“When You Give Alms, Do Not Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand Is Doing”: Alms and Salvation in the Early Christian Tradition

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of ideas about charity in early Christianity, Judaism and in the Greco-Roman pagan tradition. The focus is on the formation of the doctrine of “correct” alms in the New Testament texts, “Didache”, in Clement of Rome, Polycarp of Smyrna, in the “Shepherd” of Hermas, in the writings of Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. These authors discussed questions about who and how to help, and what kind of reward awaits benefactors. At this time (1st — 2nd centuries), two discussions were going on in parallel in early Christian literature: about martyrdom “according to Christ” and about “correct” alms, and comparison of these discussions gives interesting results.