When the Edge becomes the Centre
What might happen if we read the Gospels afresh not from the perspective of distant struggles for justice or objectified notions of ‘the poor’ (as if ‘they’ were no more than a category) but from the...
View ArticleThe Politics of Poverty (Proverbs 22 and James 2)
We don't expect our politicians to say much about the poor, but what about the church? When was the last time you preached or heard a sermon on the poor? Not poverty, but the poor, and not as an...
View ArticlePoor People’s Campaign? — Douglas F. Ottati
The number of people in the U.S. living below the poverty line in 2011 was 46.2 million, the highest in the more than 50 years that records have been kept.[i] (1961 is a few years before Lyndon...
View ArticleThe Preferential Option for the Middle Class
In the first presidential debate of 2012, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tried to outdo one another in currying favor with the middle class. Yet Catholic social teaching proposes a preferential option...
View ArticleA Christian Consensus on Poverty?
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have both focused on the middle class, but Christianity demands a preferential option for the poor. Christians of the Left and the Right should be...
View ArticleConcern for the Poor vs. Responsibility for Poverty: A Necessary Change in...
No politician or elected official will ever accept responsibility for addressing poverty so long as the electorate from which she or he seeks support does not itself accept such responsibility and, in...
View ArticleIs God a Socialist? The Politics of 1 Cor. 12:12-31a and Luke 4:14-21
Is God a Socialist? And if so, what kind of socialism does God espouse?
View ArticleThe Politics of Beloved Community Read Through Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31–35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 Albeit five Sundays into the Easter season, today’s text comes from the portion of John’s gospel...
View ArticleThe Great Chasm Between Us: The Politics of Luke 16:19-31
Luke's parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus dramatically counters our prevailing trend of demonizing the poor. It brings us a message of particular relevance at the time that Congress votes to cut aid...
View ArticleScientism and the Failure to Prevent Tragedy
. . . In other words, disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan confront us with the sobering reality that the deepest, deadliest and most intransigent problems we face today are social problems, not technical...
View ArticleThe Revolutionary Poverty of Arnold of Brescia
The Middle Ages were filled with strange, passionate, and fascinating figures, often hidden from our view by the long shadows of the likes of Anselm, Francis, Aquinas, or Ockham. The great theologians...
View ArticlePaul Ryan’s Anti-Poverty Plan and Catholic Social Teaching
Perhaps no American politician has spurred as much discussion of the intersection of Catholic social teaching (CST) and politics in recent years as Paul Ryan, the U.S. Representative from Wisconsin....
View ArticleReview of Solidarity Ethics: Transformation in a Globalized World (Kristopher...
A 2005 New York Times poll discovered that 80 percent of US citizens believe that it is indeed possible to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps (quoted on p. 70). In her new book Solidarity Ethics,...
View ArticleThe Politics of Widows’ Gifts—Mark 12:38-44 (Jan Rippentrop)
Often misread as a statement in praise of 'sacrificial' giving, Jesus' observation concerning the widow's offering at the temple is designed to condemn exploitative structures that prey upon the most...
View ArticleThe Politics of the Welcoming Father—Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (Amy Allen)
Although the parable is typically referred to as that of 'the Prodigal Son', the son who receives the father's welcome has long since fallen from his state of prodigal living into one of the most...
View ArticleThe Politics of Extravagance—John 12:1-8 (Robert Williamson)
Jesus' statement 'You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me' could easily be regarded as a shrug of the shoulders in the face of the enduring problem of poverty. However, closer...
View ArticleThe Catholic Social Ethic of Mother Teresa (Matthew Shadle)
It may seem strange to speak of Mother Teresa having a social ethic. We usually think of social ethics as including, although by no means being limited to, questions of politics, but the recently...
View ArticleHow We Talk About the Least Among Us – Poor People in Public Discourse (Annie...
One of the major headlines this week was Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) explaining the GOP healthcare proposal through suggesting that people buy health insurance in place of iPhones. Appearing on CNN’s...
View ArticleBook Preview – Wealth, Inequality, And The Theological Imagination (Elizabeth...
Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, The Problem of Wealth: A Christian Response to a Culture of Affluence. Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 2017. 256 pages. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-62698-238-3. Contemporary religious...
View ArticlePolitical Theology Ignores The Neoliberal Market System At Its Own Peril...
The following is the first of a series of articles on the problem of wealth within the global economic system. The current globalized world faces two major challenges – an ecological crisis, which...
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