Religion and Poverty

Paris Peter J. Paris

Description

A Ghanaian scholar of religion argues that poverty is a particularly complex subject in traditional African cultures, where holistic worldviews unite life's material and spiritual dimensions. A South African ethicist examines informal economies in Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, and South Africa, looking at their ideological roots, social organization, and vulnerability to global capital. African American theologians offer ethnographic accounts of empowering religious rituals performed in churches in the United States, Jamaica, and South Africa. This important collection brings together these and other Pan-African perspectives on religion and poverty in Africa and the African diaspora.Contributors from Africa and North America explore poverty's roots and effects, the ways that experiences and understandings of deprivation are shaped by religion, and the capacity and limitations of religion as a means of alleviating poverty. As part of a collaborative project, the contributors visited Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, as well as Jamaica and the United States. In each location, they met with clergy, scholars, government representatives, and NGO workers, and they examined how religious groups and community organizations address poverty. Their essays complement one another. Some focus on poverty, some on religion, others on their intersection, and still others on social change. A Jamaican scholar of gender studies decries the feminization of poverty, while a Nigerian ethicist and lawyer argues that the protection of human rights must factor into efforts to overcome poverty. A church historian from Togo examines the idea of poverty as a moral virtue and its repercussions in Africa, and a Tanzanian theologian and priest analyzes ujamaa, an African philosophy of community and social change. Taken together, the volume's essays create a discourse of mutual understanding across linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries.Contributors. Elizabeth Amoah, Kossi A. Ayedze, Barbara Bailey, Katie G. Cannon, Noel Erskine, Dwight N. Hopkins, Simeon O. Ilesanmi, Laurenti Magesa, Madipoane Masenya, Takatso A. Mofokeng, Esther M. Mombo, Nyambura J. Njoroge, Jacob Olupona, Peter J. Paris, Anthony B. Pinn, Linda E. Thomas, Lewin L. Williams

Sujets

• Africa
• Christian theology
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 25 novembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822392309
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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∫2009 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$

Designed by Heather Hensley

Typeset in Quadraat by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

Dedicatedtothememoryof

REV. DR. LEWIN WILLIAMS, 1936 – 2006,

presidentofUnitedTheologicalCollege,Universityof WestIndies,andapioneerCaribbeantheologian

c o n t e n t s

ix FOREWORD JacobOlupona,Nigeria

xxi

ACKNOWLEDGMENT S

1 I NT RODUCT I ON PeterJ.Paris

part ∞

The Roots and Impact of Poverty

19 AN ET HI CAL MAPPI NG OF T HE T RANSAT LANT I C SLAVE T RADE KatieG.Cannon,UnitedStates

39 FEMI NI ZAT I ON OF POVERT Y ACROSS PAN- AFRI CAN SOCI ET I ES: T HE CHURCH’ S RESPONSE — ALLEVI AT I VE OR EMANCI PATORY? BarbaraBailey,Jamaica

part ≤

Challenges of the Global and Informal Economies

69 T HE I NFORMAL ECONOMY AND T HE RELI GI ON OF GLOBAL CAPI TAL TakatsoA.Mofokeng,SouthAfrica

88 A T HEOLOGI CAL PERSPECT I VE ON T HE EFFECT S OF GLOBALI ZAT I ON ON POVERT Y I N PAN- AFRI CAN CONT EXT S LewinL.Williams,Jamaica

part ≥

111

Religious Strategies for Liberating the Poor

AFRI CAN T RADI T I ONAL RELI GI ON AND T HE CONCEPT OF POVERT Y ElizabethAmoah,Ghana

128 RELI GI ON AND POVERT Y: RI T UAL AND EMPOWERMENT I N AFRI CA AND T HE AFRI CAN DI ASPORA LindaE.ThomasandDwightN.Hopkins,UnitedStates

166

152

272

293

SELF- I NI T I AT I ON: A NECESSARY PRI NCI PLE I N T HE AFRI CAN ST RUGGLE TO ABOLI SH POVERT Y PeterJ.Paris,CanadaandUnitedStates

WARM BODI ES, COLD CURRENCY: A ST UDY OF RELI GI ON’ S RESPONSE TO POVERT Y AnthonyB.Pinn,UnitedStates

RELI GI ON AND MAT ERI ALI T Y: T HE CASE OF POVERT Y ALLEVI AT I ON EstherM.Mombo,Kenya

T HE BI BLE AND POVERT Y I N AFRI CAN PENT ECOSTAL CHRI ST I ANI T Y: T HEBOSADI ( WOMANHOOD) APPROACH MadipoaneMasenya,SouthAfrica

343

I NDEX

341

CONT RI BUTORS

NYERERE ONUJAMAARANSFORMI NGST I ANI T Y AS T AND CHRI FORCES I N SOCI ET Y LaurentiMagesa,Tanzania

317

T HE ST RUGGLE FOR FULL HUMANI T Y I N POVERT Y- ST RI CKEN KENYA NyamburaJ.Njoroge,KenyaandGeneva

249

part ∑

Practical Theories for Combating Poverty

228

213

POVERT Y AMONG AFRI CAN PEOPLE AND T HE AMBI GUOUS ROLE OF CHRI ST I AN T HOUGHT KossiA.Ayedze,Togo

AFRI CA’ S POVERT Y, HUMAN RI GHT S, AND A J UST SOCI ET Y SimeonO.Ilesanmi,NigeriaandUnitedStates

193

CARI BBEAN I SSUES: T HE CARI BBEAN AND AFRI CAN AMERI CAN CHURCHES’ RESPONSE NoelLeoErskine,JamaicaandUnitedStates

part ∂

The Ambiguous Relation of Religion and Poverty

f o r e w o r d

JacobOlupona

UNDE RS TANDI NG P OVE RT Y AND I T S

AL L E VI AT I ON I N AF RI C A AND T HE AF RI C AN

DI AS P ORA

AN I NT E R DIS C I P L I NAR Y AP P R OAC H

he essays in this volume critically examine the relationship between reli- T gion and poverty in African and African diasporic societies, problematiz- ing the intersection of religion and poverty in the lives of the African peoples and their descendants in the Caribbean and North America. Emerging from a series of seminars and lectures held in several regions of Africa and the African diaspora over the past several years, the volume reflects the increas- ing convergence of theory, practice, and policy as it relates to the problem of poverty, its causes, and its alleviation. Though no central thesis guides the volume, it does suggest that, just as religious institutions and religious practices can contribute to and exacerbate poverty, religion can also play a potentially important role in poverty alleviation. Underpinning the evolving nexus between theory and practice is the di≈cult lesson that the academic pursuit of religious traditions must be seen in relation to the social and political situations under which faith communities live, flourish, and, at times, perish. The volume sets out to provide an in-depth understanding of the problem of poverty in the experience of African people on both sides of the Atlantic, not only to examine the causes of poverty but also to provide answers for its alleviation in a way that will be beneficial to faith communities and the men and women currently struggling under the burden of poverty. In this volume, poverty as a concept and an analytical category is provided a broad, multi- disciplinary focus in which phenomenological, theological, and sociological meanings and ethnographic investigation combine to provide an overview of