Analysis Of Care For The Poor By Ronald Simkins

Ronald A. Simkins, “Care for the Poor and Needy: The Bible’s Contribution to an Economic and Social Safety Net” Ronald Simkins paper was discussing the use of the bible and its teaching about the care for poor and needy people. He said before people are able to use the Bible and what it says for evidence they need to understand the context and social rules of this time period. He also points out that the Bible does not send out a consistent message, do in part to the three different traditions in the Bible. Simkins brought up the point that, as we read the Bible we need to be careful to not make the same mistake that many people do when they read the Bible. Once we understand that in the Bible there are three traditions and they do not all
agree on who is supposed to take care of the poor and needy, the king or the people. After the distinction is made between the Yahwist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly traditions, one can then understand better what the text is saying. The Yahwist tradition puts the care of the poor into the king’s hands, the other two traditions put the poor into the people’s hands. The king doesn’t do much for the poor, it says that you cannot put the poor into situations that hurt them.
When the care of the poor is put into the hands of the people, it gives more direction. It says that a person can work for seven years and then they are debt free, they take a portion of the profit that they helped create, and the farmers cannot take all of their crops out of the fields, so the poor and needy have food to eat. I really liked this paper, one, because it reiterates the idea that we need to understand their world before we start quoting the Bible to make it work for our world and two, it was full of the history of this ancient culture and I enjoy history.
Dulcinea Boesenberg, “Eating Meat Sacrificed to Idols: The Interplay of Politics and Theology in Paul’s Solution” In this paper Dulcincea Boesenberg, is explaining the letters that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, to explain what practices this church should and should not do. Especially when it comes to their dining and sexual habits. The main purpose in this paper is to warn the members of the Corinth church to not become idolaters through eating food offered to other religions gods. This was a challenge for the followers of Christ because food offered to other idols was consumed in both temples where important and social events were held and in homes, when they would invite friends and acquaintances over for a
meal. The members of the church try to find a reason that would allow them to continue with this practice so they do not offend their friends who are not followers of Christ. They come up with the term “strong” to describe people who live by some Jewish traditions. Paul responds to this by saying that they need to reject their former practices, traditional customs, and anything Corinthianish. He also tells them to follow a specific Jewish tradition, namely their sex laws, but he then tells them not to follow the practice of circumcision. I enjoyed listening to this paper because I have never given much thought to the letters that Paul wrote, and I have never been taught about their purpose and what they try to explain to the Corinthians. I also enjoyed the history about Corinth how it started out as a Jewish city then it was destroyed and resettled by the Romans. It was also interesting to learn about how they celebrated events and how friends would interact.
Julie Fleming, “Roman Catholic Teaching on the Death Penalty: Actual Exercise versus Hypothetical Exercise” Ms. Julie Fleming’s paper was aimed to explain some facts about the death penalty and explain how Pope Francis feels about the use of the death penalty. She also gives another option to use instead of the death penalty. Fleming’s paper starts out by talking about the actual death penalty, hypothetical death penalty, and some facts on the actual death penalty. The difference between actual and hypothetical death penalty is that a person will not be put to death with a hypothetical sentence. They will be giving a life sentence without the chance of parole. One of the facts she found was there have been 15 executions for murder committed in prison, since 2000. A gruesome fact of these murders is that the killers did this just so they could in fact get the death penalty. Fleming then goes on to explain Pope Francis’s teaching and stance on the death penalty.
The Pope likes to say that he is building on the Church document the Evangelium Vitae. He also says the death penalty is used by totalitarian governments, he also has the opinion that our criminal justice system and penal system are messed up and corrupt. He also holds the belief that the process to go through with the death penalty is a form of cruel and unusual torture. The process of getting sentenced, going through a trial again, and waiting for the day of your death is one of the things that upsets him. I do not really agree with Pope Francis and his view of the death penalty, I do not think it is cruel to let someone who has killed innocent people for no good reason to sit and think about his final day. Hopefully it will allow him to repent and see the damage he has done.
Jay Carney, “Faithful Citizenship in the USA and Uganda: A Comparative Analysis of Recent Catholic Pastoral Letters on
Politics” Jay Carney beings his paper by explaining some of the political unrest that lead to Smgr. Kinwanuka writing the pastoral letter “Church and State” which stated that the country should have a symbolic kingship, not an actual king. To which the king did not take kindly to and tried to have Kinwanuka killed for. After Carney explains the situation in Uganda he then turn to America to explain what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is, and what they are doing in the USA and what they are trying to promote. They focus on getting the catholic American voters to vote in line with what they want because they are Catholic and they should listen to them. Some of the issues concerned include abortion, assisted suicide and who can marry. After the USA organization is explained, Carney returns to Uganda to explain the Uganda Episcopal Conference. Which is the group of bishops in Uganda, they have a similar purpose as the United States group of bishops, in advising their vote. Uganda group is not solely focused on their Catholic population, but the nation as a whole. The USA group is more focused on policy and the Uganda group is more focused on processes compared to policies. They both push the idea that voters have a moral obligation of political participation and the common good. I found that I could relate to the history of Uganda and all of the turmoil there. The reason I can relate is due to the fact that I lived in South Africa for four months, and I was rioting in that country that, thankfully was not to that scale. I found it interesting that the USA group is so focused on specific policies, Catholics and not the general process and all of the American voters, unlike the Uganda group.