Abstract
This chapter examines Christian engagement in tackling poverty in the UK over the last decade. We draw on three years of research which included interviews with 16 national UK Church leaders, an online survey with over 100 regional Church leaders, and six ethnographic case studies in Birmingham, London, and Manchester. We examine the different ways that Christians are responding to poverty in the UK—including caring, campaigning and advocacy, enterprise, and self-reliance—and explore the theological and ethical values that underpin their social action. We show that a key challenge facing both society and the Church is whether the Church is willing to use its social capital to resource campaigns seeking to transform structural injustice, rather than confining itself to welfare-based responses to poverty.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Action on Poverty in the UK |
| Editors | Sarah Page, Martin Coates, Julie Tipping, Juliette Frangos, Katy Goldstraw |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Chapter | 16 |
| Pages | 285-301 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Edition | 1 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-031-37182-0 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-031-37181-3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Publication series
| Name | Sustainable Development Goals |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
Funding
1 This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Economic and Social Research Council |
Keywords
- Poverty
- Christianity
- Austerity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Religious studies
Themes
- Faith and Peaceful Relations
