NTS 507 WEALTH AND POVERTY IN THE BIBLE Class I: Introduction © Dr. Esa Autero

NTS 507 WEALTH AND POVERTY IN THE BIBLE

Class I: Introduction

© Dr. Esa Autero

Wealth and Poverty in the Bible

1.1 Introduction What are some statements you have recently heard about

wealth and poverty in… The news (conservative/liberal media) Sermons (church, ministries) On TV (movies, sitcoms, ads…)

What impression are given of people with wealth/poverty?



Practical questions about wealth and poverty? Why are some rich, while others are poor?

Definition of “rich” and “poor”? Should Christians be actively involved in poverty reduction?

Locally, globally; how? How much should individuals give?

Should Christians attempt to become wealthy (or poor)?

Can Christians be millionaires (or destitute)?


Should Christians have 401Ks or investment plans? What about lending money with interest? Playing with the stock market?

Lottery?

Does God bless the generous and faithful with material wealth?

What does the Bible teach about tithes and offerings?

Can Christians do what they want with their money provided that it is not immoral and they tithe?

Should helping the poor be a priority (in top 3) for Christians?


Why a class on wealth and poverty in the Bible? Bible harnessed to justify almost anything with regard to money

Today and historically

US society & culture enamored with wealth…

Greed, fame, wealth, and affluence Global wealth and health gospel

Evangelicals, wealth, and poverty Prevalence of idolatry in church (greed, fame, wealth, and affluence)

Creflo Dollar will get $70 million plane - says 'necessary'

for ministry

Christianity Today, June 2015


Priorities for conservative evangelicals – sociopolitical issues Limiting influence and rights of homosexuals Promoting small government & lower taxes Protecting religious liberty (mostly for evangelicals) Promoting fair capitalism Strong military (Tracy 2011: 4)* Abortion

Domestic poverty the least likely issue to select political candidate Evangelicals favor cutting federal spending to global and local needy

(Barna 2011; Grant 2011 in Tracy 2011: 5)

Any observations


What important issues are missing? (in light of NTS 507) Rights of workers and their families

Esp. potential of large corporations to abuse workers* E.g. 68% of workers at least one pay related violation/week**

Workers cheated 15% of pay/week 26% paid less than min. wage 76% worked overtime w/o OT comp. African-Americans x3 more likely to experience pay violation Foreign-born Latina women most exploited

Rights and needs of poor and their families Rights and needs of minorities Rights and needs of immigrants (Tracy 2011: 5)

Why do Evangelicals pay so little attention to these issues?


Study of 251 congregations: When government cut social services, there was no increase in

congregational services to the community (Cnaan 2002: 251 in Tracey 2011: 6)

What does this mean in practice?

44% decrease of giving to benevolence in evangelical churches from 1968-2008 (Tracey 2011: 6 and references therein)

$0.94 of every dollar went to “congregational finances”

No: 1 priority for unexpected gift – renovate church building

What do evangelicals prioritize? What does the Bible prioritize?


What does the Bible teach about wealth…

…poverty?


The Bible – harnessed to justify…many ideologies… Total divestiture/renunciation of possessions

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete(perfect), go and sell your possessions and give topoor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heardthis statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property (Matt 19:21; cf. Luke 9:3, 21; Matt 16:24; Matt 5:42; 10:9) Francis of Assisi (d. 1226)

Money as “dung” & marriage to “lady poverty” Poverty as [spiritually] ideal condition & “worm” theology

Problem: potential pride and elitism of virtuoso religion*


Communism – forced confiscation & government ownership

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladnessand sincerity of heart (Acts 2:44-46; 4:32)

Communism vs. voluntary communitarianism based on Christian koinonia


Unbridled capitalism – “markets” as self-correcting organism“A wonderful, God-given process in human societies…through which the goods and services that are produced (supply) continually adjust to exactly match the goods and services that are wanted by the society (demand)…entirely through the free choices of every individual person” (Grudem 2010: 276) Presuppositions:

Anyone with godly work ethic will prosper [eventually] Poverty almost exclusively due to laziness

Problems: Greed and exploitation of workers Major corporate CEO makes, on average, 476x more than average worker* Structural economic injustice ignored

“those who add house to house…field to field until no more” (Isa 5:8)


Prosperity – material wealth for those with faith…if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God… The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. (Deut 27:1, 12; Mal 3:10; 2 Cor 9:10-11) Sometimes poverty entirely seen due to lack of faith Problem: is the context properly considered?

Difference between old and new covenant? What about Jesus, disciples, Paul?


Why are some rich, others poor – people’s opinions What do you think? Most Americans: combination of cultural and biological factors* Evangelicals most commonly think

Laziness & vice (rich&poor only to applaud/blame themselves) Wealth seen usually as result of good character (Tracy 2011: 14)

Commonly used Bible verses to support these ideas? Prov 6:8-11; 10:4-5**; 2 Thess 3:10

Is laziness/vice the only or most common reason for poverty in Bible?

Causes of poverty are extremely complex

Who’s to blame?


Rich and poor – sociological theories*1) The poor are innately inferior

Social Darwinism – social evolution and survival of the fittest Brightest & strongest at the top – weakest & dumbest at the bottom Poverty as “natural” mechanism to “weed out” weak & make room for strong Societal levels based on IQ and ensuing merit

2) Cultural inferiority of the poor The culture of poverty – developed way of life by the poor

Feelings of marginality, inferiority & learned helplessness keep poor trapped Children of the poor more likely to remain poor Poor have “values and behaviors of the marginalized”, such as crime, anti-

social behavior perpetuated by social welfare system (underclass theory**)

Critique***


3) Structural reasons – poor are poor due to societal conditions “The real explanation of why the poor are the way they are is that they

made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of the country, in the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic group” (Harrington 1963: 21 in Eitzer and Smith 2003: 17)

Cycle of poverty (simplified): Because of primacy of profits, wages are kept as low as possible Business community lobbies Congress for keeping minimum wage down, shift

factories to other states or outsource abroad to get the cheapest labor etc. Best jobs go to college grads – poor cannot afford college Scholarships go to best performers – poor lack good (pre)schools & teachers* Poor lack well-financed education and low expectations (esp. minorities) Poor often consume low nutrition food & exposed more to environmental

hazards

Critique


Definition of poverty…and the remedy*

Bible does not support any one model…cause or remedy…

If the primary cause of poverty is … …then the solution to poverty is…

Lack of knowledge Educate the poor

Oppression by powerful people Work for social justice

Personal sins of people Evangelism and discipleship

Lack of material sources Give material resources to poor


Some experiences of poverty…in US… For seven months, my home has beenmy 1972 Dodge van. Life in a car is similar to living in a garbage can: trash filled, cramped, and with smell to die from. Before that I lived in a shed. I live here because I was kicked out of the shed…I’m just a down-and-outer trying to puzzle out my life…[as] I don’t have the excuse of alcohol or dope…I eat at the mission…[but] often the food…is spoiled, but nobody reports it, as it is better to be sick than risk closure...Apart from begging,the thing about poor people that riles rich people the most is our grime. Cleanliness is identified with goodness in America. It’s next to Godliness. Dirt is evil…I don’t oppose cleanliness. It’s that cleanliness for someone living in a car is a labyrinthine ordeal…The inner awareness that I live with…is that I’m nothing…it’s like the world has a negative image of us, so we absorb that…*


I designated and built conveyor belts and was good at it. I was making $15 an hour…The company went out of business. Bang!... I was between jobs three or four months. I could have found work right away if I wanted to make minimum wage…We could barely afford rent…when you got kids to feed and have bills to pay. But minimum wage – that’s insulting… I got [experience and skill] and six kids. $3.35, $4 an hour… Then we had trouble with the house we were renting…[then] my son had to have emergency surgery. Since the company was going out of business it let the insurance lapse, so I got stuck with the bill. Spent every penny we had saved and there’s still fourteen hundred dollars on it. Now I’m working with Safeway’s warehouse…*

I am a 68-year old woman. I earn $400 a month. I pay $287 for mortgage and on top of that electricity and phone bill. There is not enough left for food. Nobody knows about this, because I don’t complain or talk about this to others. I’d like to be free. (Woman, Lake Worth, FL)


A Brief look at global poverty – global village If the whole world was a village of 100 people…

59% of the entire world’s wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing. 70 would be unable to read. 50 would suffer from malnutrition. 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth Only 1 would have a college education and only 1 would own a

computer

Where does this place you on a global scale of wealth and poverty?


Experiences of poverty…globally…* We poor people are invisible to others – just as blind people cannot see, they cannot see us. —Pakistan 1993

Poverty is because of the land; the person who doesn’t have any must obligatorily leave to do day labor. —Ecuador 1996


Murari is a 30-year-old man who is presently living in the village of Kedarkui with his family. He began his period of contractual labor in agriculture five years ago for a dominant Thakur caste farmer. The Thakur also acts as a moneylender in many of the surrounding villages. Five years ago, Murari took out a loan of approximately Rs. 1000 that he needed for an unexpected emergency. As a term of the loan, Murari was compelled to work for the Thakur farmer as an agricultural laborer on the moneylender’s land for a wage of only Rs. 5000 a year. This Thakur farmer/money lender provided Murari and his family with accommodations, food, and some money for miscellaneous expenses, while keeping account of everything that was provided. At the end of the first two years, Murari owed Rs. 2,500 to the Thakur. After two years of labor he owed 250 percent more to the Thakur than he had initially borrowed due to the interest incurred on the loan, charges for food and accommodation, small loans provided on an on-going basis and so on. However, despite this dismal situation Murari was not able to leave the Thakur’s farm in search of more profitable work. If he attempted to leave, or flee, it is reported that the moneylender would track him down and the consequences would undoubtedly be serious. After five years of work as an agricultural laborer and house servant for the Thakur, Murari now owes over 8000 Rs. Murari and others like him find that they are virtually powerless once they enter the vicious cycle of contractual labor, where they are compelled to concede to the tyranny and exploitation of the moneylenders. But for many of the poorest villagers, there are no alternative sources of loans and in certain circumstances they have no choice but to accept the exploitative terms of the local moneylenders.


Poverty for me is the fact that we bought some black flour with our last money, some flour cheaper than the rest. When we baked the bread it was not edible. We were speechless and ate it by force since we did not have anything else. —Macedonia 1998


If you don’t have money today, your disease will take you to your grave. An old woman, Ghana 1995a

If I had gone to school, I would have got a job and I would have obtained a husband who has a salaried job. —Uganda 1998


I feel very unpleasant when you ask me how I would define my own situation. I can not . . . [shrugs his shoulders], but I do know I am poor. —Macedonia 1998

For a poor person everything is terrible — illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of. —Blind woman from Tiraspol, Moldova 1997


“Experience of poverty” – common characteristics Life without basic necessities (food, health services, housing, security etc.)

An ongoing chaos due to insecurity and unpredictability of life

Stigmatized social position (and shame)

Persistent ideals about work and family (L. Smith 2010, KE: 1492-1809)


Some good news about global poverty…or is it?*

1990: 36% 2010: 18%Percentage of world population living on less than $1.25/day

This is World Bank’s and UN’s narrative of poverty

reduction

some economists say statistics have been “adjusted”

to make things appear favorable to them.**


“Experience of poverty” – common characteristics j

“Relax, they [World Bank & UN] tell us. The world is getting better, thanks to the spread of free market capitalism and western aid. Development is working, and soon, one day in the very near future, poverty will be no more.” It is a comforting story, but unfortunately it is just not true. Poverty is not disappearing as quickly as they say. In fact, according to some measures, poverty has been getting significantly worse. If we are to be serious about eradicating poverty, we need to cut through the sugarcoating and face up to some hard facts.” (Dr. Hickel, London School of Economics)*• WHY:

• Initial Millennium Development Goals (MDG-1) diluted since initiation• International poverty line (IPL) changed from $1.02 (1985) to 1.08 (1993) to

1.25 (2008)• E.g. those living with $1/day rose from 1.5 (1987) to 1.9 billion (2014)

“In fact, even the $1.25 line shows that, without factoring China, the poverty headcount is worsening, with 108 million people added to the ranks of the poor since 1981. All of this calls the triumphalist narrative into question.” (Hickel)

Whether global poverty is rising or going down large parts of the world

live in abject poverty “40% of the earth’s inhabitants eke out an existence on less than

two dollars a day” (Corbett and Fikkert 2009: 13, 41)

As Christians need to: Find out what the Bible says about wealth and poverty & act

accordingly

“Remember the poor – the very thing I also was eager to

do” (Gal 2:10)


Wealth, poverty & my “situatedness” Which theories and ideas of wealth/poverty have influenced me?

Any of them backed up with Bible verses?

Do I view poverty (or wealth) from “inside” or “outside”? Does it make a difference? How do you describe poverty? How do poor people describe poverty? (See experiences of poverty earlier)

What are my presuppositions about poverty & wealth? How will that influence the way I read the Bible?


What does the Bible really say about wealth and poverty?


Way forward… What does the Bible say…and how to apply it…

Exegesis of individual passages & themes Blocks of writings

God’s character & biblical theology Variety of angles and practices

My situatedness influences what I see, how I see it, and what I prioritize in a passage, book, and the Bible


Analogies, emphases, principles – contextual considerations Spiritual discernment

Evaluation of self & influences on self Evaluation of contemporary society – local & global Evaluation of church & practices of God’s people

Practice Individual and collective action & constant spiritual evaluation Sacrificial action Wise, sustained, and long term commitment to poor people


What does the Bible really say about wealth and poverty? We will start next week…from the beginning…


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Documents

NTS 507 WEALTH AND POVERTY IN THE BIBLE Class I: Introduction © Dr. Esa Autero