Zinskauf Explained

Zinskauf (pronounced as /de/, "purchase interest") was a financial instrument, similar to an annuity, that rose to prominence in the Middle Ages.^{[1] [2] [3]} The decline of the Byzantine Empire led to a growth of capital in Europe, so the Catholic Church tolerated zinskauf as a way to avoid prohibitions on usury. Since zinskauf was an exchange of a fixed amount of money for annual income it was considered a sale rather than a loan. Martin Luther made zinskauf a subject of his Treatise on Usury^[4] and his Sermon on Trade and Usury^[5] and criticized clerics of the Catholic Church for violating the spirit if not the letter of usury laws.

In one historian's analysis:

Notes and References

1. Book: Jones, David. Reforming the Morality of Usury: A Study of the Differences That Separated the Protestant Reformers. University Press of America. 2003. 53.
2. Book: Doherty. Sean. Theology and Economic Ethics: Martin Luther and Arthur Rich in Dialogue. 55. 2 December 2014 .
3. Book: O'Donovan. Oliver. From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought, 100-1625. 584.
4. http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_d4.htm Treatise on Usury
5. Web site: Martin Luther's Sermon On Trade and Usury.