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Meeting Program Units

2013 Annual Meeting

Baltimore, MD

Meeting Begins11/23/2013
Meeting Ends11/26/2013

Call for Papers Opens: 12/15/2012
Call for Papers Closes: 2/28/2013

Requirements for Participation

Poverty in the Biblical World


Program Unit Type: Consultation
Accepting Papers? Yes

Call For Papers: The Consultation on Poverty in the Biblical World will sponsor two sessions at the 2013 Annual Meeting. Session 1) “Responses to Poverty in the Bible”: In an overall biblical arc of justice several key passages focus on what might be called “anti-poverty programs,” in which the wider community, movement, and/or people respond in various ways to the need of those whose livelihood is threatened. Prominent among these are the various devices of “risk-sharing” among agrarian communities demanded in covenantal law-codes (sabbatical fallow; lending without interest; release of debt-slaves; redemption of land), the “reforms” of Nehemiah that rolled back devices of impoverishment (Neh 5:1-13); the “community of goods” practiced by the early Jerusalem community of Jesus-loyalists (Acts 2:44-47); and the collection that Paul was gathering for the poor in Jerusalem (2 Cor 8; 9; etc.). The steering committee invites proposals for critical multifaceted analysis and interpretation of a key biblical passage or responses to poverty in both historical political-economic context and the context of the biblical tradition of common good and shared community responsibility for the needy. Session 2) “Forgiveness of Debts”: Arguably in modern as well as ancient political-economies debt is the mechanism by which both wealth, on the one hand, and poverty, on the other, are generated. In contrast to the capitalist and some other economic systems, biblical literature includes a number of passages in which the forgiveness of debt is demanded or encouraged (e.g., Deut 15; the “Jubilee,” Lev 25; Isa 61; Lord’s Prayer, Luke 6:27-35; 11:2-4; Rom 13:8-10). Certain other passages, however, have been read as blaming the poor for their poverty. The steering committee invites proposals for critical analysis and interpretation of key biblical passages on debt and the cancellation of debts in historical and biblical context.

Program Unit Chairs

Glenna S. Jackson
Kari Latvus
Richard A. Horsley

Propose a Paper for this Program Unit

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