Università Roma Tre

Poverty, mission and development cooperation in contemporary Christianity

Since the post–World War II, the Christian churches have begun to consider the "social question" as a global question, as a result of the decolonization, of a new theological regard of poverty and of the international climate of the Cold War. Issues such as poverty, work, peace and development have gradually become part of the public discourse of the churches with an impact on the traditional exercise of charity: from paternalistic welfarism to the NGOs came out of associations and religious institutes, this evolution is a trace of a dynamic and conflictual confrontation with the affirmation of civil rights in liberal societies and with the secularization. Through the study of the historical documents, reconstructing the main debates in Christian churches, the course will deal in particular with the following topics: the relationship between missions, decolonization and Third-Worldism; the "church of the poor" and the Second Vatican Council; peace and development of peoples.

1. Dossier of historical documents proposed by the professor
2. Two books to be chosen from following:
a. MASSIMO DE GIUSEPPE, L’altra America: i cattolici italiani e l’America latina. Da Medellín a Francesco, Morcelliana, Brescia 2017
b. MATTEO MENNINI, La Chiesa dei poveri. Dal Vaticano II a papa Francesco, Guerini e Associati, Milano 2017.
c. MAURO FORNO, La cultura degli altri. Il mondo delle missioni e la decolonizzazione, Carocci, Roma 2017.

Attending students will be provided with other indications during the lessons