# Usury vs interest



## TimV (Feb 19, 2005)

Have any of you giving this some thought? I tend to think of the prohabition against usury as profiting by your neighbor's misfortune, but I would like to here what the rest of you say.

On what grounds did Calvin allow interest?

Thanks.


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## TimV (Feb 19, 2005)

PS, I know what I've heard, and can use google! I'm really hoping for some serious help. Didn't he write a letter to someone devoted to the subject?

Thanks much!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 19, 2005)

The letter referred to is not in my edition of _Letters of John Calvin_ so I can't comment on the contents, but this information may be of some assistance:



> One school of thought about Calvinism long has been that it represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury, and implicitly profit, helping to set the stage for the development of capitalism in northern Europe. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R.H. Tawney and by Max Weber.
> 
> Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend, Oekolampadius. In this letter, he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest -- he re-interpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions.
> 
> ...



Source: http://www.phatnav.com/wiki/index.php?title=John_Calvin


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## TimV (Feb 19, 2005)

Thanks Andrew!
I saw that also. Can you help me find that letter?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 19, 2005)

I think the letter is in Latin. Here is the citation I found through some research: 

Ep. 383, in the collection of his letters and answers, Hanover, 1597.


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## TimV (Feb 20, 2005)

Here is the reply from the Jewish scholar

"Yes, Hebrew distinguishes between legitimate interest and usury. Even legitimate interest, however, is ruled out in the Deutoronomy passage. "

So, can a Christian charge interest to another believer?


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## TimV (Feb 20, 2005)

No one? It occures to me that perhaps this is a blind spot with us. I've got a loan to pay for my house. Is that wrong? I have always tended to think that Usury was "unjust" amounts of interest. But then we quickly get into arbitrary amounts.

All this easy credit offered has hurt many people, including Christians.

Have any of you thoughts? Or have any of you read up on the subject?
Thanks
(I'd hate to let my Jewish friend get the last word it!)


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## ChristianTrader (Feb 20, 2005)

> _Originally posted by TimV_
> Here is the reply from the Jewish scholar
> 
> "Yes, Hebrew distinguishes between legitimate interest and usury. Even legitimate interest, however, is ruled out in the Deutoronomy passage. "
> ...



Which exact passages are under discussion?

CT


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## TimV (Feb 20, 2005)

Any of them! Can you charge/accept interest or no, from a fellow believer?


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## Puritan Sailor (Feb 20, 2005)

The Jews were not allowed to charge each other interest. But they were allowed to charge foreigners interest for commercial purposes, not to exploit them.

Lev. 25:
35"If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 

Neh. 5
6And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, "Each of you is exacting usury from his brother." So I called a great assembly against them. 8And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" 
Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. 9Then I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? 10I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! 11Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them." 

Duet. 23
20 To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.


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## TimV (Feb 21, 2005)

Exactly. Now how does this apply to us?


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## ChristianTrader (Feb 22, 2005)

I would recommend checking out Gary North on the subject. Go to www.freebooks.com and use the site search feature, to look up usury.

Here is one link to perhaps start with:

http://www.freebooks.com/docs/html/gnde/Chapter55.htm

CT


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 1, 2005)

Here's a recent article of interest which touches on the Muslim prohibition of usury in the sharia laws: 

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/2005-02-24-islamic-finance-usat_x.htm

Also here is more on Calvin's thoughts on usury: 



> Usury
> 
> Calvin also had insights into the workings of economics. It is his understanding of "usury" that interests us here. Calvin was part of a society that had forbidden the lending of money at interest for 750 years (since the council of Nicaea in 775). During that period many laws were passed against usury but as many ways around the law were found. It is in this context that Calvin brings new insight into society. Taking interest on loans was officially banned by canon law, but in practice was accepted by the community. In Geneva prior to the Reformation, interest rates were set at 5% per 3 months (Bieler 55).
> 
> ...


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