Who Does Not Want to Work, He Shall Not Eat: From Saint Paul to Pol Pot, Two Millennia of Social Control
(2026) Pauline Ethics — ISBN: [978-90-04-76601-3], 44-75, published
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- Abstract
- This chapter traces the evolution of the maxim *“If any would not work, neither should he eat”* (2 Thessalonians 3:10) from its origins as a contextual exhortation in early Christianity to its transformation into a tool of social control across two millennia. Initially directed at a specific group of disorderly believers in Thessalonica—likely those rejecting manual labor due to eschatological beliefs or misplaced leadership claims—the phrase was later adopted by monastic communities as a spiritual discipline against idleness. Over time, theologians like John Chrysostom and Thomas Aquinas universalized and secularized the principle, framing work as a moral and natural duty. By the late Middle Ages, the maxim became a justification for punishing the poor, fueling the rise of workhouses and forced labor institutions. The Reformation and Enlightenment further embedded it in capitalist and revolutionary ideologies, while 19th- and 20th-century movements, from socialism to totalitarianism, co-opted it to enforce collective labor and ideological conformity. Ultimately, the chapter reveals how a simple biblical phrase was stripped of its original context to serve oppressive systems, illustrating its enduring yet malleable power in shaping societal attitudes toward work and discipline.
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Citations
Burnet, R. (2026). Who Does Not Want to Work, He Shall Not Eat: From Saint Paul to Pol Pot, Two Millennia of Social Control. In Stanley Porter, David Yoon (ed.), Pauline Ethics (pp. 44-75). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004766020-004