View source for Christian communism

{{Short description|Form of communism based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ}}
{{use Oxford spelling|date=November 2017}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{communism sidebar|variants}}
{{Christian socialism sidebar|variants}}
'''Christian communism''' is a theological view that the teachings of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] compel [[Christians]] to support [[religious communism]]. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in [[Christianity]] began, many Christian communists argue that evidence from the [[Bible]] suggests that the first Christians, including the [[Apostles in the New Testament]], established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Montero |first=Roman |date=30 July 2019 |title=The Sources of Early Christian Communism |url=https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-sources-of-early-christian-communism/ |access-date=26 March 2021 |website=[[Church Life Journal]]}}</ref> Many advocates of Christian communism and other [[communists]], including [[Karl Kautsky]], argue that it was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves.<ref name="Kautsky, 1953">{{cite book |last=Kautsky |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Kautsky |title=Foundations of Christianity |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1908/christ/index.htm |date=1953 |orig-year=1908 |publisher=[[Atheneum Books|Russell & Russell]] |chapter=IV.II. The Christian Idea of the Messiah. Jesus as a Rebel |chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1908/christ/ch10.htm#s3 |quotation=Christianity was the expression of class conflict in Antiquity.}}</ref> This position is also held by historians studying early Christianity.<ref name="Montero et al."/>
 
There are those who hold the view that the [[early Christian Church]], such as the one described in the [[Acts of the Apostles]], was an early form of [[communism]] or [[Christian socialism]]. The view is that communism was just Christianity in practice and Jesus was the first communist.<ref name="Houlden & Minard">{{cite book |title=Jesus in History, Legend, Scripture, and Tradition: A World Encyclopedia |last1=Houlden |first1=Leslie |author-link1=Leslie Houlden |last2=Minard |first2=Antone |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61069804-7 |location=Santa Barbara, California |page=357}}</ref>

== History ==
Christian communism was based on the concept of ''[[koinonia]]'', which means common or shared life, which was not an economic doctrine but an expression of [[agape]] love.<ref name="FullerWestberg2006">{{cite book |first1=Reginald Horace |last1=Fuller |author1-link=Reginald H. Fuller |first2=Daniel |last2=Westberg |title=Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2d5meDOO3MC&pg=PA81 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Liturgical Press]] |isbn=978-0-8146-2792-1 |pages=81– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> It was the voluntary sharing of goods amongst the community.<ref name="Tourgée2010">{{cite book |first=Albion Winegar |last=Tourgée |author-link=Albion W. Tourgée |title=Undaunted Radical: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Albion W. Tourgée |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nf3QHQTyG4AC&pg=PA146 |date=15 April 2010 |publisher=[[LSU Press]] |isbn=978-0-8071-3754-3 |pages=146– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> [[Acts 4]]:35 records that in the [[early Christian Church]] in [[Jerusalem]] "[n]o one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but shared everything [[Community of goods of the early church of Jerusalem|in common]]." The pattern helped the early Christians to survive after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|siege of Jerusalem]] and was taken seriously for several centuries.<ref name="Montero & Foster 2017, p. 5">{{cite book |last1=Montero |first1=Roman A. |last2=Foster |first2=Edgar G. |title=All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tU_dDgAAQBAJ |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |date=2017 |page=5 |isbn=9781532607929 |access-date=24 January 2019 |quote=I am going to argue that the accounts found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37 describe historical economic practices found within the early Christian community; practices that were taken very seriously, which were widespread over different Christian communities around the Roman world, and which lasted for at least well into the second century. I am also going to argue that these economic practices were grounded in both Jewish and Christian theology and had precedent in Jewish tradition and practice; as well as the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> While it later disappeared from [[church history]], it remained within [[monasticism]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Ball |first1=Terence |last2=Dagger |first2=Richard |author2-link=Richard Dagger |display-authors=et al |date=30 April 2020 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/socialism |title=Socialism |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |access-date=15 September 2020 |quote=Early Christian communities also practiced the sharing of goods and labour, a simple form of socialism subsequently followed in certain forms of monasticism. Several monastic orders continue these practices today.}}</ref> and was an important supporting factor in the rise of [[feudalism]]. This ideal returned in the 19th century with monasticism revival and the rise of religious movements wanting to revive the early Christian egalitarianism. Because they were accused of [[atheism]] due its association with [[Marxism]], they preferred ''communalism'' to describe their Christian communism.<ref>{{cite book |first=Frank K. |last=Flinn |title=Encyclopedia of Catholicism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA173 |year=2007 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8160-7565-2 |pages=173–174 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
 
=== Church Fathers ===
[[File:El Greco 13.jpg|thumb|290px|''[[Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (El Greco, Washington)|Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple]]'' by [[El Greco]]|alt=''Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple'', Washington version, by El Greco]]
The early [[Church Fathers]], like their non-[[Abrahamic religious]] predecessors, maintained that human society had declined to its current state from a now lost egalitarian social order.<ref name="Ree">{{cite book |first=Erik |last=van Ree |title=Boundaries of Utopia - Imagining Communism from Plato to Stalin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzesCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |date=22 May 2015 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-48533-8 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Several historians view the early Christian Church, as described in the [[Acts of the Apostles]] (specifically the ''[[omnia sunt communia]]'' reference in Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-35),<ref name="Kautsky, 1953"/><ref name="Ree"/><ref name="Walton, 2008">{{cite journal |title=Primitive communism in Acts? Does Acts present the community of goods (2:44-45; 4:32-35) as mistaken? |first=Steve |last=Walton |date=April 2008 |journal=[[Evangelical Quarterly]] |volume=80 |number=2 |pages=99–111 |doi=10.1163/27725472-08002001}}</ref> as an early form of communism.<ref name="Busky2002">{{cite book |first=Donald F. |last=Busky |author-link=Donald F. Busky |title=Communism in History and Theory: From Utopian socialism to the fall of the Soviet Union |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-bi65fwN7kC |year=2002 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-275-97748-1 |page=14 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Lansford|2007|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Guthrie|1992|p=46}} Among Christian communists, the view is that communism was just Christianity in practice and Jesus was a communist.<ref name="Houlden & Minard"/> Later historians across several centuries supported the reading of early church communities as communistic in structure.{{sfn|Renan|1869|p=152}}{{sfn|Ellicott|Plumptre|1910}}{{sfn|Boer|2009|p=120}}
 
=== European High Middle Ages ===
From the [[High Middle Ages]] in Europe, various groups supported Christian communist and [[rural communalist]] ideas, and these ideas were also occasionally adopted by reformist Christian sects. An early 12th-century [[proto-Protestant]] group originating in [[Lyon]] known as the [[Waldensians]] held their property in common in accordance with the Book of Acts but were persecuted by the [[Catholic Church]] and retreated to [[Piedmont]].<ref name="Boer2019">{{cite book |first=Roland |last=Boer |author-link=Roland Boer |title=Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8KODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |date=7 March 2019 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-39477-3 |pages=15–16 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
 
Around 1300, the [[Apostolic Brethren]] in northern Italy were taken over by [[Fra Dolcino]], who formed a sect known as the [[Dulcinians]], which advocated ending feudalism, dissolving hierarchies in the church, and holding all property in common.<ref name="Boer2019"/> The [[Peasants' Revolt]] in England has been an inspiration for "the medieval ideal of primitive communism", with the priest [[John Ball (priest)|John Ball]] of the revolt being an inspirational figure to later revolutionaries,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Communism in Furs: A Dream of Prehistory in William Morris's John Ball |author-link=Stephen F. Eisenman |first=Stephen F. |last=Eisenman |journal=The Art Bulletin |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=92–110 |date=2005 |doi=10.1080/00043079.2005.10786230 |s2cid=153319221}}</ref> and having allegedly declared that "things cannot go well in England, nor ever will, until all goods are held in common."<ref name="Brown2009">{{cite book |author-link=Archie Brown (historian) |first=Archie |last=Brown |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjgGDYoPapMC&pg=PA12 |date=9 June 2009 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0-06-188548-8 |page=12 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

=== Renaissance ===
During the 15th century around the year 1420, a radical Hussite faction in [[Bohemia]] known as the [[Taborites]] established themselves in [[Tábor]]. The group sought to live a life similar to that of the early Church. All possessions were held in common, they declared the rejection of their king, and the ruling lord. Additionally, they declared equality among both men and women. This resulted in women receiving education for the first time. Ultimately, the encampment lasted until 1437.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Levinson|first1=David|last2=Christensen|first2=Karen|title=Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World Vol 2|date=2003|publisher=Sage|page=230|isbn=9780761925989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1geOjQ6R0MC&q=taborite|access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref> 

In the 16th century, English writer [[Thomas More]], who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a [[saint]], portrayed a society based on common ownership of property in his treatise ''[[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]]'', whose leaders administered it through the application of [[reason]].<ref name="Davis1983">{{cite book |author-link=J. C. Davis |first=J. C. |last=Davis |title=Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian Writing 1516–1700 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5T-LVB-6tIC&pg=PA58 |date=28 July 1983 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-27551-4 |pages=58 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

=== Reformation and early modernity ===
Several groupings in the [[English Civil War]] supported this idea, especially [[Gerrard Winstanley]]'s [[Diggers]],<ref name="Empson, 2017">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[International Socialism (magazine)|International Socialism]] |title=A common treasury for all: Gerrard Winstanley's vision of utopia |issue=154 |date=5 April 2017 |first=Martin |last=Empson |url=https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007013718/https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |archive-date=7 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> who espoused clear communistic and [[agrarianist]] ideals.<ref name="Jones 2002">{{cite book |last=Winstanley |first=Gerrard |author-link=Gerrard Winstanley |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Sandra |year=2002 |orig-year=1649 |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/863 |title=The True Levellers Standard Advanced: Or, the State of Community Opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men |publisher=R. S. Bear |edition=Renascence |access-date=11 January 2023 |via=Digital Repository Unimib |quote=That we may work in righteousness, and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All, both Rich and Poor, That every one that is born in the Land, may be fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth, according to the Reason that rules in the Creation. Not Inclosing any part into any particular hand, but all as one man, working together, and feeding together as Sons of one Father, members of one Family; not one Lording over another, but all looking upon each other, as equals in the Creation; ... .}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Campbell|2009|p=127–129}}; {{harvp|Stearns|Fairchilds|Lindenmeyr|Maynes|Porter|Radcliff|Ruggiero|2001|p=290}}; {{harvp|Johnson|2013}}</ref> [[Oliver Cromwell]] and the [[Grandee (New Model Army)|Grandees']] attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell/ |first=Eduard |last=Bernstein |title=Cromwell and Communism |date=1930 |access-date=12 December 2019 |author-link=Eduard Bernstein}}</ref> [[Thomas Müntzer]] led a large [[Anabaptist]] communist movement during the 16th-century [[German Peasants' War]],<ref name="Müntzer, 1988">{{cite book |author-link=Thomas Müntzer |last=Müntzer |first=Thomas |year=1988 |editor-last=Matheson |editor-first=Peter |title=The Collected Works of Thomas Müntzer |location=Edinburgh |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-29252-0}}</ref><ref name="Blickle, 1981">{{cite book |last=Blickle |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Blickle (historian) |year=1981 |title=The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants' War from a New Perspective |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8018-2472-2}}</ref> which [[Friedrich Engels]] analysed in ''[[The Peasant War in Germany]]''.<ref name="The Peasant War in Germany">{{cite book |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Engels |year=1969 |orig-year=1850 |title=The Peasant War in Germany |translator-last=Schneierson |translator-first=Vic |location=Moscow |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-85315-205-7 |title-link=The Peasant War in Germany}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Eric R. |last=Wolf |author-link=Eric Wolf |title=The Peasant War in Germany: Friedrich Engels as Social Historian |journal=[[Science and Society]] |date=1987 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=82–92}}</ref>
 
The [[Hutterites]] believed in strict adherence to biblical principles and church discipline, and practised a form of communism.<ref>{{cite journal |publisher=Gütersloher Verlagshaus |date=1 December 1955 |title=The Christian Communism of the Hutterite Brethren |first=Robert |last=Friedmann |journal=[[Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte]] |volume=46 |issue=jg |doi=10.14315/arg-1955-jg14|s2cid=163574509 }}</ref> In the words of historians Max Stanton and Rod Janzen, the Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective. As an economic system, Christian communism was attractive to many of the peasants who supported social revolution in sixteenth century central Europe", such as the German Peasants' War, and Engels came to view Anabaptists as [[proto-communists]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Janzen |first1=Rod |last2=Stanton |first2=Max |date=2010 |title=The Hutterites in North America |edition=illustrated |location=Baltimore |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lgUbHUXmrvYC&pg=PA17 p. 17] |isbn=9780801899256}}</ref>
 
=== Beginning of the Age of Enlightenment ===
Criticism of the idea of [[private property]] continued into [[the Enlightenment]] era of the 18th century through such thinkers as the deeply religious [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. Raised a [[Calvinist]], Rousseau was influenced by the [[Jansenist]] movement within the Catholic Church. The Jansenist movement originated from the most orthodox Catholic bishops who tried to reform the Catholic Church in the 17th century to stop [[secularization]] and [[Protestantism]]. One of the main Jansenist aims was democratizing to stop the aristocratic corruption at the top of the Church hierarchy.<ref>{{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Roche |title=La France des Lumières |language=fr |trans-title=France of the Enlightenment |date=1993 |author-link=Daniel Roche (historian)}}</ref>
 
=== Late modern period ===
In the 19th century in [[Christian Europe]], communists were believed to have adopted atheism. In Protestant England, the word ''communism'' was too close to the Catholic [[communion rite]], hence ''socialist'' was the preferred term.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams |first=Raymond |author-link=Raymond Williams |title=Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society |publisher=[[Fontana Books]] |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-00-633479-8 |title-link=Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society}}</ref> [[Friedrich Engels]] argued that in 1848, when ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' was published, socialism was respectable in Europe while communism was not. The [[teachings of Jesus]] are frequently described as socialist, especially by Christian socialists, such as [[Terry Eagleton]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Eagleton |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Eagleton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAeREAAAQBAJ |title=The Gospels: Jesus Christ |date=17 October 2007 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |isbn=978-1-84467-176-2 |edition=paperback |location=London}}</ref> The [[Owenites]] in England and the [[Fourierists]] in France were considered respectable socialists, while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves ''communists''. This branch of socialism produced the communist work of [[Étienne Cabet]] in France and [[Wilhelm Weitling]] in Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Engels |title=Preface to the 1888 English Edition of the Communist Manifesto |pages=202 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |date=2002}}</ref> Weitling was the leader of the Christian communist [[League of the Just]] whose stated goal was "the establishment of the [[Kingdom of God]] on Earth, based on the ideals of love of one's neighbor, [[Social equality|equality]] and [[justice]]".<ref name="Volkov">G.N. Volkov et al., ''The Basics of Marxist-Leninist Theory.'' Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1979.</ref> This was also referred to by the League as the "new Jerusalem".{{CN|date=September 2023}} 
 
In the earliest years of the [[Mormon movement]], [[Joseph Smith]] promoted the [[law of consecration]] and the concept of the [[United Order]]. Today, some [[Mormon fundamentalist]] groups still apply this principle.<ref>{{cite web|date=27 January 2010 |title=Why I want to Live the United Order |url=https://www.mormonmatters.org/why-i-want-to-live-the-united-order/ |access-date=12 January 2022 |website=[[Mormon Matters]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Weidow |first=Lesley |date=2009 |title=Montana Zion: American Communalism in a Mormon Fundamentalist Community |url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/681 |type=MA thesis |publisher=[[University of Montana]]}}</ref> Christian socialism was one of the founding threads of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in the United Kingdom and is said to begin with the uprising of John Ball and [[Wat Tyler]] in the 14th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/labour-revives-faith-in-christian-socialism-1437750.html |title=Labour revives faith in Christian Socialism |work=[[The Independent]] |first=Paul |last=Routledge |author-link=Paul Routledge |date=22 May 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701202424/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/labour-revives-faith-in-christian-socialism-1437750.html |archive-date=1 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
[[Pehr Götrek]] translated ''The Communist Manifesto'' into Swedish the same year it was published in German. He made changes in it from his Christian influence, such as changing the now famous quote, ''[[Workers of the world, unite!]]'' to {{lang|sv|Folkets röst, guds röst!}} ({{lang|la|[[Vox populi, vox Dei]]}}, or "People's voice is God's voice"). He also wrote several works criticising the developing capitalist society from a Christian perspective.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Religion as ideology and critique: Per Götrek's Christian communism |first=Anton |last=Jansson |journal=LIR.journal |number=3 |date=2013 |pages=91–104 |url=https://ojs.ub.gu.se/index.php/LIRJ/article/view/2700 |archive-date=31 October 2021 |access-date=30 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031054537/https://ojs.ub.gu.se/index.php/LIRJ/article/view/2700 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Igal Halfin of [[Tel Aviv University]] argues the Marxist ethos that aims for unity reflects the [[Christian universalist]] teaching that humankind is one and that there is only one god who does not discriminate among people.<ref>{{cite book |title=From Darkness to Light: Class, Consciousness, and Salvation in Revolutionary Russia |last=Halfin |first=Igal |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=0822957043 |location=Pittsburgh, PA |pages=46}}</ref>

In 1914 the American socialist leader [[Eugene Debs]] declared that "Pure communism was the economic and social gospel preached by Jesus Christ, and every act and utterance which may properly be ascribed to him conclusively affirms it". He argued that subsequently Christ's words have been co-opted and diluted by individuals to serve their own ends.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Tichenor |editor1-first=Henry M. |title=Labor and Freedom, the Voice and Pen of Eugene V. Debs |date=2020 |publisher=Outlook Publishing |page=12}}</ref>
 
Early 20th century science fiction author and socialist [[Olaf Stapledon]] stated that "Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience".<ref>"Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience" quoted in Geoghegan, Vincent, ''Socialism and Religion: Roads to Common Wealth''.</ref> [[Fidel Castro]] believed, "Christ chose the fishermen because he was a communist",<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/christ-was-a-communist-says-castro-1.292935 |title=Christ was a communist, says Castro |work=[[Irish Times]] |date=July 15, 2000}}</ref> In his book "Fidel and Religion", Castro states that there is a "great coincidence between Christianity's objectives and the ones we Communists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selflessness, and [[Romans 13|loving thy neighbour]] and what we might call the content of a revolutionary's life and behaviour". Castro saw a similarity to his goals with the goals of Christ: "Christ multiplied the fish and the loaves to feed the people. That is precisely what we want to do with the Revolution and socialism", adding that, "I believe Karl Marx could have subscribed to the [[Sermon on the Mount]]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/christ-marx-and-che-fidel-castro-offers-pope-his-religious-views |title=Christ, Marx, and Che: Fidel Castro offers pope his religious views |date=September 21, 2015}}</ref>

Ho Chi Minh, although venerated as a communist leader in Vietnam and of a [[Confucian]] family background, was well-disposed to [[Christianity]]. He said: "The good side of Confucianism is the cultivation of personal ethics. The good side of Christianity is noble benevolence. The good side of [[Marxism]] is the dialectical method. The good side of [[Sun Yat-sen]] is that his thinking is suitable to the conditions in [[Vietnam]]. Do [[Confucius]], [[Jesus]], [[Marx]] and Sun Yat-sen not all have the same good side? They all sought the happiness for the people, and prosperity for the society. If today, they were still alive, if they were gathered in the same place, I believe they would certainly be living together in perfect harmony, as good friends. I strive to be their little student". He also used the language of Christianity and quoted [[Bible]] stories to appeal to Catholics in Vietnam in the fight against [[First Indochina War|France]] and [[Vietnam War|America]], as well as calling for unity between Catholics and followers of other religions. [[Ho Chi Minh Thought]] is said to have absorbed ideals from Christianity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Yến |first1=Cao Phi |title=Phải biết chắt lọc cái hay, cái tốt quanh ta |trans-title=The need to know how to filter the good, the good that is around us |url=https://www.hcmcpv.org.vn/van-ban/phai-biet-chat-loc-cai-hay-cai-tot-quanh-ta-1245748999 |website=Trang tin Điện tử Đảng bộ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh |publisher=Ho Chi Minh City Municipal Party Committee |access-date=21 November 2020 |location=[[Ho Chi Minh City]] |language=vi |date=2 September 2009 }}</ref>
 
Nicaraguan [[Sandinista]] activist, priest and former Minister for Culture [[Ernesto Cardenal]] was a proponent of the idea of Christian communism, saying "Christ led me to Marx...for me, the [[four Gospels]] are all equally Communist. I’m a Marxist who believes in God, follows Christ and is a revolutionary for his Kingdom".<ref>Novak, Michael. 1984. The Case against Liberation Theology. The New York Times, October 21, Section 6. 51.</ref> He later said "The Bible is full of revolutions. The [[Biblical prophets|prophets]] are people with a message of revolution. Jesus of Nazareth takes the revolutionary message of the prophets. And we also will continue trying to change the world and make revolution. Those revolutions failed, but others will come".<ref>{{cite news |title=Science Fuels the Writing, and Faith, of a Nicaraguan Poet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/world/americas/science-fuels-writing-and-faith-of-a-nicaraguan-poet-.html |work=The New York Times|date=3 January 2015 |last1=Malkin |first1=Elisabeth }}</ref>
 
==== China ====
{{further|Political theology in China|Sino-Christian theology}}
[[File:King of Shi Mansion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom 39 2019-11.jpg|thumb|{{ill|Site of King Shiwang's Residence of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom|zh|太平天國侍王府}}, used by [[Taiping Rebellion]] general [[Li Shixian]] as a command centre in [[Zhejiang]]{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}]]
The participants in the [[Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]] rebellion, a [[syncretic]] Christian-[[Shenic]] theocratic kingdom, are viewed by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] as proto-communists.<ref>{{cite book |last=Little |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Little |date=17 May 2009|url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1538&context=chinabeatarchive |title=Marx and the Taipings |publisher=[[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]] |access-date=5 August 2020 |quote=Mao and the Chinese Communists largely represented the Taiping rebellion as a proto-communist uprising.}}</ref> [[Soong Ching-ling]], a [[Methodist]], was recognized in China with the title of Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China.<ref>宋任穷 (1996). ''宋任穷回忆录（续集）''. 解放军出版社. p. 169.</ref>

== Basis ==
Christian communists typically regard biblical texts in [[Acts 2]] and [[Acts 4]] as evidence that the first Christians lived in a [[communist society]].<ref name="Ree"/><ref name="Walton, 2008"/><ref name="Busky2002"/> Scholars generally agree that the [[Acts of the Apostles]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]] were written by the same person. In Luke 12:33, Jesus commands his disciples to sell what they have and give alms, and in Luke 14:33 says that no one can be his disciple who has not forsaken all his possessions. Some historians confirm the view that a form of communism was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles.<ref name="Montero et al.">{{harvp|Bang|2006|p=24}}; {{harvp|Boer|2009|p=120}}; {{harvp|Ehrhardt|1969|p=20}}; {{harvp|Ellicott|Plumptre|1910}}; {{harvp|Guthrie|1992|p=46}}; {{harvp|Halteman Finger|2007|p=39}}; {{harvp|Lansford|2007|pp=24–25}}; {{harvp|The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, Volume 26|1866|p=502}}; {{harvp|Renan|1869|p=152}}; {{harvp|von Mises|1981|p=424}}; {{harvp|Montero|2017}}; {{harvp|Unterbrink|2004|p=92}}</ref>
 
{{quote|"All who believed were together and had [[omnia sunt communia|all things in common]]; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.&nbsp;... Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.&nbsp;... There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A32-35&version=NRSV |title=Acts204:32-35 NRSV |website=Bible Getaway |access-date=18 May 2016}}</ref>|Acts 2:44–45, Acts 4:32–35}}
 
[[File:2108-young-arrestthisman.jpg|thumb|''[[The Masses]]'', 1917 political cartoon by the socialist cartoonist [[Art Young]]]]
Among those historians who support the Christian communist view, Montero offers anthropological evidence that the practices recounted in Acts 4:32–35 were historical and were practised widely and taken seriously during at least the first two centuries of Christianity.<ref name="Montero & Foster 2017, p. 5"/> Other biblical evidence of [[anti-capitalistic]] belief systems include [[Matthew 6:24]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Cavanaugh |first=Clayton |date=29 May 2021 |url=https://cavanaugh.fyi/2021/05/29/no-good-christians-are-capitalists/ |title=No Good Christians are Capitalists |website=Cavanaugh |access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref> which said: "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%253A24&version=NIV |title=Matthew 63A24 NIV |website=Bible Gateway|access-date=18 May 2016}}</ref> The slogan "Each according to his abilities" has biblical origins. Acts 11:29 states: "Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea." Additionally, the phrase "[[To each according to his needs]]" has a biblical basis in Acts 4:35, which says "to the emissaries to distribute to each according to his need".<ref>{{cite book |first=Joseph Arthur |last=Baird |title=The Greed Syndrome: An Ethical Sickness in American Capitalism |date=1989 |page=32 |publisher=Hampshire Books |isbn=978-1877674020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Marshall |last=Berman |author-link=Marshall Berman |title=Adventures in Marxism |date=2000 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |page=151 |isbn=978-1859843093}}</ref>
 
Various authors, including Thomas Wharton Collens,<ref>{{cite web |last=Wharton Colleens |first=Thomas |date=March 1868 |title=Preaching, by Judge Thomas Wharton Collens (1812–1879), March 1868 |url=https://medicolegal.tripod.com/collenstwpmarch1868.htm |access-date=12 January 2023 |via=Medicolegal.tripod.com}}</ref> [[José Porfirio Miranda]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miranda |first1=José Porfirio |author-link=:es: José Porfirio Miranda de la Parra |year=1981 |title=Comunismo en la Biblia |trans-title=Communism in the Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMScIyWkD30C |series=Colección mínima |language=es |volume=79 |edition=3 |location=Mexico City |publisher=Siglo veintiuno editores |publication-date=1988 |isbn=9789682314865 |access-date=24 January 2019 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Miranda |first1=Jose Porfirio |author-link=:es: José Porfirio Miranda de la Parra |translator1-last=Barr |translator1-first=Robert R. |title=Communism in the Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9O9KAwAAQBAJ |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |date=2004 |isbn=9781592444687 |access-date=24 January 2019 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and [[José Míguez Bonino]], describe biblical sources supporting a common-property society. Bonino wrote: "Is it altogether absurd to re-read the resurrection today as a death of the monopolies, the liberation from hunger, or a solidary form of ownership?" Bonino and Miranda argue against the belief that "Scripture has various meanings", which in their view allow Western conservative theologians "to prevent the Bible from revealing ''its'' own subversive message", and that "use the Biblical text ... to defend the status-quo of a pre-revolutionary situation", as summarized by Andrew Kirk. Miranda said: "I am not introducing the Bible to Marx. ... I only wish to understand what the Bible says. ... We want to take the Bible seriously."<ref>{{cite book |last=McKim |first=Donald K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3lKAwAAQBAJ |title=The Bible in Theology and Preaching |date=5 May 1999 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]] |page=170 |isbn=978-1-57910-244-9}}</ref>
 
Christian communism does not depend merely on the principles of the early apostles, and Christian communists argue that anti-capitalist ideals are deeply rooted in the Christian faith. While modern [[capitalism]] had not yet formed in the time of Jesus, his message was overwhelmingly against the love of money and greed, and in support of the poor. Christian communists see the principles of Christ as staunchly anti-capitalist in nature. Since "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 [[Book of Timothy|Timothy]] 6:10), it seems natural for Christians to oppose a social system founded—as Christian communists argue—entirely on the love of money. Capitalism is heavily based in the collection of [[usury]], which was condemned for centuries by the Church based in numerous scriptures. Christian opposition to the emergence of such an interest-based system largely delayed [[capitalist development]] and capitalism did not gather popular support until [[John Calvin]] endorsed capitalist practice from a religious perspective.<ref>{{cite web |first=Dawn |last=Osakue |date=21 January 2011|title=Calvinist Ethics and the Rise of Capitalism |url=https://www.academia.edu/1085120 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009141549/https://www.academia.edu/1085120/Calvinist_Ethics_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism |archive-date=9 October 2014 |access-date=11 January 2023 |via=Academia.edu |quote=After turning the convert into a capitalist, the Calvinist doctrine of predetermination then made him comfortable with the uneven distribution of wealth. ... Weber's central thesis on the relationship between Calvinist ethics and the rise of capitalism is that the former directly led to, and sustained the growth of the latter.}}</ref>

== Groups ==
{{dynamic list|date=January 2022}}
Several Christian groups formerly practised [[common ownership]] and others continue to do so. They may or may not have explicitly used the English term ''communist'' for self-identification. Extant groups include:
* [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]]<ref>{{cite web |title=FAQs |url=https://www.bruderhof.com/en/life-in-community/faqs |website=Bruderhof |access-date=7 January 2022}}</ref>
* [[Church of Bible Understanding]]
* [[Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)|Cutlerites]]
* [[Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant]]
* [[Gloriavale Christian Community]]
* [[Hutterites]]
* [[Jesus Christians]] 
* [[Jesus People USA]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Zavada |first=Jack |date=13 April 2020 |title=What Do Jesus People USA Believe and Practice? |url=https://www.learnreligions.com/jesus-people-usa-beliefs-and-practices-700039 |website=Learn Religions |access-date=7 January 2022}}</ref>
* [[Koinonia Partners]]
* [[Padanaram Settlement]]
* [[Reba Place Fellowship]]
* [[Shakers]]<ref>{{cite book |first1=Stephen |last1=Stein |title=The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers |pages=42–44 |date=1994}}</ref>
* [[Sojourners Community]]
* [[Twelve Tribes communities]]
 
Historically, many groups have practised Christian communism, and may or may not be extant, depending on the case, including:
* [[House of Aaron|Aaronic Order]]
* [[Adonai-Shomo]]
* [[Amana Colonies]] ([[Community of True Inspiration]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Amana Today |publisher=The Amana Colonies National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amana/amana.htm |website=nps.gov |access-date=7 January 2022 |date=18 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518041904/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amana/amana.htm |archive-date=18 May 2011}}</ref>
* Followers of [[Thomas Müntzer]]<ref name="Müntzer, 1988"/><ref name="Blickle, 1981"/><ref name="The Peasant War in Germany"/>
* [[Aurora Colony]]
* [[Batenburgers]]
* [[Diggers]]<ref name="Empson, 2017"/><ref name="Jones 2002"/>{{sfn|Campbell|2009|p=127–129}}
* [[Dulcinians]]<ref name="Boer2019"/>
* [[Jesus Army]]
* [[Labadists]]
* [[Levellers]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Socialism: Utopian and Scientific |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Engels |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |date=1970 |orig-date=1880 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch01.htm |chapter=I: The Development of Utopian Socialism }}</ref>
* [[Harmony Society]]
* [[Oneida Community]]
* [[Peoples Temple]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Reiterman |first=Tim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8v4WH-dHbIC&pg=PT106 |title=Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People |date=13 November 2008 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-1-4406-3446-8}}</ref>
* [[Society of Separatists of Zoar]]
* [[United Order Family of Christ]]
* [[Waldensians]]<ref name="Boer2019"/>
* [[Zwijndrechtse Nieuwlichters]]
 
== Reception ==
Both Christian communism and [[liberation theology]] stress [[orthopraxy in Christianity]] over [[orthodoxy]]. A narrative of the nature of contemporary social struggles is developed via materialist analysis utilizing historiographic concepts developed by Marx. A concrete example are the Paraguayan landless movement ''Sin Tierra'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.okaraygua-paraguai.org/es/conozcanos.html |title=MCP (Movimiento Campesino Paraguayo) |language=es |publisher=Okaraygua Paraguai |access-date=29 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119044610/http://www.okaraygua-paraguai.org/es/conozcanos.html |archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref> who engage in direct land seizures and the establishment of socialized agricultural cooperative production in {{lang|es|asentamientos}}. The contemporary Paraguayan ''Sin Tierra'' operate in a very similar manner as that of the reformation era Diggers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diggers.org/diggers/religion_winstanley.htm |title=The Religion of Gerrard Winstanley and Digger Communism |last=Sutherland |first=Donald R. |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diggers.org/rexroth_diggers.htm |title=Rexroth |publisher=Diggers |date=26 November 2011 |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref> For [[Camilo Torres Restrepo]], the founder of a Colombian guerrilla group, the [[National Liberation Army (Colombia)|National Liberation Army]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eln-voces.com/ |title=Voces |publisher=[[National Liberation Army (Colombia)|ELN]] |date=26 May 2008 |access-date=29 December 2011 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8417595.stm |title=Colombia rebel groups Farc and ELN agree 'to unite' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=17 December 2009 |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McDermott |first=Jeremy |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8341093.stm |title=Colombia's ELN rebels show new vigour |work=[[BBC News]] |date=5 November 2009 |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref> developing this orthopraxis meant celebrating the [[Catholic Eucharist]] only among those engaged in armed struggle against the army of the Colombian state while fighting alongside them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filosofia.org/ave/001/a230.htm |title=Camilo Torres Restrepo 1929–1966 |work=Filosofía |access-date=29 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409154107/https://www.filosofia.org/ave/001/a230.htm |archive-date=9 April 2023}}</ref> In Australia, the academic [[Roland Boer]] has attempted to synthesize [[Reformed Christianity|Calvinism]] and Marxism.<ref name="Boer 2014">{{cite web |url=https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/roland-boer |url-status=dead |title=Professor Roland Boer |publisher=[[University of Newcastle (Australia)]] |date=2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925115921/https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/roland-boer |archive-date=25 September 2018 |access-date=21 January 2023}} See also {{cite web |date=13 December 2013 |title=Left of his field |url=https://www.newcastle.edu.au/highlights/our-researchers/education-arts/humanities-social-science/left-of-his-field |access-date=28 November 2022 |website=Newcastle.edu.au |publisher=[[University of Newcastle (Australia)]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331231902/https://www.newcastle.edu.au/highlights/our-researchers/education-arts/humanities-social-science/left-of-his-field |archive-date=31 March 2022}}</ref>
 
In a September 1962 sermon, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], a [[democratic socialist]] and [[social gospel]] advocate,<ref>{{citation |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/publications/papers-martin-luther-king-jr-volume-vi-advocate-social-gospel-september-1948-%E2%80%93-march |work=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. |volume=VI |title=Advocate of the Social Gospel, September 1948 – March 1963 |publisher=[[The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120201803/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/publications/papers-martin-luther-king-jr-volume-vi-advocate-social-gospel-september-1948-%E2%80%93-march |archive-date=20 November 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sturm |first=Douglas |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40015109 |title=Martin Luther King Jr. as Democratic Socialist. |journal=[[The Journal of Religious Ethics]] |volume=18 |number=2 |date=1990 |pages=79–105 |access-date=12 March 2021 |jstor=40015109}}</ref> said that "no Christian can be a communist". He stated that "basic philosophy of Christianity is unalterably opposed to the basic philosophy of communism", citing what he saw as rampant [[secularism]] and [[materialism]] in communism as evidence that communism "leaves out God". He further said that "for the communist there is no divine government or no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles." Nevertheless, King acknowledged that "although communism can never be accepted by a Christian, it emphasizes many essential truths that must forever challenge us as Christians." He added:
{{blockquote|"Communism in society is a classless society. Along with this goes a strong attempt to eliminate racial prejudice. Communism seeks to transcend the superficialities of race and color, and you are able to join the Communist Party whatever the color of your skin or the quality of your blood, the quality of blood in your veins. ... No one can deny that we need to be concerned about social justice. ... Karl Marx arouses our conscience at this point. ... So with this passionate concern for social justice, Christians are bound to be in accord. Such concern is implicit in the Christian doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Christians are always to begin with a bias in favor of a movement which protests against unfair treatment of the poor, but surely Christianity itself is such a protest. The Communist Manifesto might express a concern for the poor and the oppressed, but it expresses no greater concern than the manifesto of Jesus, which opens with the words: 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, recovering the sight of the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.' ... We won't have to worry ... [about] communism. ... It can never be defeated with ammunition. It can never be defeated with missiles. ... The only way that we can defeat communism is to get a better idea, and we have it in our democracy. ... We have it in our Christianity."<ref>{{cite web |title='Can A Christian Be a Communist?' Sermon Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church |date=3 April 2017 |publisher=[[The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]] |access-date=12 March 2021 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/can-christian-be-communist-sermon-delivered-ebenezer-baptist-church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308152418/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/can-christian-be-communist-sermon-delivered-ebenezer-baptist-church |archive-date=8 March 2021}}</ref>}}
 
The [[theology of Pope Francis]] has been described as [[Criticism of capitalism|critical of capitalism]], and [[Pope Francis]] has been viewed as having some sympathy to socialist causes, with his frequent criticism of capitalism and of [[neoliberalism]]. In 2016, Francis said that the capitalist world economy is "[f]undamental terrorism, against all of Humanity".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pope Francis: Capitalism is 'Terrorism Against All of Humanity' |last=Knight |first=Nika |work=Common Dreams |date=2 August 2016 |access-date=8 September 2018 |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/02/pope-francis-capitalism-terrorism-against-all-humanity}}</ref> When questioned on whether or not he is a communist, Francis responded: "As for whether or not I'm a communist: I am sure that I have not said anything more than what the Church's social doctrine teaches ... maybe the impression of being a little more 'of the left' has been given, but that would be a misinterpretation."<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Garrett |url=https://catholic-link.org/criticised-for-being-communist-or-to-the-left-heres-pope-francis-response/ |title=Criticised for Being Communist or to the Left, Here's Pope Francis' Response |website=Catholic Link |date=20 May 2016}}</ref> In 2013, he said: "The ideology of Marxism is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended."<ref name=":1">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/pope-francis-defends-criticism-of-capitalism-not-marxist |title=Pope says he is not a Marxist, but defends criticism of capitalism |first=Lizzy |last=Davies |date=15 December 2013 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 May 2015}}</ref> When asked about being labeled a [[Leninist]] by a blog post in ''[[The Economist]]'' in 2014, Francis said: "The communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the Gospel." He added that communism came "twenty centuries later".<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last=Pullella |first=Philip |date=29 June 2014 |url=http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/06/29/pope-francis-says-communists-are-closet-christians-whove-stolen-our-flag/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707010649/http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/06/29/pope-francis-says-communists-are-closet-christians-whove-stolen-our-flag/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 July 2014 |title=Pope Francis: Communists 'stole' the flag of Christianity |website=Reuters Edition International |access-date=27 December 2020}}</ref> In 2024, Pope Francis argued that Christians and Marxists, socialists, and communists shared a common mission and expressed support for the Marxist-Christian dialogue group Dialop.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=October 1, 2024 |title=Pope: Marxists and Christians have a common mission |url=https://english.katholisch.de/artikel/50230-pope-marxists-and-christians-have-a-common-mission |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=english.katholisch.de |language=en}}</ref>
 
== Relation with Marxism ==
Christian communists may or may not agree with various parts of Marxism, such as on the way a socialist or communist society should be organized.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Richardson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PN7UMUTBBPAC |chapter=Marxist Theology |title=The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology |publisher=[[SCM Press]] |location=London, England |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-33402208-4 |page=352 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=11: Christian Communism and the Bolsheviks |title=Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition |first=Roland |last=Boer |author-link=Roland Boer |editor-first=Roland |editor-last=Boer |pages=166–182 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/9789004394773_013 |isbn=978-90-04-39477-3 |date=19 February 2019 |s2cid=159065672}}</ref> Christian communists also share some of the political goals of Marxists, for example replacing capitalism with socialism, which should in turn be followed by communism at a later point in the future. The young [[Louis Althusser]] and [[Denys Turner]] are among Christian or Christianity-influenced philosophers who asserted the coherence of Christianity and Marxism.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=43246378 |title=Can a Christian be a Marxist |last=Turner |first=Denys |author-link=Denys Turner |journal=[[New Blackfriars]] |year=1975 |volume=56 |issue=661 |pages=244–253 |doi=10.1111/j.1741-2005.1975.tb02190.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Hamza |editor-first=Agon |editor-link=Agon Hamza|date=November 2016 |title=Althusser and Theology |url=https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/book-series/althusser-and-theology |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=9789004291546}}</ref> Althusser said: "I became communist because I was Catholic. I did not change religion, but I remained profoundly Catholic. I don't go to church but this doesn't matter; you don't ask people to go to church. I remained a Catholic, that is, an internationalist universalist. I thought that inside the Communist Party there were more adequate means to realize universal fraternity."<ref>{{cite web |work=[[Verso Books]] |url=https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3312-the-crisis-of-marxism-an-interview-with-louis-althusser |title=The Crisis of Marxism: An interview with Louis Althusser |date=11 July 2017 |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref> In 1960s [[Communist Czechoslovakia]], dialogue between Marxist and Christian philosophers and theologians was co-organized at [[Faculty of Arts of Charles University|Charles University]] by [[Milan Machovec]] in Czech and German, with notable participants including [[Ernst Bloch]] and [[Erich Fromm]].<ref>Žďárský, Pavel (2011). ''[https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/35237 Milan Machovec a jeho filosofická antropologie v 60. letech XX. století]'' [Milan Machovec and His Philosophical Anthropology in the 1960s]. Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Education, Department of Civic Education and Philosophy. Dissertation, supervised by {{ill|Anna Hogenová|cs}}.</ref>
 
Roland Boer, the son of a [[Presbyterian]] minister, said: "There is a tradition within Marxism of engagement with religion that is usually characterised as atheistic and disinterested, but I argue there is a continuous stream of major Marxist figures who have written on questions of religion and engaged specifically with the Bible or with theological debate. Some people contend that Marxism borrowed its main ideas from Christianity and Judaism and reconstructed them as secular ideology, but I think that is extremely simplistic – the relationship is much more complex."<ref name="Boer 2014"/> About [[Karl Marx]]'s famous quote about religion being the "[[opium of the people]]", he argues it has been largely misinterpreted, and that at that time [[opium]] was both valued and denounced for its medicinal qualities and its addictive potential. He said: "That ambivalence over religion is really what is embodied in Marx's metaphor, rather than the notion that it is just a drug that dulls the senses and makes you forget your suffering." About Christian communism, he said: "The Christian communist tradition is what really interests me and keeps me involved with religion. I am fascinated by the radical, revolutionary dimension of Christianity."<ref name="Boer 2014"/>
 
Latin American liberation theology influenced parts of the [[Evangelicalism in the United States|evangelical movement]] and Catholic bishops in the United States.<ref name="chomsky">{{cite web |last=Travis Kitchens |date=June 21, 2010 |title=Chomsky on Religion |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNDG7ErY-k4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/SNDG7ErY-k4 |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=October 17, 2017 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Its purported use of "[[Marxism#Concepts|Marxist concepts]]" led in the mid-1980s to an admonition by the [[Holy See|Vatican]]'s [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] (CDF).  While stating that "in itself, the expression 'theology of liberation' is a thoroughly valid term",<ref name=":0" /> the prefect [[Cardinal Ratzinger]] rejected certain forms of Latin American liberation theology for focusing on institutionalized or systemic sin and for identifying Catholic Church hierarchy in South America as members of the same privileged class that had long been oppressing Indigenous populations from the arrival of [[Francisco Pizarro|Pizarro]] onward.<ref name="Wojda, Paul J. 1995">Wojda, Paul J., "Liberation theology," in R.P. McBrien, ed., ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' (Harper Collins, 1995).</ref>

While the [[theology of Pope Francis]] has been described as [[Criticism of capitalism|critical of capitalism]] and sympathetic to socialism, Francis has expressed varying interpretations of Marxism in particular. In 2013, Pope Francis said: "The ideology of Marxism is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended."<ref name=":1" /> When asked about being labeled a [[Leninist]] by a blog post in ''[[The Economist]]'' in 2014, Francis said: "The communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the Gospel." He added that communism came "twenty centuries later".<ref name=":2" /> In 2024, Pope Francis argued that Christians and Marxists, socialists, and communists shared a common mission and expressed support for the Marxist-Christian dialogue group Dialop.<ref name=":3" />
== See also ==
{{Portal|Christianity|Communism}}
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
; General
* [[Catholicity]]
* [[Catholic communism]]
* [[Camilism]]
* [[Che Jesus]]
* [[Christian left]]
* [[Christian views on poverty and wealth]]
* ''[[Doctor Communis]]''
* [[Ebionites]]
* "[[He who does not work, neither shall he eat]]"
* [[Jesus in Christianity]]
* [[Jesuism]]
* [[Jesuit reduction]]
* [[League of the Just]]
* [[Marxism and religion]]
* [[Materialism and Christianity]]
* ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]''
; People
* [[Alain Badiou]]
*[[Camilo Torres Restrepo]]
* [[John Goodwyn Barmby]]
* [[Étienne Cabet]]
* [[Terry Eagleton]]
* [[Denys Turner]]
* [[Katayama Sen]]
* [[Y. T. Wu]]
* [[Slavoj Žižek]]
; Other Christian left perspectives
* [[Christian anarchism]]
* [[Christian egalitarianism]]
* [[Christian socialism]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
 
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last=Bang|first=Gustav|chapter-url=http://www.slp.org/pdf/others/crises_bang.pdf|title=Crises in European History|chapter=2. The Rise of Christianity. Christian Communism|publisher=Socialist Labor Party|orig-date=1916|year=2006|page=24|language=en}}
* {{cite book |last=Boer |first=Roland |author-link=Roland Boer |title=Political Grace. The Revolutionary Theology of John Calvin |publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-664-23393-8 |location=Louisville, Kentucky |page=120 |chapter=Conclusion: What If? Calvin and the Spirit of Revolution. Bible |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIeLYNEq6zsC&q=apostles+communist+calvin&pg=PA120}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Heather M. |year=2009 |title=The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World |publisher=[[The Rosen Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-1-61530-062-4 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kL_FviFwCCIC&pg=PA129 127&ndash;129]}}
* {{cite book |last=Ehrhardt |first=Arnold |author-link=Arnold Ehrhardt |title=The Acts of the Apostles |publisher=[[University of Manchester Press]] |year=1969 |isbn=978-0719003820 |location=Manchester |chapter=St Peter and the Twelve |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAbZAAAAIAAJ&q=apostles+communist+calvin&pg=PA20}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ellicott |first1=Charles John |title=The Acts of the Apostles |last2=Plumptre |first2=Edward Hayes |publisher=[[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell]] |year=1910 |location=London |chapter=III. The Church in Jerusalem. I. Christian Communism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Htk8AAAAIAAJ&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA11}}
* {{cite book|last=Guthrie |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Guthrie (theologian) |url=https://archive.org/details/apostles0010guth/page/46 |title=The Apostles |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-310-25421-8 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=[https://archive.org/details/apostles0010guth/page/46 46] |chapter=3. Early Problems. 15. Early Christian Communism |orig-year=1975 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uts4VTUm1iEC&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA46}}
* {{cite book |last=Halteman Finger |first=Reta |title=Of Widows and Meals. Communal Meals in the Book of Acts |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8028-3053-1 |location=Cambridge, UK |chapter=Reactions to Style and Redaction Criticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2RVoa4_qX8C&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA39}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Johnson |first=Daniel |title=Winstanley's Ecology: The English Diggers Today |magazine=[[Monthly Review]] |date=1 December 2013 |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2013/12/01/winstanleys-ecology/ |access-date=12 September 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Lansford |first=Tom |title=Communism. Political Systems of the World |access-date=16 May 2011 |year=2007 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=9780761426288 |pages=24–25 |chapter=History of Communism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MjjTt-TITcUC&q=christian&pg=PA24}}
* {{cite book |title=The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, Volume 26 |year=1866 |location=London |chapter=Rénan's Les Apôtres. Community life |access-date=10 May 2011 |orig-year=April and July |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhoaAQAAIAAJ&q=ananias+punished+death+communism&pg=PA502 |ref={{harvid|The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, Volume 26|1866}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Montero |first=Roman A. |title=All Things in Common The Economic Practices of the Early Christians |date=2017 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |isbn=9781532607912 |location=Eugene |oclc=994706026}}
* {{cite book |last=Renan |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Renan |title=Origins of Christianity |publisher=Carleton |year=1869 |volume=II. The Apostles |location=New York |page=152 |chapter=VIII. First Persecution. Death of Stephen. Destruction of the First Church of Jerusalem |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knYRAAAAYAAJ&q=apostles+communist&pg=PA152}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Stearns |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-link=Peter Stearns |editor2-last=Fairchilds |editor2-first=Cissie |editor3-last=Lindenmeyr |editor3-first=Adele |editor4-last=Maynes |editor4-first=Mary Jo |editor5-last=Porter |editor5-first=Roy |editor5-link=Roy Porter |editor6-last=Radcliff |editor6-first=Pamela |editor6-link=Pamela Radcliff |editor7-last=Ruggiero |editor7-first=Guido |editor7-link=Guido Ruggiero |year=2001 |title=Encyclopedia of European Social History: From 1350 to 2000 |volume=3 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |isbn=0-684-80577-4 |pages=290}}
* {{cite book |last=Unterbrink |first=Daniel T. |title=Judas the Galilean |year=2004 |isbn=0-595-77000-2 |chapter=The Dead Sea Scrolls |publisher=iUniverse |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhBFPH864P4C&q=ananias+punished+death+communism&pg=PA92 |access-date=10 May 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=von Mises |first=Ludwig |title=Socialism |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=9780913966624 |location=New Heaven |chapter=Christianity and Socialism |access-date=16 May 2011 |orig-year=1951 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GXi4MQQs3IC&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA424 |author-link=Ludwig von Mises}}

== Further reading ==
* [[David Chilton]]. 1982, 1986. ''Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators.'' Tyler, Texas: The Institute for Christian Economics. {{ISBN|0-930464-38-9}}. Available [https://web.archive.org/web/20070515173146/http://s155777461.onlinehome.us/docs/21de_47e.htm online for free].
* [[John Cyrus Cort|John Cort]]. ''Christian Socialism: An informal history''.
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/academic/brown1987/ Metacosmesis: The Christian Marxism of Frederic Hastings Smyth and the Society of the Catholic Commonwealth. By Terry Brown (1987)].
* Montero, Roman A. 2017. ''All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians.'' Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock. {{ISBN|9781532607912}}.
* Myles, Robert J. 2019. ''Class Struggle in the New Testament.'' Lanham: Fortress Academic/Lexington Books.
 
== External links ==
* [http://www.slp.org/pdf/others/crises_bang.pdf Crises In European History] Socialist Labor Party says that the early Christian Church practised "pure communism". pp.&nbsp;23–25 (PDF).
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html Modern History Sourcebook: William Bradford] From Bradford's journal ''Of Plymouth Plantation.''
* [http://medicolegal.tripod.com/collenstwpmarch1868.htm "Preaching".] March 1868. Judge Thomas Wharton Collens.
* [https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-sources-of-early-christian-communism/ The Sources of Early Christian Communism] July 30, 2019. Church Life Journal. University of Notre Dame. Roman Montero.
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/opinion/sunday/christianity-communism.html Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?] November 4, 2017. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220324151326/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/opinion/sunday/christianity-communism.html Archived] from the [[Wayback Machine]]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Orthodox theologian [[David Bentley Hart]].
 
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[[Category:Christian communism| ]]
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