Christian Mission and Poverty

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Christian Mission and Poverty

J ohn W oolman (1720–1772) Background John Woolman was a Quaker minister who argued against the slave trade and injustices related to the seizure of Native American lands. He lived simply and worked with his hands, refusing to wear clothing connected with forced human labor and advocating for reparations for African American freed people. As a Quaker, he practiced and preached nonviolence. Because of the work of Woolman and Benjamin Lay, among others, the Quakers adopted and maintained an abolitionist stance, often participating in the Underground Railroad. In A Plea for the Poor , Woolman points to the systemic nature of injustice and pleads with Christians to consider how their own economic practices contribute to or detract from the poverty of others. Like Aquinas and Luther, he argues from the good of creation to the necessity of sharing goods with all. Like Basil and Chrysostom, he sees accumulation of wealth as theft from the poor. Like Clare and Catherine, he extols the virtues of living simply. Woolman’s work is an important contribution to the tradition of thinking about Christian mission and poverty. Unlike many contemporary Christians, Woolman refuses to think about poverty in purely individualistic or purely systemic terms. He calls for a commitment to both Jesus and justice in a way that we would do well to learn from today.