Swiss Brethren and Dutch Mennonites

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-187
Author(s):  
Esther Chung-Kim
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Poor Relief ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Clear Sign ◽  
Forced Migrations ◽  
Stable Family ◽  
The Church

Severe persecution and frequent migration threatened the survival of various Anabaptist groups and their leaders who lacked a salary or benefits, unlike magisterial Protestant reformers or Catholic clergy. Voluntary leaders like Menno Simons had to sacrifice a stable family life because of traveling visitations and forced migrations. Considered outlaws in most places, Anabaptists could not rely on any state support. The forms of poor relief among Swiss Brethren (including south German and Austrian Anabaptists) and Dutch Mennonites emerged out of a biblical rationale that the church of true believers practiced mutual aid out of love and obedience to Christ’s precepts and example. Anabaptist leaders relied a great deal on the networks of scattered Anabaptist communities, even though any aid to wanted Anabaptist fugitives could lead to criminal punishment. Mutual aid became a defining characteristic of the Anabaptists as a clear sign of faith and good works.

Catholics and the Poor in Early Modern Europe

1976 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 15-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Pullan
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Poor Relief ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Immortal Soul ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Good Order ◽  
The Church

A quiet revolution has occurred of late in the history of poor people and poor relief in early modern Europe. Shapeless, decentralized and infinite, like the story of most everyday things, it has depended for progress on the laborious accumulation of local examples, garnered from patchy, weedy and erratically surviving evidence; and for vitality on cerebration which outstrips research, on hypo-theses which demand to be tested in a hundred detailed trials. Time was when sociologists and students of social legislation encouraged historians to believe that with the Reformation there developed fundamental differences in the ways in which the old and the new faiths treated their poor–variances which sprang essentially from the abandonment in the wake of Luther of the ancient belief that ‘good works’ (almsgiving included) offered to those who performed them a direct means of securing salvation. To compress is often to parody. But it can perhaps be said that the coming of Protestantism, in all its forms, was believed to have emancipated poor-relief from the control of a too-indulgent Church, which encouraged the almsgiver to think only of the benefit to his own immortal soul. In so doing the Church had allegedly destroyed all incentive to contrive a rational philanthropy—to build systems which would benefit the receiver of alms, which would serve the common weal, which would in general be directed at procuring good order and reducing physical want and suffering. Hence the Church was credited with a very low capacity for organization and even accused of breeding the very poor whom it relieved, by depriving them of all incentive to find employment and attain self-support.

McCallum, Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-313
Author(s):  
Neil Mcintyre
Keyword(s):  
Poor Relief ◽  
The Church

John McCallum, Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland, 1560–1650

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-239
Author(s):  
Jared Thomley
Keyword(s):  
Poor Relief ◽  
The Church

Pastoral Bagi Keluarga Dalam Situasi Khusus Menurut Paus Fransiskus Dalam Anjuran Apostolik Amoris Laetitia

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Gerardus Rahmat Subekti
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
The Face ◽  
Families First ◽  
Difficult Situations ◽  
The Church ◽  
Amoris Laetitia ◽  
Crisis Situations

The article deals with pastoral care for family according to Amoris Laetitia. The author’s concern is to discuss the pastoral steps for the families in the face of crisis situations: What kind of pastoral steps can be organized to assist families in crisis situations? This article is based on the study of ecclesial document Amoris Laetitia, a post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families. First of all, the article describes the basic thoughts of this document, especially those related to the reality and ideals of family life. Then, it shows some practical pastoral thoughts for assisting families in special situations. The results can be a significant contribution for the Church in terms of its important duties and responsibilities in assisting the families today, but also for family pastoral activists. This description concludes that the crisis situation faced by families is not a fact to be constantly regretted, but an opportunity for the Church to show God's mercy to those who are struggling in difficult situations.

Wittenberg Reformers

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Esther Chung-Kim
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Poor Relief ◽  
System P ◽  
Theological Foundations ◽  
The Common ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Relief System ◽  
Mendicant Orders ◽  
The Church

Wittenberg reformers supported the transfer of formerly Catholic Church properties to government possession. This secularization of church property did not mean a rejection of religion per se; on the contrary, secularization of church property meant that political rulers consolidated the scattered ecclesiastical properties and possessions into a common chest so that they could support the reform of the church. While Martin Luther and Andreas Karlstadt denounced mendicant orders for their begging lifestyle, they called for cities to care for their resident poor so that begging would be obsolete. Their critique became the catalyst for change, including an educated pastorate with preaching as a central component of worship, schools for boys and girls, and a system of poor relief funded by monastic foundations, confraternities, and donations. In the transfer of property to the common chest, Wittenberg reformers were crucial in providing the theological foundations for the transition to a centralized poor relief system.

scholarly journals COUNSELS OF PERFECTION AND REFORMATION POLITICAL THOUGHT

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-330
Author(s):  
SARAH MORTIMER
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Reformation Theology ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Theological Critique ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe debate over counsels of perfection was a crucial aspect of the formation of political and ethical thought in the sixteenth century. It led both Protestants and Catholics to consider the status of law and to consider how far it obliged human beings, rather than simply permitting particular actions. From Luther onwards, Protestants came to see God's standards for human beings in absolute terms, rejecting any suggestion that there were good works which were merely counselled rather than commanded, and therefore not obligatory. This view of ethics underpinned the Protestant theological critique of Catholic doctrines of merit but it also shaped the distinctively Protestant account of natural law. It enabled Luther and his allies to defend magisterial control over the church, and it also formed a crucial element of Protestant resistance theory. By examining the Lutheran position on counsels, expressed in theological and political writings, and comparing it with contemporary Catholic accounts, this article offers a new perspective on Reformation theology and political thought.

scholarly journals Pastoral care and the agony of female singleness in the African christian context

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E. Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Never Married ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
Programme Of Care ◽  
The Church

In our society the norm is thatevery adult should get married one day. This could imply thatunmarried people do not feel welcome either in the community or the church. They may feel neglected or even like outcasts. It is a pity that the church, which also finds itself within the community, is composed of people who still continue to havethe kind of attitude that excludes singles, even inside church circles. While churches run programmes that have a strong emphasis on marriage and family life, nothing is being doneto address singleness and its related problems. As a result, singles often regard themselves as unimportant and worthless. This article is aimed at un-covering the role of the church through its leadership (pastors in particular) to assist and helpto redeem the damaged image and self-esteem that singles may have in their respective communities and churches. The article focuses on singles in the African church and society. It is crucial that a church programme of care and counselling be structured in order to minister to persons who are separated, divorced, widowed or never married for whatever reason.

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