Money as Metaphor and Symbol: From the Patristic Era to the Twelfth Century

Money and coins from the Patristic Era (fourth–sixth c.) to the Reform of the Western Church and the so-called rebirth of Roman Law (eleventh–twelfth c.) are represented and described in documents—issued, for the most part, by the ecclesiastical intelligentsia—as symbols and metaphors that both illustrate and circulate sacred and liturgical concepts. The economic culture of bishops and monks, who were also administrators and managers of huge portions of land, allowed them to make use of monetary notions and images to inculcate basic ideas defining the realm of good Christian attitudes and behavior and, at the same time, to separate out those perceived as threats to the Christian social body. Some relevant examples of how the high-medieval symbolization of money worked within European Christian culture over the long Patristic era include: the accumulation of money as a metaphor for the increasing amount of grace; the authenticity of minted coins as metaphor for and symbol of the faithfulness of Christian souls; and the denarius as symbolic equivalent of the sacred host.