Legal Commentary

Usury -- the practice of lending money at interest -- occupies an unusual place as a historical phenomenon: it is a practice that is condemned in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions (to greater and lesser degrees), but forms the foundational bedrock of modern capitalist societies.  Is there any other practice about which this can be said?

C.S. Lewis (in Mere Christianity) claims that the practice was also condemned in antiquity: "There is one  bit of  advice given to  us  by  the ancient heathen Greeks,  and  by the Jews in  the Old Testament, and  by the great Christian  teachers of  the  Middle  Ages, which  the  modern economic system has  completely disobeyed.  All these people told us not to lend money at  interest: and lending money at  interest-what we call  investment-is the basis of  our  whole system." 

Can you think of another social practice with this history and which holds this status?

Just to be specific: I am not asking about practices condemned by (all of) these traditions but now tolerated, or even celebrated, by some or many today.  To stand in the same position as usury, the practice would have to have been universally condemned, and also constitute an indisputable, core feature of our contemporary social makeup -- something foundational and taken for granted by people with very different moral outlooks.

Admittedly, the practice of usury doesn't find absolute or unequivocal condemnation in ancient sources.  In Deuteronomy 23:20 (Douay-Rheims) (what else?), one sees this statement: ?Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor any other thing: but to the stranger.  To thy brother thou shalt lend that which he wanteth, without usury.?  And there are other prohibitions in Exodus and Leviticus.  But this passage makes plain that usury is permitted to "strangers" -- that is, to non-Jews.  And, of course, there is a famous example of such lending practices to "strangers" in The Merchant of Venice -- it is perfect that Shakespeare chose Venice which is, I think, one of the first societies in which modern banking was born.

In the New Testament, there is some ambiguity about what exactly the parable of the 10 talents means with respect to usury (the guy who put his share away for safe-keeping gets chewed out when the master comes back).  But Jesus does say, ?Give to every one that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again . . . . But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil.?  Luke 6:30, 35.  That seems to be an even stronger and more universal condemnation than one sees in the OT.   

And in the Roman Catholic Catechism, one can find this: ?Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them."  Section 2269.  That seems like a considerably moderated position, though.  The position here might be interpreted to mean that usury at a reasonable rate of interest is acceptable, but usury that leads to "hunger and death" is tantamount to homicide.  I have it on good authority (but haven't checked myself) that Islam also prohibits the practice of usury, and that the prohibition is quite strong.

Then, of course, there is Dante.  Dante consigns the usurers to the lowest bolgia in the Circle of the violent against nature (Canto XVII -- Gustave Doré, up above, quite understandably chose to draw the monster Geryon, rather than the usurers, for this Circle, and so there is an association of fraud with usury as well).  The usurers are perpetually warding off hot firebrands on some kind of a wasteland/beach-type area (like dogs in the hot summer, biting and scratching at fleas and horseflies).  From each of their necks hangs a purse, and they look on that purse with unsatable hunger. 

I was reminded of these folks on the drive home yesterday, as NPR aired a story about "payday" loans.  Perhaps it's worth resuscitating the term "usurer" for such people.