We are happy to post, in four installments, a paper by our Disciple Nations Alliance colleague, Dwight Vogt, on a subject of vital concern to our readers. Go here to read Dwight’s excellent paper in its entirety. The Unique Role of the Local Church in Developing a Flourishing Community
Category: Poverty
Total 109 Posts
Poverty often results from the natural human tendency to respond to incentives. That’s true, by the way, not only for those who receive money from government programs but also for those whose livelihood depends on managing government programs. One example is the breakdown of the family. Research has shown that intact, two-parent
In an earlier post I argued that America’s “War on Poverty” has been a dismal failure. Poverty has won the war! As I suggested, lack of money is not the root of the problem. Thus more money (and more government bureaucracy) is not the solution. To understand the solution we
The US War on Poverty turned 50 this year. What have we learned? As a young man in college, I was confronted with poverty during a six-week stay at an orphanage in Mexico City. This experience set the course of my life. It comprised a call to work to alleviate
Recent events in Europe and the Middle East have pushed the border stories down a notch. But immigrants from Central America are still flooding into the US. Children and youth (and women) are fleeing corrupt and impoverished Central American nations. From Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador they are streaming through
One cannot consider Haiti without asking a perennial question. Why do some nations flourish while others seemed forever trapped in poverty? Observers have suggested many causes, including colonialism, lack of resources, or corruption. But each of these capture only an aspect of problem. As we have argued at this blog
This is post 1 of 10 in the series “wisdom” Wisdom book preview Poverty: The Fruit of Neglected Wisdom What Wisdom Has to Do with Wealth Creation Laws: Wisdom Sustains the Universe Wisdom Sustains the Universe Through Human Obedience Wisdom is Better Than Knowledge Wisdom: The False and the True
Most people see money as the solution to poverty. But money almost always complicates things. Money does not lead to a community’s development. Here’s a story from Latin America that shows how ideas, rather than money, transform communities. My wife, Marilyn, is a professional nurse. Over the last 13 years
Recently we published a post about Pope Francis’ comments last November regarding capitalism in his missive, “Evangelii Gaudium.” Here’s a further observation about his message. Michael Novak, a Roman Catholic economic philosopher, reflects on Francis’ paper in his article “Agreeing with Pope Francis.” Novak points out an important distinction between
Violence and poverty go hand in hand. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, but until recently I had not appreciated just how closely these two evils are related. God broke my heart for the plight of the poor when I was in college. Since then I have invested my adult life in
