They Who Give From Evil

Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Pacific Lutheran University, where she teaches courses in the early and medieval history of Christianity and Islam, and Eastern Orthodox theology.

"Ihssen's patient study describes Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa's teachings on usury against the backdrop of the ancient world, of biblical teaching, and of other Christian voices in late antiquity. The result is a book that is both timely in its warnings against economic injustice, and illuminating in its elucidation of early Christian teachings on usury. Most importantly, Ihssen shows that Nyssa's approach to usury has its own unique emphases."Hans Boersma, Regent College"Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen performs a real service, therefore, in producing, in a very accessible form, an exhamination of the Eastern Church's response to moneylending."Dr. Selby, Church Times, 19 July 2013"Ihssen is able to shed fascinating insight on Roman life and illustrate the rich social justice theologies of the patristic world." Theological Book Review (tbr), Vol. 25, No.2, 2013"As a work in patristics, Ihssen's monograph completes necessary spadework about one aspect of the social teaching of two major Eastern church thinkers. As a guide to social response for Christians today, Ihssen makes a further down-payment on a valuable and difficult project - to discover what sort of economy a self-consciously Christian civilization barely free of the era of the New Testament church did adopt or cerate once free of persecution." Timothy Patitsas, Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 65, No 2, October 2014

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1 Basil and Gregory's Sermons on Usury: A Simple Historiography2 Usury in Greek and Roman Society3 Usury in Jewish and Christian Scripture4 Greek Theologians and Usury5 Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa: Credit Where Credit is Due6 ConclusionBibliography