Preaching Good News to the Poor!   Economic Justice to Transform this Present Age

Juan R. Thomas

Etd

Preaching Good News to the Poor! Economic Justice to Transform this Present Age

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Juan R. Thomas. Preaching Good News to the Poor! Economic Justice to Transform This Present Age. ctschicago.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/f2c8bd8a-de0b-48ad-8060-c468db916499?locale=en.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

J. R. Thomas. Preaching Good News to the Poor! Economic Justice to Transform this Present Age. https://ctschicago.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/f2c8bd8a-de0b-48ad-8060-c468db916499?locale=en

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Juan R. Thomas. Preaching Good News to the Poor! Economic Justice to Transform This Present Age. https://ctschicago.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/f2c8bd8a-de0b-48ad-8060-c468db916499?locale=en.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Juan R. Thomas

Keyword

Economic Justice

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how African American preachers preach about economic justice in the context of the African American church experience. This paper argues that prophetic preaching about economic justice can transform the community. In this context, I define prophetic preaching as speaking to or addressing the systemic barriers that have historically, culturally, politically, physically, mentally, spiritually, and economically, undervalued, underestimated, or marginalized people of African descent (in the United States) with the purpose of offering an analysis and critique for correction. This paper will address prophetic preaching with a lens towards an analysis and critique of what is required to preach prophetically concerning the economic barriers that prevent economic justice. Thus, prophetic preaching about economic justice to achieve economic justice requires three pillars to ultimately transform the community: 1) the preacher must have a growing knowledge of financial literacy: meaning an understanding of how the economy functions on a micro and macro level. 2) The preacher must advocate for progressive public policy in the context of a local, state, national and/or global economy. 3) Finally, the preacher must demonstrate the ability to utilize substantial financial resources to empower their ministerial context which optimistically includes the broader community. Ultimately, this paper argues that for preachers to develop sermons that centers issues of economic justice, the preacher must first begin by striving to be financially literate.

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