Christian Mission and Poverty

Chapter 2 A Monastic Response

Let all things be common to all, as it is written. And do not let anyone call or take to himself anything as his own (cf. Acts 4:32). But if anyone should be found to indulge this most destructive vice, and, having been warned once and again, does not change, let him be subjected to punishment.

~ Benedict of Nursia

B enedict ’ s R ule (516) Background

By the fifth and sixth centuries, the situation of the Christian church had changed dramatically. The faith had gone from being seen as a sect of Judaism, to being persecuted as idolatry under the Roman Empire, to being accepted into mainstream cultural trends, to becoming

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