I just ran across this quote from Hans Urs von Balthasar this afternoon, and I thought I would use it to make another plug for When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor or Yourself by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett. The address the reticence that Balthasar expresses regarding the lack of [...]
Archive for the ‘Poverty and the Poor’ Category
17 Sep
When Helping Hurts (9)
In the last chapter of When Helping Hurts, Corbett and Fikkert address and evaluate various approaches to micro-finance (MF) economic development that seeks to help the poor around the world. The various approaches include:
The MF Provider model: an outside organization provides loans to poor individuals and families (think Grameen Bank). The authors point out that [...]
16 Sep
When Helping Hurts (8)
Poverty is everywhere. Yes, in the suburbs too. In chapter 8 of When Helping Hurts, Corbett and Fikkert remind us that poverty is our own backyard, and it’s growing in the suburbs. “The suburban poor tend to be less densely concentrated and are scattered about in older apartment complexes, pockets of mobile homes, subdivisions of [...]
14 Sep
When Helping Hurts (6)
Chapter 6 of When Helping Hurts is replete with wisdom about working with the poor. First, Fikkert and Corbett assess the failure of McDevelopment in alleviating poverty, rolling out a blueprint of how to alleviate poverty and applying around the world. The major critique of this approach is that it ignores local knowledge and initiative, [...]
12 Sep
When Helping Helps (5): Learning our ABCDs
The last chapter of When Helping Hurts dealt with knowing how to distinguish between relief, rehabilitation, and development. Once this has been determined, Corbett and Fikkert suggest in chapter 5 that we need to start with learning our ABCDs: asset-based community development. Rather than identity the needs of the community, the best way to begin [...]
11 Sep
When Helping Hurts (4)
In chapter 4 of When Helping Hurts, I have identified three main points, all of which deserve a full-length post.
First, Corbett and Fikkert explain how poverty alleviation takes on three main forms: relief, rehabilitation, and development.
Relief: “urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering.”
Rehabilitation: “restoring people and their communities to the positive [...]
10 Sep
When Helping Hurts (3)
How should the church go about alleviating poverty? If we only believe that poverty is a lack of material things, then we will give out handouts. But if we believe that poverty is a result of broken relationships between God, self, other, and creation, then poverty alleviation, as defined by Corbett and Fikkert in chapter [...]
9 Sep
When Helping Hurts (2)
Equipped with a full and comprehensive understanding of the gospel, Corbett and Fikkert set out in chapter 2 of Helping Hurts to explore the meaning of poverty. They stress that our response to poverty with match our overall understanding of poverty, and therefore if our understanding is inadequate, our action will be inadequate.
Our understanding of [...]
8 Sep
When Helping Hurts (1)
I am finally getting around to reading and posting on the new book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. I am not surprise that When Helping Hurts is already appearing on required reading lists, is a top library recommendation, and is already [...]
8 Sep
DBQ: Blessed Poor
In contrast to Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes (“blessed are the poor in spirit”) Luke records Jesus’ words as “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20). We should not be alarmed that Matthew and Luke record different words, for it is very likely that Jesus preached this [...]
Recent Comments