Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Plough Quarterly • Summer   water? Isn’t it already treated as a commodity? And the earth? Is there reasonable ground for dividing up the earth as personal property–is it any different from the sun? No! The earth should not be private property either. The earth belongs to the inhabitants of the earth, to those for whom God ordained it. But today the earth is to be found in “private” hands. What, in fact, does private mean? We speak of private affairs, private roads, private property, and so forth. Privare is Latin, and it means: to rob. Private property is stolen property.4 From whom is it robbed? It is robbed from God and from humankind. It is pilfered from God’s creation and appropriated by individuals–or inherited by them, which in principle is the same thing. Naturally, whoever inherits or acquires property also holds on to it tightly. While these examples from the world of nature clearly illustrate the curse of property, nevertheless people need prophetic voices to lay it clearly before their eyes. God has sent such prophets again and again. Jesus is the friend of man–and therefore he is the enemy of property. In other words, just because Jesus wants true life for humankind, therefore he is the enemy of the instinct of self-preservation, of an egotistical existence. According to one of Paul’s letters, every person is to be of like mind as Jesus. Jesus did not hold on to his privileges, but gave up everything and held on to nothing, taking the lowest place in society. He was not only the poorest of all–he was even classed as a criminal. He held on to nothing for himself, including money; his itinerant community had a communal purse. He taught: Whoever lives for the sake of preserving his own life has lost his life, and whoever wants to keep his life must lose it. Anyone who does not forsake all that he has is not of me. No one is of Jesus who still holds on to his property. Jesus tells us: Sell all that you have and give it away. Whoever has more than one coat should give it away. You should also give your second hour of work–that part of your labor that gives rise to surplus and thus becomes the source of property. Someday, when all goods, just like the sun and the earth, belong to the common weal–that is, to God and his kingdom–then your second hour of work will also belong to God and to all humankind. Gain a fortune, but not here where moth and rust can destroy it–gather it up in heaven! Free yourselves from all rights and privileges! Until now we have spoken only of property, of what we want to turn away from, but now we will speak of community, the goal that we want to turn toward. For giving up our property can only mean one thing: dedicating ourselves to community with all we have and are. It was Nietzsche who said that Jesus contrasts a real life with a false one.5 4. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government (1840), chapter 3 §1. 5. See Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe in 15 Bänden, vol.13, ed. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari (de Gruyter, 1980), 106. Lev. 25:23 Phil. 2:1–11 John 12:6 John 12:25 Luke 14:33 Luke 18:18–25 Matt. 5:40–42 Luke 12:33