Justice and Poverty as Challenges for the Christian Churches. With a Case Study on the Democratic Republic of Congo

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the role of Christian churches and the government in the fight against injustice and the eradication of poverty. In the first two Chapters, an overview of the concept of justice is proposed in both the New and Old Testaments, in the light of the challenge for the churches. Chapter three concentrates on an in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding poverty and its causes. The role played by international organisations with regard to the eradication of poverty in developing countries, and especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is questioned, while an analysis of the impact of industrialisation and globalisation on developing countries is carried out. Chapter four discusses the theological concept of poverty. The aim of this discussion is to develop theological ethics that can be applied by the churches in their struggle against poverty. The last Chapters tackeles poverty in DRC: plausible explanations are given for why some people live in extreme poverty and not others.