The Bible, the Economy, and the Poor

Edited by Ronald A. Simkins and Thomas M. Kelly, Creighton University

Introduction (pp. 1-3)

Ronald A. Simkins, Creighton University [ Introduction ]

The Biblical Tradition

1. The Creation of Poverty in Ancient Israel (pp. 4-19)

Gale A. Yee, Episcopal Divinity School [ Chapter 1 ]

2. The Widow and Orphan in the Political Economy of Ancient Israel (pp. 20-33)

Ronald A. Simkins, Creighton University [ Chapter 2 ]

3. The Political Economy of Peasant Poverty: What the Eighth-Century Prophets Presumed but Did Not State (pp. 34-60)

Marvin L. Chaney, San Francisco Theological Seminary [ Chapter 3 ]

4. “The Poorest of the Land”: Perception and Identity of the Remnant in 2 Kings and Jeremiah (pp. 61-69)

Roger S. Nam, George Fox University [ Chapter 4 ]

5. You Didn’t Build That! A Prophetic View of the Political Economy from the Exile (pp. 70-82)

Nicolae Roddy, Creighton University [ Chapter 5 ]

6. Centralization of Political-Economic Power and the Generation of Poverty: The Mission of Jesus (pp. 83-105)

Richard A. Horsley, University of Massachusetts–Boston [ Chapter 6 ]

7. “Prophet Margins” in the Economy of Salvation: Having, Being, and Doing in the Gospel of Luke (pp. 106-31)

Susan Calef, Creighton University [ Chapter 7 ]

8. Justification and Justice: Reading Paul with the Economically Vanquished (pp. 132-46)

Brigitte Kahl, Union Theological Seminary, New York [ Chapter 8 ]

Theological, Ethical, and Other Responses

9. “God Stands Together with the Poor”: How Jews Viewed Poverty and Aided the Poor in the Post-Biblical Period (pp. 147-64)

Leonard J. Greenspoon, Creighton University [ Chapter 9 ]

10. The Bible and Social Justice: Has Anything Changed in Our Third Millennium? (pp. 165-78)

Thomas Massaro, S.J., Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University [ Chapter 10 ]

11. Challenging the Status Quo: How Rutilio Grande, S.J. Used Scripture to Address Socio-Economic Inequality (pp. 179-89)

Thomas M. Kelly, Creighton University [ Chapter 11 ]

12. Financialization and the Changing Face of Poverty: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (pp. 190-216)

Charles McDaniel, Baylor University [ Chapter 12 ]

13. Luxury: Sign of the Beast, or of the Blessing? (pp. 217-28)

Kent Van Til, Hope College [ Chapter 13 ]

14. The Danger of Description: The Ethnic Labeling of the Poor in Colonial Rwanda (pp. 229-41)

J. J. Carney, Creighton University [ Chapter 14 ]

15. Business in the Service of the Common Good: A Christian Perspective (pp. 242-56)

Andrew Gustafson, Creighton University [ Chapter 15 ]

16. Teaching and Learning an Option for the Poor: The Book of Job and Belief in a Just World (pp. 257-64)

Roger Bergman, Creighton University [ Chapter 16 ]