INTRODUCTION

The Christian faith does not cut us off from the world but immerses us in it, the church is not a fortress set apart from the city. The church follows Jesus who lived, worked, battled, and died in the midst of a city, the polis... It is the poor who tells us what the world is, and what the church's service to the world should be. It is the poor who tells us what the polis is, what the city is and what it means really to live in that world... It is in the actual practise of service to the poor that the political dimension of the faith is to be found, and correctly found. Archbishop Oscar Romero

This edition brings together articles around the three concepts of Faith, Poverty and Development and explores its interconnectedness. It further asks questions on how faith, as a resource, can guide the manner in which we engage in the struggle against poverty and for a kind of development that seeks that which is authentically human. Protests against poverty has become commonplace in South Africa over the past few years and everyone seems to clamour for development, often painted as the antidote to poverty, but the concept of development is a contested one. What do we mean by development, who decides what development is, and who benefits from development?

For the past fifty years it seemed to be conventional wisdom that the antidote for poverty is development and that while poverty demeans human dignity, development holds out the possibility that every person could fulfill his/her full human potential and live a dignified and productive human life. On the basis of this 'wisdom' faith communities have called for greater development and become part of the army of development workers. However, after more than half a century of poverty eradication programmes and the promise held out by development, poverty has increased and socio-economic inequality widened.

The very notion of development today is in deep crisis. The contest around development is numerous; over location; view of history; understandings of the socio-economic and political systems operative; how to achieve development; who are the agents of development; and who are the beneficiaries; what role do faith communities play in development? In the light of these questions we need to look again at the role that faith can play in the struggle against poverty and for a kind of development that is conducted in an emancipatory manner and which contributes to liberation from unjust social, economic and political structures. The articles in this edition look at Faith, Poverty, and Development from various perspectives and seek to stimulate our thinking and create new insights on teh interconnected of these concepts in the manner in which we act in the world.

Professor Steve de Gruchy writes in 'Overcoming Poverty: A Theological Framework for Development' that in working to eradicate poverty the Christian can draw on four principles: human dignity, human vocation, human community, and the earth community. He then poses the question, how do we act in a manner that is consistent with these principles? In exploring this question he presents three possibilities. asset-based development; micro-finance schemes, and earth keeping opportunities.

Liberation Theology speaks not of development but of liberation and argue that, before a meaningful change can take place, political power must be transferred from traditional land-owning and modernizing technological elites to poor masses and calls for transformation of the global structures of power. Israel Mkhize looks at this tradition from the perspective of Gustavo Gutierrez in his article, 'Gustavo Gutierrez: Liberation as Goal of Development'. For Gutierrez the discussion around development should therefore be placed in a wider context, in a historical vision in which human kind assumes control of its own destiny. Thus, development, looked at from the perspective of a truly human centered development, is not primarily about projects and wealth creation but about human agency and the task of the powerless to liberate themselves and transform their conditions of poverty and marginalization into that of human dignity.

In 'Grace, Truth and Development' Graham Philpott and Mark Butler raises the critical question of the practice of NGOs or FBOs in engaging on the terrain of 'development'. In their article they expose the contradictions of the new democracy and the gap between the official rhetoric of democracy, development, and a 'better life for all', and the realities of a hollowed-out democracy experienced by poor South Africans. Development, conceived as a state project, they argue, is in fact a hostile project of capital accumulation against (most of) the people. Something new must replace development as we know it, and they suggest that it would be the liberatory political sequence opened in the terrains of politics constituted in and through militant struggles of the organised poor beyond and against the state. They ground their views in a theology in which "the ordinary struggles of ordinary people become a sacrament of God's presence and proclamation of resurrection. That in situations of oppression 'resurrection means insurrection'"

Felicity Harrison writes in "A Poverty of Compassion" that to be poor is to be invisible and this leads to the marginalisation of the poor from publice life, public space and public goods. Poverty then is constituted by the exclusion that the poor face from accessing social, economic and political opportunities open to those with education, wealth and power. Harrison laments the fact of the lack of will and compassion displayed, not just on the part of government but, by those of us who have the influence and resources to make a difference. This she calls 'a poverty of compassion' which is rooted in shifting moral responsibility onto someone else and a failure to act in the interest of the common good. Her article is therefore a call to look at Faith, Poverty and Development from the perspective of the common good.

In "Examining Poverty and Food Insecurity in Africa from a Millennium Development Goal on perspective: what is the progress?" Samuel Chingondole examines poverty and hunger in Africa from the perspective of the first Millennium Development Goal which is to eradicate extreme hunger and reduce poverty by half by 2015. But, the reduction of hunger and the attainment of many other MDGs are intertwined, meaning that eradicating hunger and poverty has to be the predominant policy challenge facing decision makers, particularly in Africa. For such policies to eradicate extreme hunger and reduce poverty governments must ensure that benefits of agriculture-led growth reaches the very poor and most vulnerable segments of rural society and ensure that they participate in this growth process.

In 'Job Creation in a Time of Recession' Regis Chawatama discusses the state of unemployment in South Africa and the fact that more than 270 000 people lost their jobs between April and June this year. Unemployment in South Africa now stands at around 23%, and is likely to get worse as we continue to shed jobs in traditional employment sectors as a result of the global economic crisis. He argues that this will deepen poverty and requires a concerted effort by both government and non-state actors alike if we are to survive the crisis without too much damage to the social fabric.

In the final article, 'Better homes, Better fields, Better hearts: The Development Approach of Bernard Huss', Gideon Sibanda gives an overview of Bernard Huss' strategies to address the socio-economic poverty of black people during the colonial era in South Africa. He shows that Bernard Huss was a man of his times who had imbibed some of the paternalistic views present in his day yet he made an interesting analysis in diagnosing the causes of poverty and underdevelopment. For Huss development starts with where people find themselves, is driven by the local people and should build on the resources they have, including their social relationships. These principles could still be usefully employed today in the struggle for an authentic human development.

We present these articles in the hope that it will inspire us to critically engage from a faith perspective with the reality of poverty and the agendas that underlie development.

Mervyn Adams