The Poor You Have with You Always: Concepts of Aid to the Poor in the Western World from Biblical Times to the Present

From the rear cover of this 173 page book: "This book is unique in that it traces the thinking, Christian and secular, that has lain behind society's treatment of the poor throughout the centuries in the Western World, from the Old Testament's concern with justice, to American welfare policies in the 1980's; from the writings of the early church Fathers to contemporary articles in professional journals. It is designed to help students acquire a conceptual background for practice with the disadvantaged, together with a sense of the history, not only of the social work profession but of human compassion as a whole. It has been tested with undergraduate and state-supported colleges and universities." The Poor You Have with You Always traces the thinking, both Christian and secular, that has lain behind society's treatment of the poor throughout the centuries in the Western world from the Old Testament's concern with justice to American welfare policies in the 1980's; from the writings of the early church Fathers to contemporary articles in professional journals. This book is designed to help students acquire a conceptual background for practice with the disadvantaged together with a sense of the history not only of the social work profession but of human compassion as a whole. It has been tested with undergraduate and graduate classes in Christian and state-supported colleges and universities