Poverty and the Poor in the World's Religious Traditions
Subtitle: Religious Responses to the Problem of Poverty
By: edited by William H. Brackney and Rupen Das
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2023
Place of publication: Westport, CT
Language: eng
Number of pages: 448
ISBN-13: 9798400699610
Subjects: Religion: general
Description: This detailed book is a resource for students, practitioners, and leaders interested in how the major world religions have understood poverty and responded to the poor.  Poverty is a universal phenomenon across history, regardless of country or culture. Today, the demographics of the poor are on the rise globally: it is a critical issue. Religious traditions are another universal aspect of human societies, and nearly all religions include directives on how to respond to the poor and systemic poverty. How do the various religious traditions conceptualize poverty, and what do they view as the proper response to the poor?  Poverty and the Poor in the World's Religious Traditions: Religious Responses to the Problem of Poverty brings together specialists on the religions of the world and their diverse viewpoints to identify how different religious traditions interact with poverty and being poor. It also contains excerpts of religious texts that readers can use as primary documents to illustrate themes such as identifying the poor, religious reasons for being poor, and responses (like charity and development) to the existence of poverty. This book serves as a powerful resource for students of subjects like international development, missiology, comparative religion, theology, social ethics, economics, and organizational leadership as well as for any socially concerned clergy of various faiths.
Table of contents: title: Foreword by Dr. Clinton Bennett Introduction Chapter 1 The World of the Poor: How Development Professionals Understand and Assess Poverty Rupen Das Chapter 2 Religion as a Framework for Understanding Poverty and the Poor William H. Brackney Chapter 3 Poverty and the Poor in the Chinese Religions Chung-Yan Joyce Chan Chapter 4 Poverty and the Poor in the Buddhist Tradition Jordan Baskerville and Anne Ruth Hansen Chapter 5 Poverty and the Poor in the Jewish Tradition Rabbi David Ellis Chapter 6 Poverty and the Poor in the Christian Tradition William H. Brackney Chapter 7 Poverty and the Poor in Islam Nael Abd El Rahaman Chapter 8 Poverty and the Poor in the Hindu, Jain, and Sikh Religions of India John Arun Kumar Chapter 9 Poverty and the Poor in the African Religious Traditions Steven Hewko and David Kupp Chapter 10 Poverty and the Poor in North American Indigenous Traditions Randy S. Woodley About the Editors and Contributors Index