Question

1. Evaluate the extent to which the attitudes of Christians towards merchants and trade differed from the attitude

Answer 1

Answer:

From their founding till the year 1450 AD, Christianity and Islam had very different views on business, trade and merchants.

Explanation:

As a general rule, Islam was mostly favoured free trade and believed controlling prices was against Islamic teachings. Business was seen as work of labour and many cited even the Prophet of Islam himself being a merchant in his early days.

Christianity, on the other hand, viewed the rich, trading class as something that was not encouraged by the church. This was especially true because Mathew, in the new testament had stated how a rich man will never go to heaven.

These attitudes however began to change by the 14th Century. Many scholars of Islam who had seen immense wealth and inequality in their countries began to be critical of trade itself.

However, Christians of Europe, who were mostly poorer, became more entrepreneurial and wanted to trade and earn a better living. As more and more people became Rich in places like Florence, Church donations also increased and the traditional religious objections began to disappear.