从基督教神学看贫穷

Christian theological views of poverty

杨庆球(Yng Qingqiu)

《基督教文化學刊》 16期 (2006/12) Pp. 22-34

並列摘要

This paper analyses the problem of poverty by beginning with the Christian doctrine of creationism. God the Creator is the Lord of the earth. All things belong to him, and all men are equal before him. Men are but God's stewards of the earth. It is on this realization that poverty can be apprehended in two senses: To be poor is a merit if it is a voluntary choice aiming to bring one closer to God in the pursuit of perfection. Poverty is an evil, however, if it is an outcome of unfair distribution of wealth, of monopolization and exploitation etc. The Bible strongly condemns this kind of poverty. The Church, nevertheless, tends to emphasize poverty in the spirit but neglect poverty caused by social injustice. This paper goes on to examine social poverty as a global issue. Underlying the perpetual sufferings of the poverty-stricken third world countries are the contributing factors like single-product economy, unfair trade, government subsidies, as well as racial and religious tension resulting from colonialism. Christians must look at the issue from the perspective of creationism, recalling our landkeeper consciousness, and embracing the poor with God's love in serving them as our fellow people.