Abstract:
The purpose of this article was to compare Jerome’s and Augustine’s sermons on the fifth book
of the Psalms with regard to their views on the rich and the poor. After a brief consideration of
the different audiences of Jerome and Augustine, we focused on their attitudes to wealth and
poverty, and almsgiving and its relationship to eschatology. In both Jerome’s and Augustine’s
commentaries we were confronted with problems regarding the nature of the collections, the
composition of the audiences, and a lack of overlap between the two works, but it was possible
to discern congruences and differences in their exegesis. In their preaching on poverty and
riches, both homilists associated Judas with the devil and wealth. With regard to the
identification of Christ and the poor, Jerome offers a somewhat uneasy exegesis in explaining
that Christ stands at the right hand of the pauper, although the Lord himself is rich. Augustine
mentioned the identification of Christ and the poor a few times in Enarrationes in Psalmos and
framed the poverty of Christ within the body of the church, emphasising the common
humanity of his congregation. In his sermons, mainly delivered to monks, Jerome advocated
total renunciation. Augustine made more allowances for human frailty, advocating partial
and gradual dispossession. The Songs of Ascent provided both our authors with the
opportunity to consider the place of almsgiving in an eschatological context.
CONTRIBUTION : We investigate the views of two prominent Latin fathers on wealth and poverty
in their sermons on Psalms 109–150. The focus on wealth and poverty is evident. Judas is
identified with the rich and Christ with the poor, placing Christ and riches against each other
in an either/or position.
