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14 - Poverty and Social Justice in Micah

from Part III - Prophetic Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

C. L. Crouch
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
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Summary

The book of Micah is both a complicated work and literarily cluttered. While the book is set in Judah during the mid-to-late eighth century BCE, much of it was composed in the exilic and postexilic periods. Any eighth-century components have been heavily redacted. For present purposes, however, the turbulent period in which Micah’s authors set their work is more important than time(s) of actual authorship. The book’s eighth-century Judean setting gives clues as to its authors’ intents as well as signaling the book’s relevance to a variety of audiences. Eighth-century Judah’s contexts of suffering conquest and subjugation – with the political, economic, and religious changes that follow – resonate with marginalized peoples across time. Furthermore, Micah’s laments, accusations, legal sentencings, and promises of hope reflect a biblical-economic ethos that recurs throughout the First Testament: the ethos of the community responsibility for the well-being of individuals. Despite its unpolished form, therefore, Micah is rich in ethical landscapes through which to explore poverty and other social justice issues, both ancient and modern.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Berube, A. “Degrees of Separation: Education, Employment and the Great Recession in Metropolitan America.” Brookings (November 5, 2010): www.brookings.edu/research/degrees-of-separation-education-employment-and-the-great-recession-in-metropolitan-america.Google Scholar
Coomber, M. J. M. Re-Reading the Prophets through Corporate Globalization. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2010.Google Scholar
Frykholm, A.A Grassroots Jubilee.” Christian Century 132:11 (2015): 1011.Google Scholar
Gottwald, N.Early Israel as an Anti-Imperial Community.” Pages 924 in In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful Resistance. Edited by Horsley, R. A.. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. W. and Earle, T.. The Evolution of Human Societies: From Foraging Group to Agrarian State. 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Kasperkevic, J. “Occupy Activists Abolish $3.85m in Corinthian Colleges Students’ Loan Debt.” The Guardian (September 17, 2014): www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/17/occupy-activists-student-debt-corinthiancolleges.Google Scholar
Rappaport, R. A.The Sacred in Human Evolution.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 2:1 (1971): 2344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samples, T. R.Rogue Trends in Sovereign Debt: Argentina, Vulture Funds, and Pari Passu under New York Law.” Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business 35, 1 (2014): 4986.Google Scholar
Winters, S. “Jubilee Aims to Ease Grenada’s Debt Crisis.” National Catholic Reporter June 20–July 3 (2014): 3.Google Scholar

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