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[German Version] I. Concept Poverty is a major source of distress. It is a historical circumstance, not a natural condition. We speak of relative poverty when someone’s income is below the mean, absolute poverty when it is below subsistence level. From the perspective of the Bible and contemporary theology, poverty means deprivation but also marginalization, incapacitation, and disfranchisement. Wealth means affluence but also power, exploitation, and oppression (see III and V below). Poverty is a life and death matter. Elmar Klinger Bibliography E. Klinger, Armut, 1990 E.-U. Huster, Armut in Europa, 1996. II. Old Testament Poverty was a social reality in all periods of Israel’s history. The literatures of the Old Testament and their authors disagree whether to accept poverty as a given or inquire into its causes and devise means to alleviate it, as well as ove…