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Résumé
- When the King James Bible says “usury” it means interest of any kind on a loan, high or low, and it never once uses the word “interest”.
- The law told an Israelite not to charge a poor brother and let him charge a foreigner, and Leviticus gives the reason, “that thy brother may live with thee” (25:36).
- We counted “usury” 24 times in 17 verses, 22 of them in the Old Testament and the other two in Jesus’ parables of the talents and the pounds.
- Nehemiah made the nobles of his day give back what they had taken from their own people, and Ezekiel says the man who lends on usury “shall surely die”.
- The councils ruled against usury from Nicaea in 325 to Vienne in 1311–1312, first for the clergy and then for everyone, and in 1515 the Fifth Lateran Council let charitable lenders to the poor ask a moderate sum for their costs.
- Calvin wrote in 1545 that usury must be judged by justice and charity, and two hundred years later Benedict XIV held that any gain beyond the sum lent is usurious.
- Catholic teaching today accepts a fair profit and condemns usury, and in 2018 the Vatican named interest rates beyond what borrowers can bear.
Bibliographie (cliquer pour afficher)
- Bible: King James Version (public domain) from BibleGateway: Exodus 22:21-27; Leviticus 25:35-38; Deuteronomy 15:4-8 and 23:19-20; Nehemiah 5:1-13; Psalm 15; Proverbs 28:8; Isaiah 24:1-2; Jeremiah 15:10; Ezekiel 18:5-17 and 22:12; Matthew 25:24-30; Luke 6:32-36 and 19:20-23. Word counts from the Project Gutenberg King James text (ebook #10).
- Usury, The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906).
- Strong’s Greek dictionary, G560 (from the King James “hope for again” in Luke 6:35).
- Usury, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia; Thomas Renz on usury, reposted by Ian Paul, Psephizo; John Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Matthew, New Advent.
- Canons of the First Council of Nicaea, canon 17, New Advent.
- Second Lateran Council, 1139, canon 13.
- Third Lateran Council, 1179, canon 25.
- Council of Vienne, 1311-1312, decree 29.
- Fifth Lateran Council, session 10, 4 May 1515, on credit organisations.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, question 78, New Advent.
- Calvin Elliott, Usury (1902), with Calvin’s letter on usury in English; Michael Wykes, “Devaluing the Scholastics: Calvin’s Ethics of Usury,” Calvin Theological Journal 38 (2003), for the 1545 date.
- John Calvin, commentary on Exodus 22:25, CCEL.
- Vix Pervenit, Pope Benedict XIV, 1 November 1745.
- Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, paragraph 341 (2004).
- Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones, numbered section 16, first and second paragraphs (6 January 2018).
- What Is Usury? What does the Bible Say?, Christianity.com Editorial Staff.
- Resolution No. 10 (10/2), Rulings on Usury-based Bank Transactions, International Islamic Fiqh Academy, December 1985.
- Qur’an 2:275-279, Pickthall translation.
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