Lifting Up the Poor: A Dialogue on Religion, Poverty and Welfare Reform

(Paperback)

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People who participate in debates about poverty - and its causes and cures - often speak from religious conviction. But those underlying commitments brought to bear on specific policy choices. Two scholars and policy advocates bring their faith traditions, policy experience, academic expertise and political commitments together in this informed discussion of a vexing public issue. Mary Jo Bane writes of her experiences running social service agencies, work that has been informed by "Catholic social teaching and the catholic sensibility that is shaped every day by prayer and worship". Drawing from the various Christian traditions, Lawrence Mead's essay discusses the role of nurturing Christian virtues and personal responsibility as a means of combating poverty. Quoting Shelley, Mead describes theologians as the "unacknowledged leglisators of mankind". Bane emphasizes the social justice claims of her tradition,and Mead draws from virtue theory. But both assert that an engagement with religious tradition is indispensable to an honest and searching debate about poverty.

Reviews

"LIFTING UP THE POOR captures an articulate and earnest discussion on poverty, welfare reform, and the contributions of religion in the formation of public policy between two leading social scientists." Matthew Schobert, Family Ministry

"The value of the book lies within its ability to show how religious principles have a strong impact upon policy today." Audrey Hoffer, Street Sense, 3/1/2004

"The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the editors of dialogues on religion and public life, E.J. Dionne Jr., Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Kayla Drogosz, are to be congratulated for bringing out this book." William A. Galston, University of Maryland, Commonweal, 2/27/2004

"A great book" Kevin Little, United Church, Toronto Star, 6/3/2006

"While it is impossible to come up with a definitive final answer on the issue of welfare reform, Bane and Mead make an honest and satisfactory attempt to bring new issues to the discussion...Overall, LIFTING UP THE POOR would make an excellent choice for anyone interested in helping the downtrodden, and would be a useful text in social work and political science classes." Nathan R Lynn, Journal of Church and State

Author Bio

Mary Jo Bane is professor of public policy and management at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She served as cochair of President Clinton's Working Group on Welfare Reform and assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services. Lawrence M. Mead is a professor of politics at New York University and was a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institute. He was deputy director of research, Republican National Committee; policy scientist, the Urban Institute; and policy analyst, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.