Summary of A Model of Christian Charity

John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" is sermon detailing the inherent relationship between love, charity, social structure, and Christianity. Early on in the work he asserts that God has ordained for there to be upper and lower classes in society. Some people are rich and some people are poor because it it divinely willed for it to be that way. God has clearly established hierarchies in nature (e.g. food chains and alpha males in groups of animals), so it logically follows that God would want mankind to conform to that design as well. Winthrop explains that God wants things this way because it allows for more opportunities for people to demonstrate God's love and grace through acts of kindness and charity. In other words, the more poor people there are, the more rich people can give them money.
I think Winthrop's approach to class structures in society is novel and ostensibly very logical. While his theory on social hierarchy may not exactly coincide with my own, I find it interesting and certainly deserving of merit.

--Wald der Sagenhaft