| The rationale for this project is my observation that there is a continuum of benevolent care extended by my congregation that ranges from remote to relational. Our congregation provides resources to ecclesial and non-profit agencies, yet finds itself personally distanced from the poor, and hesitant to become personally involved with the poor. But within days of Hurricane Katrina, a group of First Presbyterian Church members came to the aid of the twenty-thousand evacuees sheltered in Shreveport. Fifteen members, in particular, despite cultural, racial, social, political, economic and historical reasons for not doing so, took the initiative to cross a modern Road to Jericho and come to the long-term aid of a dozen evacuees.;The purpose of this research was to ask the question, " Why did this group of volunteers, in the manner of the Good Samaritan, take the initiative to become involved and to provide extensive medical care, clothing, food, shelter, transportation and education?";Paul Tillich's work on love and justice, Sallie McFague's theory of Subject: Object dualism, and Martin Buber's I-It and I-Thou relationships were central to my project. The personal encounters of pioneer medical missionary Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene, Africa and those of medical anthropologist Paul Farmer in Cange, Haiti guided my work. The behavioral theory termed "allophilia," studied by Todd Pittinsky of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and recent brain research at Duke Medical Center measuring activation of the posterior superior temporal sulcus in relation to a person's altruistic behavior, informed the periphery of my research. Additional influences were studies of the sociological impact of modern disasters in the work of Kai Erikson and the influence of early life experiences upon faith development by Kenda Creasy Dean.;Based on the data generated, I learned that this particular group of volunteers had been shaped by: (1) Direct experience, as children or youth, with the poor; (2) Education in preparation for aiding others (e.g. medical school); (3) Moral/theological decisions by Church leaders (e.g. Civil Rights Era); (4) A family ethos of altruism; (5) The call to respond to need with personal resources and spiritual gifts. |
