Download or read book The Paradox of Vowed Poverty to African Religious written by Johann Theodor Wübbels and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African religious experience a conflict between what they promise in terms of poverty and the fact that they live in relative material affluence. Poverty in Africa is always seen as evil; it prevents abundant life. Africans do not enter a nurturing international community because they want to live a life of deprivation, but because they feel attracted to a relational religious way of life. It is only during their formation that most of them discover that there is a vow of "poverty." This concept is a rudiment of Western spirituality that emphasized asceticism and mortification. However, African religious interpret this vow as participation with a nurturing intentional community. When African religious talk about their "poverty" they usually mean a relational reality: the separation from close relatives and the incapacity to assist them materially, the unmarried and childless state, the coercive dimension of community life. This thesis argues that the paradox of vowed poverty to African religious can not be solved by voluntary deprivation, but by (1) a "fundamental option for the poor" and by (2) giving the vow a more relational name like "sharing," "commitment," or "solidarity"--for example, "solidarity with the poor." In terms of relational poverty, this research shows that African religious would like their congregations to develop a more practical and humane policy toward close relatives in need.