Keywords: Human dignity, poverty, autonomy, self-determination, relational and multi-dimensional accounts of life, epistemological

Summary: How does the widespread phenomenon of poverty constitute a challenge to human dignity? This article argues firstly that a pervasive idea of human dignity, namely one that links dignity with autonomy, indeed evokes moral insights and guidance that are heavily challenged and contradicted by the pervasive reality of poverty. At the same time, however, the phenomenon of poverty reveals how this idea of human dignity creates problems of its own. Not only is it the origin of conflicting recommendations on poverty-combating policies and practices, depending on how dignity is linked with autonomy. Far more, a currently dominant trend in the conception of human dignity and autonomy, namely one that links dignity to self-determination, presupposes an ideal model of human life. As such, it becomes involved in practices of distinction whereby forms of life that fall short of this ideal model of a self-determining human life, are implicitly denigrated. A notion of human dignity that is grounded in human life’s relational and multidimensional character, it is argued, will be less vulnerable to the accusations of implying such practices of differentiation, and better able to articulate dignity in relation to the concrete, bodily human life’s various dimensions. Thus it is suggested that poverty might attain an epistemological function in relation to articulating human dignity. A final argumentative step suggests that exploring this epistemological significance of poverty might yield a deeper understanding of what it is to deny someone of human dignity.

Keywords: people with disabilities, marketization, social work, love

Summary: In this article, I argue that marketization has double effects: the concept of the customer benefits those individuals with disabilities who are able to manage daily affairs, often by the help of assistants. Their self-determination is enhanced so that participation in societal life can be more easily achieved. On the other side, marketization is not geared to consider the needs of the most handicapped people. They are often unable to meet the challenges that are involved by introducing the concept of the customer. Another ethical orientation is necessary in order to meet their special needs. One foundation for this orientation can be seen in the theological understanding of love which includes all human beings without any precondition. Although the argument followed a Christian perspective, loving one’s neighbour can be embraced by secular persons as well. This orientation is needed in order to balance the negative effects of market forces on more severely disabled people.

Keywords: Welfare state, poverty, churches activities regarding poverty

Summary: This article deals with the involvement of churches in the Netherlands in material aid to the poor. It deals with the subject at three levels: the Dutch context in general, the churches, particularly the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, and financial aid to the poor provided by local churches. In the fifties and later on the churches’ role in material aid diminished as a consequence of the improvement of living standards and the building up of the welfare state. However, as a consequence of social-economic developments and the restructuring of the welfare state churches were confronted with questions about how to deal with people who had got into financial problems after becoming dependent on benefits because of unemployment, disability, divorce, single motherhood etc. Data that are based on empirical research among local churches are given about the developments in the material aid provided by churches from 2002 on and a description of churches’ involvement in foodbanks. Moreover the question on how the churches understand their responsibilities in this field is discussed. It is shown that churches promote the vision that material assistance provided by churches should be combined with protest because it is the task of the state to promote general welfare and to secure the basic needs of people in society. Advocacy and lobbying on behalf of the poor are essential tasks of churches.

Keywords: welfare state, welfare regime, religion, majority church, Lutheranism, social democracy, interorganisational relationshi

Summary: The aim of this article is to study interrelationships between church-based welfare agents and the welfare state at the local level in Norway and Finland, and specifically the patterns of co-operation. The article addresses the significance of religion in welfare state theory and theoretical models of relations between the welfare state and the voluntary sector. Norway and Finland are characterized by the same category in Esping-Andersen’s theory of welfare regimes and in Anheier’s corresponding models of the voluntary sector in the welfare state. We found clear similarities in terms of relations between the public sector and church-based welfare agents at the local level in the Norwegian and Finnish cases. However, there were also striking differences. We argue that one of the reasons for the differences in the relations is religious differences between Norway and Finland, even though the Lutheran religious heritage is dominant in both countries. The findings in the article support those who claim that religion is a significant factor for the understanding of patterns of welfare state models in Europe.

Keywords: deacon, ministry of diaconia, Calvin

Summary: The classical paradigm before the 1990 s unanimously considered the early apostolic and biblical age as a special time for the diaconal ministry. According to this view, in the early church, the deacons had a prominent position in their local churches and took the major responsibility in the social-caritative actions. Recent biblical studies have argued that the traditional outline is not historically true, or at least we need some new evidence to argue for the biblical origin of the social-caritative diaconal ministry. In this article, the analysis of the reception aims to clarify the historical steps of this process: how has Acts 6:1 – 6 been understood and interpreted during the different historical periods? As a summary of the analysis, the following steps or stages can be noticed. The first stage was the identification of the seven men as deacons (diakonoi) by Irenaeus and others. The second stage of the development was the identification of deacons as caritative functionaries in Trullo and more actively in the texts of Martin Luther. The third stage of development was the establishment of the permanent caritative ministry of deacons by John Calvin. The whole reception process is cumulative and, thus, it is not possible to understand the stages without a conception of the previous steps. During the process, the understanding of Acts 6 changed in a remarkable way and showed how deeply the interpretation was affected to each historical context.