The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1910  Saturday, 19 November 2005

[1] 	From: 	Norman Hinton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Thursday, 17 Nov 2005 11:58:23 -0600
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"

[2] 	From: 	John W. Kennedy <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Thursday, 17 Nov 2005 15:54:56 -0500
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Norman Hinton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Thursday, 17 Nov 2005 11:58:23 -0600
Subject: 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"

 >>Antonio had in the past shunned such transactions since, taking as
 >>absolute the Bible's prohibition against lending on interest (actually
 >>only to co-religionists) ...
 >
 >Where is the prohibition in the Bible?  I ask because last Sunday's 
gospel,
 >the 'parable of the talents', seems to condone the practice ...
 >
 >"His master answered him, "You wicked and lazy servant!  ... you should
 >have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would
 >have recovered my capital with interest"." (Matt. 25: 26-27).
 >
 >Peter Bridgman

Among other places:
Exodus 22:25
Levticus 25:36
Leviticus 25:37
Deuteronomy 23:19
Nehemiah 5:10
Psalm 15:5
Ezekiel 18:8-14
Ezekiel 22:12

This does not include the verse that says you can charge interest to 
'foreigners'.

The KJB does not use the term "interest" -- it will speak of 'usury' and 
other terms instead in such passages.  But the sense is not hard to follow.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		John W. Kennedy <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Thursday, 17 Nov 2005 15:54:56 -0500
Subject: 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1903 "Translated and Improved"

Peter Bridgman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

 >David Basch writes ...
 >
 >>Antonio had in the past shunned such transactions since, taking as
 >>absolute the Bible's prohibition against lending on interest (actually
 >>only to co-religionists) ...
 >
 >Where is the prohibition in the Bible?  I ask because last Sunday's 
gospel,
 >the 'parable of the talents', seems to condone the practice ...

Exodus 22:25 - If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by 
thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon 
him usury.

Leviticus 25:36-37 - Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear 
thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him 
thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

Deuteronomy 23:19-20 - Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; 
usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon 
usury: Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother 
thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in 
all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to 
possess it.

...among others. The principle was taken up by Christianity, and 
reinforced by the rediscovery of Aristotle's /Ethics/. Islam forbids all 
usury to this day, albeit with much the same loopholes that were to be 
found in Judaism and Christendom before they effectively surrendered the 
point in the 19th century.

 >"His master answered him, "You wicked and lazy servant!  ... you
 >should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return
 >I would have recovered my capital with interest"." (Matt. 25: 26-27).

The parables of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-8) and the Unjust Judge 
(Luke 18:1-9) are the classic examples that the parables of Jesus make 
one and only one point, and are not to be read closely on side issues.

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