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# 20 Current issues page.
Search: Bible *Advt.-Xmas-Ep * Lent -Easter * Pent. 1-14 * Pent 15-end * Child * Story * Liturgy + Social * Pastor * Mission* Home* About
A thumbnail outline of the history of poverty
Jesus is reported in John 12:8 to have said that we would have the poor with us always. This passage attributes to Jesus the common wisdom about the persistence of poverty. That is, it would be normal for a large part of the population to be poor.
This view
has a long history. Since the Agricultural revolution of ancient
Mesopotamia it has been commonly accepted as normal for every society
would be made up of three classes:
-the
ruling wealthy,
-the
middle managers and skilled servants,
-the
poor, low income, menial workers, soldiers, slaves and beggars who
have no voice in society.
This continued with the Industrial Revolution. Even today in the electronic information revolution it is generally accepted as normal that society has these three classes. Specifically, it is normal always to have poverty. The poor will always be with us.
For many centuries poverty was seen as normal. From ancient classical civilizations through the agricultural and industrial revolutions it was thought to be normal that many many families would exist in poverty. In fact, it probably can be said that that view is still prevalent. For instance, The mainstream of Canadians do not seem to be troubled by the persistence of many poor families in Canada.
Doubtless there also has always been those who, like Amos, argued that poverty was not normal. In this day and age we are coming to a time when many social groups and religious bodies are joining their efforts to bring that "always" to an end.
The bible
expresses at least four attitudes toward poverty.1
-One is
the simple acceptance that some are rich and others are poor. Jesus
tells parables which assume this (Mt. 19:23f; Lk. 12:41f.; 1Tim. 6:1-2)
-Another
view is that not to be poor is a sign of God's favour to the
righteous(Ps. 1).
-On the
other hand, some psalmists are perplexed by the success and
prosperity of the wicked (Ps.37, 49,73; Job 21).
-Amos
sees poverty, not as normal but the result of dis- honesty and abuse
of the neighbour by the powerful (ch 6).
-Finally,
there were the holy poor. They were those who did not lust after
riches but lived simply, trusting in God. Alan Richardson sees Jesus
as the ideal biblical poor person2. (see
Luke 6:20-49; 2 Cor. 8:8f.; 1Tim. 6:3-10)
Poverty is not exactly the same in all countries, or for all who are poor. In Canada for instance, the poor are those who spend over 50% of their money for the bare essentials of shelter, food and clothing. Many of them qualify to receive social assistance. Others of these poor have jobs that pay very little. They are the people who supplement their grocery budget with free food at food banks, and buy clothes for as low as a dollar at used clothing stores. A high number of children grow up in this poverty with little hope.
In many other places places in the world, there are families and individuals who are even more poor than these. They are the ones who are destitute and are reduced to begging or doing the most menial of jobs and may eat less than one meal a day. Children in these families often scavenge for food, work almost as slaves in sweat shops, or prostitution.
Some observers and economists see these as the real poor. The Canadian Fraser Institute identifies as poor those whose total income cannot buy even the most basic food, housing and clothing.
Sachs, who has written a book, The End of Poverty, says that aid should focus on those who are the poorest of the poor; those whose desperate reach cannot grasp even the lowest rung of the income ladder.
For centuries we have considered this situation to continue as normal. This may be because those who are not poor benefit from the labour of the working poor.
But now, a new idea is capturing the imagination of a growing number of hopeful people. That idea is: let's make poverty history; poverty is not normal. Rather, it is an offence to human dignity and to the will of a loving creator God.
This movement began with the emergence of labour unions, socialism, and the Social Gospel. They asserted that all workers have a right to a share of the community wealth such that they have housing, food, and housing at a level above minimum standards and have access to health care that meets their needs and education to the level they can attain.
And now, today, there is a growing commitment to treat poverty like it is a great disease in the body politic, a disease which can be treated and finally eliminated.
Each of us and all of us (individuals, corporations, and governments) are being challenged to commit ourselves to this goal.
One of the ways we in the church can participate in this great venture is to consider living a life of holy poverty; a life in which we humbly consume only our fair share of the world's resources.
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