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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:

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

NEW ON THIS SITE:

Visit our Academic Resources page to read about new international projects studying poverty in religious history, a multi-year project at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and another multiyear project at the Centre for Early Christian Studies at the Australian Catholic University with a conference in January 2008..

GOOD CAUSES

Here are two exciting projects that we learned about recently and think are worth sharing. They are included here because the people who told us about them are health professionals who are motivated in their work by their strong religious beliefs (in this case a Christian and a Muslim):
NEPAL: RURAL INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: click here for more information
EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND FOR ORPHANS: click here for more information

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Luther and the Hungry Poor: Gathered Fragments, by Samuel Torvend. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8006-6238-7

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Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society, edited by Susan R. Holman. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008;
ISBN 978-0-8010-3549-4

Luther and the Hungry Poor: Gathered Fragments, by Samuel Torvend. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008. A welcome study of Martin Luther's teaching and preaching on responses to the hungry poor, especially drawn from the six formative years that followed his nailing those 95 theses to that famous door. This book is a glimpse into the economic need in which the Reformation arose and an affirmation that Martin Luther was keenly aware of the needs of the poor. For Luther, the baptized were made free to live in this world as the "sacrament" of the living Christ, to engage this world as Christ had engaged the world of his time.

Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society, edited by Susan R. Holman. Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History 1; Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic, 2008. This collection of edited conference essays examines the astonishing range of early Christian responses to the issues of wealth and poverty in: the New Testament period (Steven Friesen, Denise Buell, Görge Hasselhoff, Edward Moore), Egypt in late antiquity (Annewies van den Hoek, David Brakke, Adam Serfass, Susan R. Holman), the era of John Chrysostom and the Cappadocians (Rudolf Brändle, Wendy Mayer, Francine Cardman, Efthalia Makris Walsh, Demetrios Constantelos), Early Byzantium (A. Edward Siecienski, Daniel Caner, Angeliki E. Laiou), and the relevance of patristic studies for today (Timothy Patitsas, Brian Matz).

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Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, by Sara Miles. NY: Ballantine, 2007. ISBN-978-0-345-49579-2 (see description below)

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The Fear of Beggars: Stewardship and Poverty in Christian Ethics, by Kelly S. Johnson. The Eerdmans Ekklesia Series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2007; ISBN 978-0-8028-0378-8

Miles, Sara. Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion (NY: Ballantine, 2007). Extraordinary memoir of how a radical (former) atheist walked into St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco one Sunday morning for no earthly reason, received communion, and in the communion encountered Jesus, and found herself transformed. Before long she was turning the bread she ate at communion into a food kitchen, with groceries given away from the altar itself. Within a few years she and those she served had started nearly a dozen food pantries in the poorest parts of their city. For more on the food pantry, visit http://www.saramiles.net/food_pantry

Johnson, Kelly S. The Fear of Beggars: Stewardship and Poverty in Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2007). Explores the role of Christian ethics in the ageless question: 'Why give to beggars?' In this study, Kelly Johnson considers examples from Christian thinkers, beggar saints, and economists throughout history, with an emphasis on the life and work of Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. Published by the Eerdmans Ekklesia Series in cooperation with the Ekklesia Project.

NOTED IN PASSING

"On Giving and Receiving: How can Christians live out the commands of Matthew 25 - without the pity?" by Todd Billings (Assistant Professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary) in the April 2007 issue of Sojourners Magazine; for online access (free but you have to sign up), visit: http://www.sojo.net.

"Struggling by on minimum wage" (from the BBC News; what most strikes your webmaster is this former homeless woman now barely scraping by on minimum wage who exclaims, "I love my job!!")

"Street kids raid poverty summit" - another article seen at BBC News online on January 24, 2007. In respect for copyright issues, the link takes you straight to their site.

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The only professional journal in the U.S. that focuses exclusively on contemporary health care issues of low-income, under-represented, and other medically underserved communities. It is the official journal of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.

NOTE: News about an organization or resource on this site does not constitute an endorsement; inquirers should research organizations very carefully to find the group that best fits your sense of social responsibility before donating time, money or other resources.