The Doctrine Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England advises the House of Bishops on Doctrinal questions referred to it by that House. Its membership is drawn from theologians in universities, theological colleges and dioceses. It is chaired by the Right Reverend Professor Stephen Sykes, Principal of St Johns College, University of Durham.

What is money? The answer to this question appears obvious: notes and coins are, of course, money. But pointing to these objects would be a quite inadequate answer to the question. ‘Money’ is much more like a verb than a noun. Money is dynamic; it is activity; it is function.

What makes notes and coins money are the functions they perform in human society. For the notes and coins (and the figures on the accounts) to function as money requires a set of social, cultural and political, as well as economic, arrangements. Money is a human and social reality, not something that can be abstracted from specific human contexts. The nature and function of money are not constant but change through time and with social, cultural, economic and societal contexts.

One reason why it is not possible simply to ‘read off ‘ what the Bible says about money and apply it to our own situation is that money differs markedly in its nature and function between biblical times and our own day. Indeed, part of that difference lies in how very much less significant money was to economic life then. In those days there simply was much less money in circulation. The result was not merely that society was relatively less wealthy; rather, money did not perform the central role in economic life that it does in our society. Other means of exchange were more frequently used and wealth or poverty were related primarily not to possession of money, but of land.