THE CHURCH AND THE USURERS

Brian M McCall

SKU: 8602  |  ISBN: 9781932589641

Unprofitable Lending for the Modern Economy

"In this marvelously clear and compact study, Professor McCall explains what usury is, how its evils have provoked massive distortions in our society through the system of money, banking and credit, what the Church really teaches on usury, and the enduring relevance of that teaching. This book is a decisive blow against a major facet of the economic liberalism condemned by Pope after Pope. The Church and the Usurers is a landmark work." 

Christopher A. Ferrara

Dr. Brian McCall, a professor of law at the University of Oklahoma's College of Law, a contributor to The Angelus, Catholic Family News, and The Remnant, in addition to other journals, as well as a speaker at our 2011 Conference for Catholic Tradition on the Kingship of Christ, has released this truly important work. The fruit of years of study and work, The Church and the Usurers considers the question of usury and its application to the modern age. The book looks at this subject in light of Sacred Scripture, Aristotelian philosophy, and the constant and decisive teachings of the Church. Those inclined to dismiss the Church's teaching as outdated, or somehow changed will be in for a shock. If you thought the Church's teaching on usury had changed, then you need to read this book.

For a sneak peak about the book, and to understand Dr. McCall's motivations in writing the book, see this interview with Gloria.TV.

Customer Reviews

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Elisabeth

Great book by a great author. The subject of usery does not get enough attention 😒 I believe it was the beginning of a major downturn in Chirch history.

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Janet Baker
Economics for Catholics

What a wonderful book! Dr. McCall gives us a succinct history related to the still-pressing subject of usury that reaches from ancient Greece through Rome, then Medieval Europe and ultimately all the way to the present, where Chapter Seven quietly gives us a powerful modern economic platform to restore our nation. He supports his work with citations from the traditional teaching across all the centuries. It is awesome.

Here is the full review from Janet Baker...

What a wonderful book! Dr. McCall gives us a succinct history related to the still-pressing subject of usury that reaches from ancient Greece through Rome, then Medieval Europe and ultimately all the way to the present, where Chapter Seven quietly gives us a powerful modern economic platform to restore our nation. He supports his work with citations from the traditional teaching across all the centuries. It is awesome.

It is not possible to list all the valuable insights offered in this book, but my personal favorite is the heart-stirring fact that what was not enforceable in the 16th century when business investment suddenly burgeoned from the occasional event into an unmanageable behemoth where it seemed impossible to untangle usury from legitimate business investment, and newly-hatched protestantism gave up that struggle (for an easier one, the condemnation of all profit above a fixed point), is now enforceable again, with the emergence of software that is capable of analyzing contracts and distinguishing usury from investment. We are again capable of fighting back and for once technology is not the enemy but the cavalry galloping over the horizon.

What we could not do in the 16th century we can now do! Only the Catholic Church retained through the ages intervening between the 16th century and the present the essential principle that all usury is wrong and all business investment (as long as it honors just price, subsidiarity, and distributive and commutative justice), is legitimate, an essential distinction protecting us both from neo-conservatism and socialism. Protestant economic subjectivism, on the other hand, took in the 16th century the easy, unprincipled road that mildly and ineffectively condemns both usury and business 'in excess' and thus tragically unleashed the twin scourges of predatory capitalism and socialism. This book fixes that error. It gives us a traditional Catholic platform to re-present to the public the wrongs done to our economy by usury in preferring predatory loans over fruitful investment, and to legislate to fix it. It is an invaluable tool for the restoration of the Catholic state. You must read it even if you might believe 'economics is not your thing.'