The Invention of Charity

[Terry_Sampson]

• V.J. Torley’s mention of Bart Earhmann’s new book proposal, currently entitled: The Invention of Charity: How Christianity Transformed the Western World led me to Bart’s June 21, 2022, blogpost on the book, which includes his brief introduction to his prospectus for the book. [cf. The Invention of Charity: My Prospectus for the Book]
• I, for one, hope he will work his way into the Jewish "origin of
  [Chesed,Romanized: Ḥeseḏ], with some mention of the Emperor. Julian, more about whom can be heard at the Centre for Public Christianity’s webite, starting–I suggest–with a brief video introduction to the topic of The Invention of Charity.
• I’d say “charity” began among the Jews, but Jesus’ resurrection gave it “wings to fly” around the world.
  .

[T_aquaticus]

Charity exists in Hinduism/Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism as well. I think it would be quite a stretch to claim that Christianity invented charity, especially since Hinduism has charity and pre-existed Christianity by quite a bit. However, it does make a lot of sense to look at how charity found in Christianity affected Western civilization given the influence Christianity had.

[pevaquark (Matthew Pevarnik)]

@T_aquaticus

I think it would be quite a stretch to claim that Christianity invented charity, especially since Hinduism has charity and pre-existed Christianity by quite a bit. However, it does make a lot of sense to look at how charity found in Christianity affected Western civilization given the influence Christianity had.

Yeah, I think this quote is relevant from Ehrman’s book prospectus:

It is not that Christians invented the idea of “charity”: they inherited a concern for the needy from their Jewish forebears. But they, not the Jews, converted the Roman world, and, in the end, universalized and, to some extent, institutionalized the imperatives, incentives, and practices of charity… Prior to the Christian conquest of the Empire, the Western world knew of no such things as hospitals, orphanages, private charities, or governmental assistance to the poor. These are Christian innovations.

My book is designed to show how the transformation occurred… There are several interdependent issues:: why having wealth can be a “problem”; what people should do with their resources; and why and how those living above subsistence level (not just the affluent) should treat those in need.

One of the surprises of the study is a well-documented phenomenon that certainly sounds like an apologist’s generalization: in the Roman world at large, those with wealth showed almost no concern for those in need, even desperate need. They had no compulsion, incentive, or reason to give to the poor, homeless, and hungry, and in fact they were urged by their fellow elites – including their moral philosophers – not to do so. As a result, in the world into which Christianity appeared, there was almost nothing that we would consider “charity” to the poor. In the emerging Christian tradition, on the contrary, the poor became a focus of religious, social, and economic discourse. My book will try to show how that transformation happened and explain what benefits accrued to society at large as a result.

[klw]

I thought Hinduism was based on a philosophy of Karma (one gets what one deserves), not charity?

[T_aquaticus]

@klw

I thought Hinduism was based on a philosophy of Karma (one gets what one deserves), not charity?

What I was able to dig up:

Hindus believe that charity, or dana, is important. This is because helping others is helping Brahman, as all living things have an atman, or piece of Brahman, within them. Selfless charitable acts are seen as examples of Karma yoga.

Dana means giving and sewa means selfless service. The concept of charity in Hinduism is about helping others without expecting something in return and because it is the right thing to do.
Charities - Practices in Hinduism - GCSE Religious Studies Revision - AQA - BBC Bitesize

Also:

Dāna

[klw]

That’s interesting.

I heard a religious commentator (not a Hindu himself) once say that “charity to others” was complex in Hinduism because although one might try to gain favorable karma by such good works, the less fortunate (e.g. people in lower castes) were seen as being in that position because they had to work off bad karma from a past life and the universal force (Brahman?) operated that way. In that sense, Hinduism was based on a sort of fatalism. According to the commentator, this caused some cognitive dissonance because trying to help a poor person might be circumventing the “work and suffering” that person actually needed to do to work off their own bad karma and escape their situation in the next life.

[Terry_Sampson]

• I think I’d need some peer-reviewed research to convince me that Gautama Buddha or the Upanishads promoted charity before what? Buddha circa 5th century India and the pre-Buddhist Upanishads–in particular the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad–before the Exodus and that either led to the invention of charity in Israel. Till somebody shows me, though, I’ll stick to my biased opinion: charity doesn’t strike me as a popular topic in the history of atheism and communal charitable activities don’t seem to have been “worthy efforts” among theistic heathen before Jesus’ resurrection was “alleged” to have taken place.

[Terry_Sampson]

• I owe my personal bias in favor of Christianity to people like my Deaf stepmother and her good friend, Velma Holmes, who was Deaf and blind.
  

  
  
  
  

• Sign language originated, I think, with French Catholic nuns and Abbe de L’Epee

[T_aquaticus]

@Terry_Sampson

I think I’d need some peer-reviewed research to convince me that Gautama Buddha or the Upanishads promoted charity before what? Buddha circa 5th century India and the pre-Buddhist Upanishads–in particular the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad–before the Exodus and that either led to the invention of charity in Israel.

It could be that charity was discovered independently in many religions.

As to charity in Hinduism,

The Gods have not ordained hunger to be our death: even to the well-fed man comes death in varied shape,
The riches of the liberal never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort him,
The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat,
Hardens his heart against him, when of old finds not one to comfort him.

Bounteous is he who gives unto the beggar who comes to him in want of food, and the feeble,
Success attends him in the shout of battle. He makes a friend of him in future troubles,
No friend is he who to his friend and comrade who comes imploring food, will offer nothing.

Let the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his eye upon a longer pathway,
Riches come now to one, now to another, and like the wheels of cars are ever rolling,
The foolish man wins food with fruitless labour: that food – I speak the truth – shall be his ruin,
He feeds no trusty friend, no man to love him. All guilt is he who eats with no partaker.

— Rigveda, X.117,

The Rigveda is the oldest Vedict Sanskrit text, and it dates back quite a ways:

The Rigveda is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text.[6] Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language.[7][note 2] The sounds and texts of the Rigveda have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE.[9][10][11] Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see Rigvedic rivers), most likely between c. 1500 and 1000 BCE,[12][13][14] although a wider approximation of c. 1900–1200 BCE has also been given.[15][16][note 1]
Rigveda - Wikipedia

@Terry_Sampson

charity doesn’t strike me as a popular topic in the history of atheism

There’s no reason why it should. Atheism is a very narrow topic about what one believes and it isn’t a social group, religion, or social organization. It makes as much sense to talk about charity amongst people who don’t believe in Bigfoot.

[Terry_Sampson]

@Terry_Sampson

communal charitable activities don’t seem to have been “worthy efforts” among theistic heathen before Jesus’ resurrection was “alleged” to have taken place.

• Although the last Pagan Emperor, Julian the Apostate, seems to have recognized in Christian Charity. the arch-enemy of pagan theism [Source: Against the Galileans
• " Book I, 39. It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth."

[Terry_Sampson]

@T_aquaticus

It makes as much sense to talk about charity amongst people who don’t believe in Bigfoot.

Oh dear, did I just get “otherized”?

[Mervin_Bitikofer]

@Terry_Sampson

Oh dear, did I just get “otherized”?

I don’t see how. T was just pointing out that thinking of atheists as some sort of cohesive group with a belief system centered around that identity doesn’t make sense like it does for Christians or any group that centers themselves around some positive belief system.

[T_aquaticus]

@Terry_Sampson

Oh dear, did I just get “otherized”?

I don’t see why that would be the case.

[Terry_Sampson]

@Mervin_Bitikofer

I don’t see how.

There’s a difference, IMO, between saying “I don’t understand what you’re saying” and “You’re not making any sense”.

[heymike3]

According to the OpenAI ChatGPT: “The concept of charity originated in various cultures and civilizations, with evidence of charitable acts dating back to ancient times. The idea of helping others in need has been a part of human history for thousands of years.”

My pastor makes a point about the beginning of civilization corresponding to when healed femurs are found by archeologists.

Sidenote:

I then asked the AI, “What evidence there is for this?” Without a moment of hesitation, it wrote:

“There is evidence of charitable acts in various cultures and civilizations dating back to ancient times. For example, in ancient Greece and Rome, philanthropy was a virtue and wealthy individuals would donate money and resources to support the less fortunate. In the Middle Ages, monasteries and religious orders provided care for the poor and sick. In various indigenous cultures, the practice of giving to others in need has been an integral part of social and religious traditions. These are a few examples of the evidence of the concept of charity throughout history.”

[Terry_Sampson]

@heymike3

For example, in ancient Greece and Rome, philanthropy was a virtue and wealthy individuals would donate money and resources to support the less fortunate

• That’s “a claim”. Now show me where, in history, and how that claim has any evidence to support it.
• BTW, isn’t it relevant to ask whether or not the charity given was “transactional” in nature, i.e. based on reciprocity and needs as in: “I’ll do this for you if you do that for me”, or “I’m doing this for you at some cost to me, but there’s no bill for you.”

[T_aquaticus]

A somewhat different view on the subject, from Richard Carrier:

The concept of charity and concern for the poor was already fully developed before the Christians borrowed the notion from their pagan and Jewish peers. It’s evident in Jewish wisdom literature, Cynic discourses, Stoic and even Epicurean moral theory, Aristotelian generosity and magnanimity, and the Greco-Roman institutions of philanthropia and euergetism. (On the role of influences on Christianity explaining its features generally, see On the Historicity of Jesus, Element 30, pp. 164-68). The idea of charity, welfare, the common good, sharing wealth, helping the poor was heavily ingrained throughout all ancient societies before Christianity. The Christians added nothing new. All they did was boast of being better at it. Which may have been as dubious a claim then as now. The data show poverty only increased under the Christians. For almost a thousand years.
Christians Did Not Invent Charity and Philanthropy • Richard Carrier Blogs

[T_aquaticus]

@Terry_Sampson

That’s “a claim”. Now show me where, in history, and how that claim has any evidence to support it.

Reminds me of the joke, “There’s no word for entrepreneur in French.” It is worth noting that the word “philanthropy” comes from ancient Greece.

[Terry_Sampson]

@T_aquaticus

philanthropy

Really? Fascinating! Maybe you ought to share that joke with the folks at the Online Etymology Dictionary. I’m sure they’d get a laugh out of it too.

[T_aquaticus]

@Terry_Sampson

Maybe you ought to share that joke with the folks at the Online Etymology Dictionary. I’m sure they’d get a laugh out of it too.

It says, “from Greek philanthropia . . . from philanthropos”.

The word philanthropy comes from Ancient Greek φιλανθρωπία (philanthrōpía) ‘love of humanity’, from phil - “love, fond of” and anthrōpos “humankind, mankind”.
Philanthropy - Wikipedia