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The Catholic West has typically been anti-usury (the charging of interest on loaned money). Since this is basically the back-bone of the American economy, does anyone have any comments on it from an Eastern or Western perspective?

Also, does the East have a traditional polemic against usury?

in Christ,
Marshall

Musings of an Orthodox Anglican [taylormarshall.blogspot.com]

Dear Marshall:

To get a more intelligible answer to your question on "usury," perhaps a differentiation between its "legal" or "statutory" and its "general" definition should be examined first.

Not all interest charging consitutes "usury": for example, interest charged for a bank loan or a student loan is NOT usurious.

I think what is proscribed in the West (and in most jurisdictions regulating commercial transactions) is the lending of money at an exorbitant or illegal rate of interest, although the definition of what is "exorbitant" or "illegal rate" varies.

AmdG

Belloc defines usury as "charging interest on an unprofitable loan." By this he means a loan that by its nature is not meant to be profitable.

For example, if I lend you money to start a business, it is reasonable for me to expect a return with interest. But, if I lend you money to eat because you're short until your next paycheck, it would be usurious for me to charge interest on that loan.

Notice that the designation of "Usury" is not really related to the rate but to the kind of loan on which the interest is charged. The historical argument in quite compelling that it was the latter kind of loan that was forbidden in the Medieval west--that's really what the Popes were going after with their condemnations of usury, not high rates as such.

Belloc explains in much greater detail in his book Usury.

LatinTrad