Jesus and Paul on Poverty and Economic Justice*

Course Requirements:

Attendance and informed participation in all classes. Students should digest assigned readings before class and be ready to discuss them. Attendance: 1 excused absence from class, no reason needed. Except in cases of extreme emergency, further absences lower final grade by one full step (A to B).

One of your main dialogue partners will be a community of your choosing, chosen by the second class meeting. Over the course of term, you will research issues around poverty and economic justice in the community of your choosing, and in consultation with me, you will design a project on the subject in that community, elements of which you will present to the class at the end of term (50% of grade, 20% of which will be the presentation to the class).

10 one page single-spaced critical reflections on readings and subject for each class, beginning February 15, to be distributed to the whole class (by emailing all). 50% of final grade. Due electronically on class date, by midnight.

Written work is due on the date assigned. Except in cases of extreme emergency, late work will be reduced by a letter grade for each day late (e.g., A to B). Except in cases of extreme emergency, late work will not receive comments. Plan to turn your work in on time.

 

Required Reading:

1. Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains

2. Richard Horsley, Jesus and the Powers

3. PDFs of other course readings will be available via SonisWeb for download at the beginning of term.

4. You will need a modern translation of the New Testament: New Revised Standard Version is preferred but Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, and New International Version are acceptable. Either The New Oxford Annotated Bible (Oxford University Press) or The HarperCollins Study Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books  (Harper-Collins Press) is suggested as a good study Bible.

 

Other matters:

1. Grading follows the scale offered in the Hartford Seminary 2011-2012 Catalogue (p. 24): A(4.00), A-(3.66), B+(3.33), B(3.00), B-(2.66), C+(2.33), C(2.00) and F(0.00).

Grade Interpretation:

A  Superb, exemplary. Original, insightful, knowledgeable, well-written, well-prepared. Demonstrates outstanding critical acumen for introductory level.

A-   Almost there…

B+  Excellent work. Very good demonstration of command of material at introductory level.

B   Very good work. Good, solid, competent grasp of material.

B-  Good work. A good start, with 1 or more main areas for improvement.

C+ Decent work, with significant gaps in content or execution. Consider discussing your work with me, so written suggestions for improvement can be explained.

C   Minimally acceptable. Getting by. Please seek me out to discuss your situation.

F   Boink. Work missing, inscrutable, off topic, or otherwise lost in space. Please come and talk to me immediately. Trust me: F is a lovely letter, but not as a class grade.

If you find yourself struggling in the class, please call or email me so that we can discuss your situation and find workable solutions to roadblocks to your progress in the class.

 

2. Don’t plagiarize (and trust me, don’t buy a paper off of the web, either. They stink). Familiarize yourself with rules for acceptable attribution of secondary sources and utilize them. If you are caught plagiarizing you will fail the assignment in question and risk failing the course.

 

Class Schedule

 

January 25  - The Poor and “The Poor” and “Who We Are”: Locations, Meanings,

Questions, and an introduction to “The Invisibles”

 

February 1 - Bodies that Matter: A Training in the Data.

What counts when “we” count the poor and the rich? Who counts? Why does the who matter?

 

Readings: Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains

Examine carefully national poverty center statistics at www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/. Do your own research on line on poverty statistics and come prepared for a thick conversation about “who counts” and who counts “who counts” in this country; what measures are used to determine who is “poor” and what is assumed in the counting and the measures.

 

February 8 - NO CLASS

 

February 15 - Pathologies of Power (with a North-South Focus):

Readings from Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power; and

Gustavo Guttierez We Drink from our Own Wells and Spiritual Writings

(selections)

First Reflection Due

 

February 22 - The Destitute and the “Poor in Spirit”:

First Testament Reflections from Story, Law, and Prophecy

Texts: Ex. 23:9-10; Ps. 37, 132; Is. 26:5-6; Is. 40-66

Reading: “Poor, Poverty” Anchor Bible Dictionary

Second Reflection Due

 

February 29 Jesus as the Poor: Remembering the Silent and Forgotten in the West

Text: Luke 4

Reading: Richard Horsley, Jesus and the Powers;

Elsa Tamez, the Bible of the Oppressed (excerpts)

Third Reflection Due

March 7 Jesus with the Poor, Jesus on the Poor

Texts: Mk 12:41-44; Jn 12

Richard Horsley, Covenant Economics: A Vision of Justice for All

Elsa Tamez, The Bible of the Oppressed (excerpts)

Fourth Reflection Due

 

March 14  - Kingdom Coming, Kingdom Come In: The Jesus Movement on Material

Wealth

Texts: Mk 10:17-31, Acts 1-12

Reading: D. Cowan, Economic Parables: The Monetary Teachings of Jesus

Fifth Reflection Due

 

March 21 - Paul among the Poor, Working Folk, The Positioned, and the Wealthy:

The Fallacy of the Top: Status-Reversal as Gospel

Text: 1 Corinthians (esp. ch. 1)

Reading: J Gonzalez, Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian

Ideas on the Origin, Significance and Use of Money

Sixth Reflection Due

 

March 28 - The Abundance of the Poor

Text: 2 Cor 8

Reading: TBA

Seventh Reflection Due

 

April 4 - Paul on Thriving in the Body as Wisdom-Living

Text: 1 Cor 2-4, esp. 1:30-31

Reading: TBA

Eighth Reflection Due

 

April 11 - Eschatology and Ethics in Paul’s Letters

Text: Phil. 2; 1 Corinthians 11, 12-14, Rom 12-15

Reading: TBA

Ninth Reflection Due

 

April 18 - Body-Building Reciprocity

Texts: 1 Corinthians 11, 12-14, Rom 12-15

 

April 25 - Growing the Reign-of-God as Body-Building

Text: Romans 14

Reading: TBA

Tenth Reflection Due

 

May 2 - Synthesis and Project Presentations

May 9 - Synthesis and Project Presentations

Readings for the last month of the course will focus on poverty/economic issues, and the use of bible in adjudicating these issues, in specific modern global settings. They will be selected by the class, as a class, in the first month of class.

The following political and theological treatments are recommended to students for incorporation in their course projects (with thanks to Dr. Melissa Matthes for these recommendations):

Rebecca Blank, Is the Market Moral? A Dialogue on Religion, Economics and Justice

Philip Goodchild, Theology of Money

Kelly Johnson, Fear of Beggars: Stewardship and Poverty in Christian Ethics

Kathryn Tanner, Economy of Grace

John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor

Nimi Wariboko, God and Money: A Theology of Money in a Globalizing World