A Research On Protestant Thought Of Usury During The Reformation Period

Prior to modern times, usury was not only an economic behavior but also an behavior which went against Christianity. Christianity urged against usury from the Bible; then Thomas Aquinas, the scholastic theologians had formed a system of anti-usury theory. In the Reformation period, Protestant theologians elucidates new thoughts of usury, gradually disintegrated the usury theory of medieval church. The Protestant’s usury thought not only had the obvious characteristics of the times, but also promoted historical development as a unique spirit of Europe.Theory of usury derived from the Bible, early fathers and canons defined "usury" and points out reasons to against it. Theory of usury Christian was formed after12th Century; medieval scholastic theologians systematically stated Theory of Usury in three levels:the private property, the Divine Law and Natural Law. Although the theory of usury was systemic, and canons were severe, the act of usury never be stopped and the church had become the largest lenders.The Reformation denied the authority of the Pope, Protestant sects with different languages and ideas occurred in different regions, Reformation in Germany, Switzerland and the England was the most prominent. At the same time, new forms were emerged in economic, the Protestant theorists gradually adopt to the new situation of usury thought when facing the changes. Martin Luther was a master of Scholasticism, his usury thought had the character of inheritance; but as the leading character of the religious reform, Luther was against the church lending and advocated usury charged by the secular regime, and had a certain degree of attention to the market economy meanwhile. Yet John Calvin’s view on usury was considered to be an important turning point in the development of western economy. He faced up to commodity economy and the "interest", not only allowed lending usury at interest, but also treated it as social necessity. Compared with Luther and Calvin, there was a lack of leading authorities in British religious reform. Usury thought of Anglican was basically the Aquinas type, which was relatively conservative yet had theories of liberalized tendency. Influenced by Calvin’s thought, the Puritans added individualism into the usury, beautified "lending at interest (within statutory rate range)" eventually, and separated usury from the religious ethics.