Category: Research Stories

–This post is written by UHP student Hunter Scott, who received a SURE Award for sociological research.
Over the summer, I interviewed ten men and one woman who considered themselves to be experiencing homelessness, and who also self-identified as Christian. I was interested in how the two usually separately studied experiences of extreme poverty and faith interacted.  Limited previous work in the field of Sociology (my major) had shown that homeless individuals often kept a strong private faith, which they utilized as a tool of resilience and inspiration to overcome addictions, unemployment, and an education. However, those studies also showed that they avoided organized religion and congregations, fearing shame from the members of their churches due to their housing status. I hypothesized that a Christian faith would lead someone experiencing homelessness to develop a structural view of their own position in society. Then, they might naturally begin to utilize their faith to understand the inequalities and contradictions inherent in the housing, education, employment, and law enforcement systems we live with, and even draw inspiration to fight back through advocacy and fellowship.  This I drew from the Black Liberation Theology of James H. Cone and the Latin American Liberation Theology of Gustavo Guitierrez. Continue reading “Christianity and Homelessness [Research Stories]”