Was Jesus a Socialist?: An Analysis of the Lucan Message Concerning Charity for the Poor

: The fractious culture wars between the political Left and Right occasionally delve into matters of Christian theology and New Testament there has been contention surrounding Jesus’s message and predisposal towards the economically and socially

nuances, they all share an emphasis on a group-based prescription for helping the economically underprivi-ism's collectivist philosophy is manifested in its call for wealth redistribution, a welfare state, and a progressive socialism leans heavily on the idea of solidarity and the common good where people develop "bonds of at tackling economic dispossession primarily through the charity for and uplifting of the economically down-New Testament's depiction of Jesus as a social prophet Ernest Van Eck (2016), a New Testament scholar, conconsidering his close association with the "expendables instance, Van Eck cites Jesus's indiscriminate treatment of the socially and economically dispossessed when he dined with them and healed their sickness as indicative Cort (2020) even suggests that Jesus is "consistently ing Jesus's proclamation that his primary mission is to "proclaim the good news to the poor… [and] to set the Further, Cort also seizes on Jesus's beatitude that says, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom a prominent theologian known for his social justice advocacy, observes that one of every sixteen verses in the New Testament is about "the poor or the subject

Introduction
The Lucan writings which consist of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, collectively known as Luke-Acts, contain a "heightened concern for the More importantly, they suggest that the obligation to care for the poor is intrinsically a Christian one (Frame this premise, some have presumed that the Lucan works provide a strong basis for a socialist mode of living and that Jesus pioneered the principles underlying socialism claims that "Jesus was a socialist" because his "radical research question that this paper will address is whether Jesus's message about charity in Luke-Acts points to paper will argue that because individual responsibility is held paramount in Luke-Acts, the socialist philosophy is not central to Jesus's message concerning charity for

Socialism and collective responsibility
Socialism's prescription to tackle economic poverty is the more extreme types include utopian socialism and state communism, while some more moderate ones often resemble democratic socialism and market com-parable is further highlighted in the Samaritan's insis-cially care for the man: "take care of him and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you" could have abdicated his individual responsibility after his initial display of compassion and charity, and yet the Samaritan insists that the obligation of continued argues, "the story certainly leaves no doubt that what same simplicity and governed completely by the need neighbour, it does not support the Christian socialist contention that Jesus's goal is to tinker with sociopolitical structures and policies to "alleviate poverty in the taking action is a clear display of individual responsito personally act with charity "within the immediate and compassion to a fellow human being "wherever that person may be found and whatever occasion Fiala's, and Schatkin's analysis gestures toward the idea that the Christian call for kindness and generosity is Some Potential Counterarguments?

Common ownership and wealth redistribution
Those who contend that collective responsibility is central to Jesus's message about charity in Luke-Acts may retort that there are irrefutable passages which show the alignment between the Christian message and socialist for pioneering Christian socialism, makes the case that Acts 2 and 4 contain passages which depict a Christian that the early Christians practiced common ownership and wealth redistribution: "now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as Some theologians and biblical scholars take it a step further to argue that the Judeo-Christian tradition itself is intrinsically socialist because of its emphasis on the universal fellowship under God's overarching fathersocialism is the "natural and rightful outworking of bibis the "system whereby the people of the world, or a New Testament repudiates the rugged individualism that characterizes the capitalist system while placing a premium on loving one's neighbour and the universal point behind those who contend that primitive Christianity and socialist principles intersect all converge at the idea that helping the poor and addressing economic

Individual Responsibility
Although collective responsibility appears to be at the centre of the Lucan writings concerning charity, a closer analysis of the texts reveals the primacy of individual those who have two tunics and excess food should give just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them inconsistent with the group-centric idealism that social-There is no question that caring for the economically dispossessed is at the core of the Lucan message, but to say that this is predominantly grounded in collecdemonstrates this contention is the Parable of the thy as Jesus told it immediately after his Sermon on the Mount, where he equated the love of God with Samaritan's heroism, who went out of his way to show Samaritan did not abdicate his personal responsibility out of his free will, he took the personal initiative in responding to an immediate need of a fellow human the simplest sense of the word 'communists' [because] they put all their goods into a common fund and distribution was made to every man according to his need" claimed Christian socialists, who take the view that Acts 2 and 4 depict socialist Christians and that their the example of Barnabas, a Christian disciple in Jerusalem, who was portrayed in Acts 4 as a man of good deeds for selling his private property so that wealth could be redistributed to Christians who needed it most Temple, and Hardie's exegesis of Acts 2 and 4 holds much less in Luke-Acts, did either Jesus or his apostles for the purpose of establishing a regime of common that neither Jesus nor his apostles compelled "a socialist order of society" (40) considering how their practice of "generous giving and sharing of resources took place solely within the church rather than throughout that the early-Christians' apparent illustration of socialist living is merely "descriptive but not prescriptive" (4), meaning there was no indication that it was meant to be a universal command for future Christians to of the Christian way of life in those chapters, Arthur Lindsley (2012), a professor of biblical studies, takes a step further on why it is erroneous to hinge the Christian socialist argument on Acts 2 and 4:  (2014), the parable is untenable because it suggests that the poor are somehow incapable of sinning just as much as the of wealth is intrinsically evil is almost akin to "roman-ished not for his wealth but for his "callous lovelessness that the rich man was punished simply for possessing wealth is "a pernicious misreading of the parable" The telling point in Lindsley's analysis is the absence of voluntarily practiced common ownership and wealth redistribution is far from the government-mandated compulsion that is present in a socialist welfare crucial role in upholding and promoting its citizens' economic and social well-being through "compulsory contributions take the form of obligatory high-income deductions and taxes, where noncompliance results in this is the Scandinavian countries, which many socialists point to as an example of a prosperous democratic In Sweden, for instance, the penalty for reckless tax evasion can be particularly harsh, as one can be impris-Hence, the argument that the practice of socialism is rooted in the apostolic times is faulty because the early Christians' tradition of common ownership and wealth the fact that free will and voluntarism were key in the early Christian practice of wealth sharing further reinforces the contention that the Lucan message concerning charity is centred on individual responsibility: it was decision they took to realize that obligation was to pool their resources so it could be "distributed to each as

Jesus's condemnation of wealth and the rich
In addition to the passages in Acts that supposedly point to a Christian proclivity for principles that eventually formed socialist thinking, some also cite a few The most prominent among these has been the Parable while at his gate lays a beggar "full of sores" named Lazarus only wishing to be fed with "what fell from the rich man's table but only dogs came and licked ing portrayal of the rich man and Lazarus from the parable's outset is a clear embodiment of Jesus's disdain towards the economic disparity caused by the class who

Conclusion
To be sure, in arguing that Jesus's message regarding charity for the poor does not comport with the philosophy of socialism, this paper does not advance the view that capitalism or some other sociopolitical ideology only emerged centuries long after Jesus walked the onto Jesus is unwarranted because Jesus was either elusive or outright dismissive when it comes to his view on how to set up a government or economic system (Eamisleading and perhaps even deceptive to enlist Jesus as Another important nuance to note is that this is and the notion of collective responsibility, just like individual responsibility, has an important role in alleviating to make people "do good, to be rich in good works, see this in various charitable organizations and social perhaps we could move beyond the fraught theological conversation that has rocked the relationship between this paper has shown, the dignity and primacy of the individual, being the "partakers of the divine nature" ble's key message is the moral imperative for individuals to respond and take initiative whenever they encounter is a warning against the "wanton neglect of one whom you regularly see and could help very easily" (Blomberg the individual is at the centre of the Lucan philosophy Perhaps more important for those inclined to say that socialism overlaps with the Lucan teachings about the capitalist ideal of wealth accumulation was "plainly Sermon on the Mount because of its "message of hope more importantly, they see the Sermon on the Mount as a "consistent and powerful argument against propseems fair considering Jesus's repeated admonition ward the needy, such as when he said, "woe to you who go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to Nonetheless, the Christian socialist use of the Sermon on the Mount is also defective because the key takeaway from Jesus's proclamation is the danger of letting material wealth corrupt one's character (Longenecker terial wealth, albeit the latter is more concerned with its equitable sharing and redistribution while the former is problems, socialists are no better than capitalists when adhering to Jesus's exhortation not to lay up treasures (2016) aptly puts it, "it is not evident that the creation of a socialist society would remove the Mammon worship against which the Christian socialists argued" in his Sermon on the Mount is an exhortation to put higher veneration on spiritual well-being over material possessions, considering how God will ultimately