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Here's what you'll find within our pages:

ACADEMIC:

research initiatives
recent conferences
academic programs, centers, and institutes
course syllabi
other resources

BIBLIOGRAPHIES:

poverty in ancient Greece, Rome, and late antiquity
patristics & social ethics
Medieval and Reformation resources
reflective meditations
modern religious responses to poverty today

COMMUNITY RESOURCES:

food banks
relief organizations
faith-based resources
other agencies on peace, justice, and human rights

NEWS:

what's new on the site
new books
stuff noted in passing
links to favorite sites and other curiosities

CONTACT:

reach us by mail

basic site map
detailed site map

 

red-blue circle image at top: detail from a 12th-century illustration for an ancient Greek sermon on poverty

 
 

This page highlights academic resources, projects such as seminars, centers, work groups or conferences initiated by or ongoing at particular academic institutions. For other academic resources you might use for your own teaching, mentoring, field work or research, see Bibliographies and Syllabi.

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC RESEARCH INITIATIVES ON POVERTY AND RELIGION:

CENTRE FOR EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES AT AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: Drs. Pauline Allen, Wendy Mayer, and Bronwen Neil of the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University received funding from the Australian Research Council for a three-year study of poverty in Late Antiquity. The project is testing the model of the relationship between poverty and leadership at a time of social change recently proposed by the influential historian, Peter Brown, by focusing on three pivotal figures in a defined period across a significant geographical spread: John Chrysostom (Byzantium), Augustine (North Africa), and Leo I (Italy). Papers from the Centre's Fifth International Triennial Conference in 2008, on "Poverty and Riches" will be published soon: Geoffrey D. Dunn, James S. McLaren, and Lawrence Cross, eds., Poverty and Riches. Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church 5. Strathfield, Australia: St. Paul's Publications.

GREEK PATRISTIC TEXTS AS A NEW VOICE FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT: The Center for Catholic Social Thought at the Catholic University at Leuven, Belgium (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) recently concluded a four-year research project that asked the question, "Whither the influence of Greek patristic texts in Catholic social thought of the past, the present, and the future?" Under the direction of Professors Johan Verstraeten and Johan Leemans, the project began with an evaluation of the use of Greek and Latin patristic sources in the official documents of Catholic social thought. This has already resulted in several publications, and will include ultimately the preparation of a compendium of Greek patristic texts that address matters of social ethics. It is anticipated that these resources will be of great relevance and interest to Catholic leaders and lay persons worldwide who are engaged in social issues. Focusing on Greek texts from the Apostolic Fathers to the Council of Chalcedon will allow the team to explore the common heritage of the Western and Eastern churches in Europe. A deeper knowledge of a common heritage can lead to a common platform for transcultural conversations on socio-ethical problems.

PAST CONFERENCES:

Februrary 16-18, 2006: "Poverty and Prosperity, the Rich and the Poor in the Middle Ages and Renaissance," the Twelfth Annual ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) Conference, at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, February 16-18, 2006. Proceedings will be published in the twelfth volume of the Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance series published by Brepols. For more information, click on link above or contact: Laura M. Roosen, ACMRS, Lattie F. Coor Hall, Room 4442, PO Box 874402, Tempe, AZ 85287-4402; tel. 480-965-9323; fax 480-965-1681; email Laura.Roosen@asu.edu; http://www.asu.edu/clas/acmrs.

October 13-15, 2005: "Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity," The Second Annual Conference of the Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute, at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts. Conference papers are now published in: Susan R. Holman (ed.), Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society (Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History; Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic, 2008).

May 9-10, 2002:"Poverty and Charity: Judaism, Christianity, Islam", at Princeton University. Papers from the conference were published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 35, number 3, winter 2005.

November 10-13, 2002:"The Option for the Poor in Christian Theology;" a continuing education conference held at the University of Notre Dame,view program;

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS, CENTERS AND INSTITUTES:

  • Two programs in theological education that include a strong focus on applied ethics in religious responses to poverty include the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT), based at Rippon College, Cuddesdon, at the University of Oxford (UK).
  • Berlin Institute for Christian Ethics and Policy (ICEP) Founded in 2004, ICEP is a research institution of the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany. A political "think-tank," the Institute seeks to serve as a platform for Christian ethics in the European political arena, with a particular interest in issues of healthcare and social services. If your German is a bit rusty, just click on "English" on the home page to read all about it.
  • European Business Ethics Network is "the only international network dedicated wholly to the promotion of business ethics in European private industry, public sector, voluntary organizations, and academia." Its leadership is closely affiliated with the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
  • The Alan Shawn Feinstein International Famine Center at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
  • HNGR, the "Human Needs and Global Resources" program at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois
  • The International Famine Centre at University College Cork, Ireland.
  • Project on Lived Theology: Housed in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, the Project on Lived Theology is a Lilly Endowment Initiative that seeks to understand the way theological convictions shape the everyday patterns and practices of particular communities. The Project was founded in 1996 by religion and human rights professor and scholar Charles Marsh, author of Reclaiming Dietrich Bonhoeffer; God's Long Summer (which won the Grawemeyer Award in Religion), The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement to Today, and most recently Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity. The Project also endeavours to demonstrate the importance of theological ideas in the public conversation about religion and social responsibility. It sponsors workgroups, events and conferences, and fosters ideas for "theology in action." Visit its website for bibliographies of particular relevance to these themes and more information, or write to: The Project on Lived Theology, Cocke Hall, University of Virginia, PO Box 400126, Charlottesville VA 22904-4126; tel. 434-924-6743; fax 434-982-2139; email: pltheology@virginia.edu
  • Society of Christian Ethics (SCE). Based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, SCE is a non-denominational association with over 950 members that works "to promote scholarly work in Christian ethics and in the relation of Christian ethics to other traditions of ethics, and to social, economic, political and cultural problems and to encourage and improve the teaching of these fields in colleges, universities and theological schools; and to provide a community of discourse and debate for those engaged professionally within these general fields."
  • The University of Notre Dame has several relevant centers and institutes, including the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

COURSE SYLLABI:

Click here for link to syllabi available online

SLIDE PRESENTATIONS ONLINE

Click here

OTHER ACADEMIC RESOURCES

The National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, 1015 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1689. Funded largely by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the National Poverty Center promotes high-quality research on the causes and consequence of poverty. Its newsletter, "Poverty Research Insights," includes thoughts on public policy as well as news about upcoming workshops and grants. The NPC will hold an invitation-only conference in June on "The Impact of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations on the Lives of Low Income Families." For more information, visit: http://www.npc.umich.edu/news/events/religion&poverty

Read John Chrysostom's late fourth- or early fifth-century sermons on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus online here (but beware this is an 1869 translation).

The New York School of Philanthropy, Studies in Social Work, published between 1915 and 1917 several rare English translations of historical texts on poverty and religious responses. If you are unable to locate them through your research library, the texts below are available as pdf documents from our website on request:

  • A Sermon on Alms by John Chrysostom (early 5th century) (translated from PG 51.260-271). Translation by Margaret M. Sherwood, Studies in Social Work 10 (Feb. 1917)
  • Rabbinic text: "Section on charity" from the mid-16th century Rabbinic text, Shulhan Arukh.Translation by Louis Feinberg, Studies in Social Work 6 (Nov. 1915).
  • Juan-Luis Vives (16th century humanist):, Book 2 of his 1526 letter to the senate of Bruges, "Concerning the relief of the Poor or, Concerning Human Need." Translation by Margaret M. Sherwood, Studies in Social Work 11 (Feb. 1917). [for more about a new scholarly critical edition of this entire work, visit our "News" page or our bibliography of books on poverty that relate to the medieval period.]

SITE DIRECTOR

This website was created and is somewhat randomly maintained by Susan R. Holman, a scholar in the history of public health and religious responses to poverty. For more information on Dr. Holman's academic work: