This article was written for Science & Spirit,
 a forum for dialogue between science and religion.
  This rough draft is not for citation.

A Brief History of Benevolence

            First and second century Roman observers often admired two traits among Christians.  Christians paid their taxes and Christians cared for the poor.  And let there be no confusion, taxation and benevolence toward the poor were two very distinct categories in the Roman Empire.

            The Romans collected taxes for the benefit of the Romans and Roman taxation was never intended to benefit the poor.  Subjugated peoples might see a portion of their taxes returned to them through the building of roads, aqueducts, temples and municipal buildings, but Rome offered subjugated peoples, or even Roman citizens outside the imperial city, no relief from poverty.

            Despite the Romans’ self-serving system of taxation, Jesus reportedly both paid his personal taxes and commanded his followers to do the same.  They were to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”  The Apostle Paul likewise exhorted Christians to “pay your taxes.”

            Even though Christians paid Roman taxes, they rejected the Romans’ disregard for the poor.  Jesus blessed the poor and even told his disciples that clothing the naked, feeding the hungry and showing kindness to “the least of these my brothers” was tantamount to clothing, feeding and serving Jesus himself. 

            Such regard for the poor was almost certainly a product of Jesus’ Jewish heritage.  Whereas Roman taxation further concentrated wealth in the hands of the ruling elite, the Jewish traditions of tithing, almsgiving and “jubilee” were designed to redistribute wealth to the poor.  In the eighth century BC, Israel’s earliest writing prophets had interpreted Assyria’s conquest of the Holy Land as God’s judgment upon Israel for her lack of concern for the poor.  In the wake of this prophetic indictment, Jewish tradition developed legal traditions for redistributing wealth.  The Torah came to require both that Israel give her tithes to the poor every third year and then declare every fiftieth year a jubilee year in which all debts were forgiven. 

           Although strict observance of these laws was rare in his time, Jesus and many early Christians apparently shared the Jewish tradition’s desire to see resources transferred from the rich to the poor.  Jesus even commanded one rich man to donate all his possessions to poor.  Although this man failed to heed Jesus’ instructions, such radical redistribution of wealth sometimes did occur within early Christianity as reported in the book of Acts when “as many as had possessions or property sold them and donated the proceeds to the poor.” 

            Even though complete divestment of resources remained rare among early Christians (even in Acts), care for the poor remained the norm.  At the Apostle Paul’s urging, Christians in Corinth set aside weekly offerings for the poor.  Other New Testament communities maintained lists of poor widows who could expect financial assistance from the church.  The New Testament book of James, traditionally ascribed to the brother of Jesus, even insists that “this is pure and undefiled religion, to visit orphans and widows in their distress.”

            Because of the New Testament’s moral imperative to care for poor, almsgiving became a significant virtue for second and third century Christians.  Only with the “Christianization” of the Roman Empire under Constantine were the concepts of taxation and care for the poor united—for better or worse.