the moral and social obligations of the wealthy. It also demonstrates how these Fathers responded to conditions and practices in urban economic environments characterized by sharp inequalities. Their attitudes reflect the gradual widening of Christian congregations, but also the consequences of the socio-economic evolution of the late antique Eastern Roman Empire. Among the issues discussed in the book are the justification of wealth, alternatives to hoarding, and the reception of patristic views by contemporaries.

Provides a comprehensive overview of Greek patristic responses to the management of surplus income and savings from the late first to the fifth century Seeks to identify differing types of hoarding practices and examines multilevel outcomes of hoarding behaviours Utilises a range of sources, informed by the history of ideas, economic history, and history of economic thought

Auteur

Gerasimos Merianos is Senior Researcher in Byzantine History at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece.

George Gotsis is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Contenu

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Historical Background: Early Christian Conceptions of Hoarding.- Chapter 3. Justifying Savings but not the Pursuit of Wealth: Contradictions, Tensions and Accommodations in Early Patristic Texts.- Chapter 4. Savings for Redistributive Purposes: Stewardship of Wealth in the Teachings of Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom.- Chapter 5. Fifth-Century Patristic Conceptions of Savings and Capital: Isidore of Pelusium and Theodoret of Cyrrhus.- Chapter 6. Contextualizing Patristic Concepts of Hoarding and Saving.- Chapter 7. Conclusions.- Bibliography.- Index.