fourfishermen: ““Down the centuries,” Hart writes in an essay collected in Theological Territories,...

fourfishermen:

““Down the centuries,” Hart writes in an essay collected in Theological Territories, “Christian culture has largely ignored the social provocation of the early church’s organization,” which cultivated a “seditious … attitude toward the inviolable sanctity of property.” And, paraphrasing John Chrysostom: “All we possess actually belongs to everyone, and no Christian should ever utter the words yours and mine.” Though many theologians and clergymen assure the faithful that Christian scripture condemns only the abuse of wealth, “not a single verse … confirms this claim”; on the contrary, “the New Testament’s condemnations of private wealth are fairly unremitting and remarkably stark.” James 5:1: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.””

— “Against Damnation: Is hell Christian?”