Church's Role in Alleviating Poverty

Poverty and unretentive masses have followed the history of mankind nearly from the time of Creation. How to front the issues raised by the presence of poverty or poor people in the midst of the community or church service building sphere has taxed the imagination of civic leaders and churches beyond belief. consort to Lindberg, only in the last two decades or so has there been substantial study into the historic origins of social welfare. The circumstantial purpose underlying Lindberg's study is to examine the church's role in promoting efforts to assist the poor or alleviate poverty, and in activism knowing to alter social policy on behalf of the poor.

Lindberg lists three atomic number 82 goals as the focus for his work: 1) to synthesize the vast occur of individual studies into a systematic work; 2) to document how belief became an active component in the development of political, social, and economic structures knowing to serve "the neighbor"; and, 3) to p

Lindberg reveals that the lexicon for the terms "poverty" and "poor" evolved in concert with the historical development of poverty itself, eventually being resolved into a dichotomy of "worthy" and "unworthy" poor people.

Beyond this was a category of "voluntary" poverty--"synonymous with humility and renunciation, and thus accompanies bounty to the top of the virtues" (p. 21).

However, Lindberg explains, the theological problem that confronted the early/medieval church was not poverty but wealth. Indeed, almsgiving for the poor came to be recognized as having "utilitarian" value for the giver as it related to the forgiveness of his or her sins and the acquisition of salvation (pp. 68-69). Thus, the deity of the medieval church held that the poor were necessary for the salvation of the fat; in their poverty, the poor were spiritually rich--mirroring a type of tangible wealth (pp. 27-33).

ovide resources for further theological and ecumenica
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.