CONFERENCE THEME

Theology and Law: Private Property and Christian Charity

“The general property of man in animals, in the soil, and in the productions of the soil, is the immediate gift of the bountiful Creator of all. ‘God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them. And God blessed them; and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’” 

So writes American Founder James Wilson in his essay “On the History of Property.” Private property seems to derive in some way from the dominion mandate, God’s summons to Adam and Eve to subdue and enrich the earth. Yet how does this general property, belonging to the whole human race, become private property—apportioned (very unequally) among individuals? How indeed could such a thing be legitimate, if private property rights are used to excuse some of God’s image-bearers from access to the fruits of the earth needed to sustain them? 

Throughout the centuries, Christians have wrestled with this question, drawing upon Scripture’s rich and complex teaching on property, which seems to both celebrate it and warn against it, to approve of profound inequalities and call for broad distribution. Some have gone so far as to argue that among Christians, all property should be common. And yet Christian nations and law codes throughout the centuries have consistently endorsed and confirmed private property relations, while also establishing institutions and norms to guard against too much exploitation of the weak by the strong, the poor by the rich.

Today, property law is at risk of breaking free from the Christian milieu that long nurtured it. Runaway notions of intellectual property have contributed to the emergence of super-powerful corporations and permanent asymmetries of power. It is hard to make sense of the confusing new terrain of digital property within received notions of ownership and use, a problem AI is likely to intensify further. Crushing burdens of both public and private debt have raised urgent questions surrounding the justice and feasibility of debt forgiveness. All the while, ordinary Christians still urgently need catechesis in what it means to use their wealth and property in the service of Christian charity—not merely in “charitable giving,” but in all their spending, saving, and investing. 

At the Fall 2023 Carolinas Regional Convivium, our third on the broad theme of “theology and law,” we invite you to join us in investigating the relationship between private property and Christian love—in the ethical, political, and legal spheres.