What is the difference between a legitimate loan and a "debt trap"? In this episode, we trace the complex history of usury, a term that originally referred to charging any interest at all, but has evolved to mean lending at unfairly high rates. We explore how ancient societies and major religions—including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—grappled with the morality of making money from money.

Join us as we discuss:

• The Theology of Interest: Why figures like St. Thomas Aquinas argued that charging for a loan was "unnatural" and amounted to charging for the same item twice, while reformers like Martin Luther viewed it as a violation of neighborly love.

• The Jewish Experience: How medieval exclusion from guilds and professions forced many Jewish people into moneylending, creatin ...