Muers, R (2021) Always with You: Questioning the Theological Construction of the Un/Deserving Poor. International Journal of Public Theology, 15 (1). pp. 42-60. ISSN 1872-5171
Abstract
The cultural persistence and political salience of the ‘un/deserving poor’ – the moral categorization of people in poverty – rests, inter alia, on the use of Christianity to construct a class-inflected position from which to judge or categorize the lives of others. Interpretation of the claim that the poor are ‘always with you’ (Matthew 26:11) plays a role in this process of asymmetrical moralization, specifically through the framing of ‘the poor’ as a class with divinely-mandated functions and virtues. To develop theological challenges to asymmetrical moralization, I examine patterns in contemporary and historical interpretation of the gospel accounts of the woman who anoints Jesus (the wider context of the claim that the poor are ‘always with you’). I propose that, while many interpreters attempt to use these texts to establish a position from which to judge both the woman and ‘the poor’, they can be reread in a way that undermines that construction.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Rachel Muers, 2021. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | poverty; class and theology; moralisation of poverty; undeserving poor; woman anointing Jesus |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 27 Jan 2021 16:25 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Brill |
Identification Number: | 10.1163/15697320-12341641 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170337 |