On Apr 18, 2013, at 8:46 AM, A.M. A wrote:
Translated this for free for you from the Italian while waiting in line at the pharmacy. You may use it as you wish ...giving no credit.
St. Anthony of Padua on usurers
Ferocious beasts that pillage and devour
3 types:
The hidden ones who in infinite number slither in the shadows like vipers.
The more public ones who feign moderation and want to appear merciful.
The shameless and perfidious, wracked in vice, who in broad daylight practice usury as a profession. It is these the devil will take onto himself for eternal damnation.
Tony
Tony,
I am reading Eugen Von Baum Bawerk on interest, a seminal 1884 work that he kept updating until about 1910, at which point it became the wareshed for keynes, etc, or modern capitalism.
He previews usury and interest and of course trashes the Church for supposedly inhibiting free trade, science, etc. He notes that Italy was the last to accept interest (usury), prox 1800s.
Interesting, that. From St. Anthony's time to Baum-Bawerk's time, what do we know about development and usury prohibition? Well, the renaissance occurred under usury prohibition. And the Protestant countries after they allowed interest? Well, shortly after the reformation things got so bad in the Northern climes that cannibalism was a pesky problem, while Italy continued to thrive. Michelangelo vs cannibalism? All right, that is too far, but Baum Bawerk's discrediting of Catholic countries is every bit as extreme.
And not to put too fine a point on it, the century after Baum Bawerk produced his work and it became the rock solid foundation of modern economics (capitalism) was the darkest, bloodiest mankind had ever seen. And he should have noticed that 20 years before he started writing, the USA civil war was essentially fought over the spread of capitalism vs. free markets. (The civil war was not more about slavery than WWII was about Jews).
The argument that strict prohibition by the church leads to backwardness (Baum-Bawerks own description) is ridiculous on its face. Now, of course the Italians were no more faithful to Church rules then than they are now, which is to say, more or less. AS St Paul said, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. And certainly St. Anthony was observant, and he was commenting on what he saw in italy in his day.
Which is why I think it is nuts to have the state involved with the force of law. We desperately need to approximate the anarchy of 12th - 16th century Italy if we want peace and prosperity. The state, which the teutons used to replace the Church, is involuntary, which brings chaos unto cannibalism.
The church is a voluntary government. Whose central sacrifice is eating flesh and blood, but starts and stops there with sacrifice. After that, it wants obedience. But it can only propose, never impose, obedience.
I'll use your translation...
John
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