Option for the Poor
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Date
1996-02
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
"Option for the poor" seems to be of a great importance in today's world.
Much have been written on this topic in recent times. With the blossoming of the
Liberation theology, "option for the poor" became also the central theme of the
interest of many theologians. This paper does not go in the line of the Liberation
Theology thought, but in this paper I would rather try to find out what is the
meaning and understanding of the "option for the poor" presented to us in the
Bible.
Yet, I do not intend to show the overview of the option of the poor in the
History of Salvation but rather I will concentrate on the meaning of Jesus'
proclamation of the "good new to the poor" presented to us in the beginning of
his ministry, in the key text from Luke 4:18-21, which includes a quotation from
the Book of Isaiah, chapter 61. But in order to understand well the meaning of the
option taken by Jesus we ought to refer briefly to the Old Testament notion of the
"option for the poor of Yahweh," because Jesus is the One to bring about
fulfilment of the promises of the Old Testament. I will start from the first
encounter by Israel option for the poor undertaken by God in Egypt and then its
understanding in the prophets, mainly in Isaiah to whom Jesus recalls.
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Keywords
Good News to the Poor, Exodus as a prototype, Poor of Yahweh", Jesus' Ministry, Acts