The practice of charity means the giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.
The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".
Originally in Latin the word caritas meant preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, caritas became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word agapē, meaning an unlimited loving-kindness to all others, such as the love of God. This much wider concept is the meaning of the word charity in the Christian triplet "faith, hope and charity", as used by the Douay-Rheims and the King James Version of the Bible in their translation of St Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. However the English word more generally used for this concept, both before and since (and by the "King James" Bible at other passages), is the more direct love. (See the article Charity (virtue))
St Paul's agapē was not primarily about good works and giving to the...