Lovers of the Poor

Summarizing the work of Peter Brown, James Davison Hunter ( To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World , 55) points to the crucial connection between Christian attitudes toward the poor and the transformation of Roman society:

Prior to Christianity, the poor were those who had no standing at all, since they “belonged to no urban grouping.” Christianity changed that: “When the bishops declared themselves to be ‘lovers of the poor,’ the church was unwittingly offering a new model of society. The care of the poor emphasized a very different and more universal bond of social solidarity [than was customary in Roman society], namely, a common humanity. The fact is, the Christian church reached more people. Even though it was still a demographic minority, a church that was seen to reach out to the margins of the social order established its ‘right to stand for the community as a whole.’ The ‘care of the poor became a dramatic component of the Christian representation of the bishop’s authority in the community.’”

In short, “by stressing their relationship with the socially and economically marginal . . . the bishops projected a form of authority within the city that outflanked the traditional leadership of the notables.”