Biblical Teachings

Christianity inherited from Judaism an understanding of the right use of goods as founded on the Exodus: God's liberation of the Israelites from Egypt; leading them to the Promised Land “flowing [Page 159]with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8). This experience of liberation and gift grounded a positive evaluation of all creation. The land's bounty was celebrated in a rich cycle of agricultural feasts and temple sacrifice. The quotidian details of production and consumption were sacralized in a temporality of labor and Sabbath, in restrictions on harvest and ownership (gleaning, Jubilee), and in a detailed ...