Charity Revisited

Abstract

In his book God’s Politics, the evangelical leader Jim Wallis reminds his readers that one-sixteenth of the verses in the New Testament relate to the poor or the subject of money.² To drive home his point that society as a whole needs to address poverty alleviation, he adds his own twist on a popular anonymous quote, “a society’s integrity is judged, not by its wealth and power, but by how it treats its most vulnerable members.”³ While biblical authority might hold sway over adherents who find inspiration in the words of the prophets, people who do not ground their values in a Judeo-Christian or another faith-based context may instead find guidance in Aristotle’s appeals to universal ideas. To present a model of generosity that gives the recipients of that generosity the power to shape their own lives, this chapter will trace both biblical and secular scholarship around charitable giving. This ethical model contains two primary foundations. First, although there will always be poor people in the world, they need and deserve generosity. Second, that generosity must manifest in ways that help the poor to become self-sufficient and to flourish through their own efforts. This chapter will cover these two elements, and will end by introducing microfinance as a giving method that is not only aligned with this ethical model, but also a very effective way to help the poor lift themselves out of poverty.

“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”¹

John D. Rockefeller