ABSTRACT
Biblical compassion for the poor is expressed by many European writers from medieval to modern times: these include Langland, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hugo, Flaubert, and Chekhov. In Langland's Piers Ploughman, written in the decades after the Black Plague, and reflecting the economic conditions of the period, labor is sacred and biblical egalitarianism is invoked to extol the poor. Rich and poor are united in the blood of Christ, but the rich – unless they behave with compassion and generosity toward the poor – are at a disadvantage, for not they but the poor will have their reward in the kingdom of heaven. Tales of Christian goodness with the magical force of fairy tales also expose the hypocrisy and failure of religious ideals in Western civilization. In late 19th-century Russia, too, the Bible still maintained its authority, though in unexpected, even un-Christian ways.
