Letter 9

From: Salvian of Marseille, priest and writer To: Timothy (pseudonymous preface to Ad Ecclesiam) Date: ~450 AD Context: The prefatory letter to Salvian's Ad Ecclesiam (On the Church), written under the pseudonym Timothy to deflect personal vanity; the letter explains why he wrote under a false name and what the work is trying to accomplish. To my most beloved brother Timothy [a name used as a cover, perhaps after the biblical Timothy; Salvian was concerned that attributing the work to himself would distract from its message]: You have asked me to explain why I wrote the work called Ad Ecclesiam under your name rather than my own, and the explanation is simple: I did not want readers to be distracted by the identity of the author into missing the argument of the book. The argument of the book is important and I believe it is true. The book argues that Christians who possess wealth and who do not direct the bulk of it to the poor and the church are failing in a fundamental Christian obligation — that what we have is not ours to do with as we please, but is held in trust for God's purposes, and that those purposes require its distribution to those in need. This argument will be resisted. It touches the interests of exactly the people who have the most influence in the church — the wealthy families whose generosity the church depends on and whose displeasure bishops are reluctant to risk. If the argument were associated with my name, people would look for reasons to dismiss it as the opinion of a particular person rather than engage with it as a claim about what Christianity actually requires. Attached to your name, it may have a better chance of being read on its merits. Whether I was right to do this, you may judge. The argument itself stands regardless of who made it. Salvian, who asks your forgiveness for the use of your name