2010 Articles

Charity and the Two Economies

Epsen, Edward

A Christian will recognize that along with this usage of the term ‘charity’ there is a specifically Christian one of wider scope that refers to the supreme virtue that is synonymous with love, pity, or compassion in English, agape in Koine Greek, caritas in Latin, pieta in Italian. Though wider in scope, this sense of the term does not seem to be any more closely connected with economy; probably, the point of contact between charity in this sense and economy will be thought to pass through the narrower sense of charity as almsgiving. This is a mistake. And it is here my purpose to highlight and correct it in a way that I hope will make a special appeal to Orthodox Christians.