No one could claim to belong to the Judeo Christian ethical tradition without analyzing what role the poor and proverty itself play in that tradition. Perhaps we Christians, in particular, have become dulled to this concept because we have heard the texts concerning the poor so often that they no longer impress us. Perhaps, too we simply have not found the strong passages of warning to the rich very helpful for us in the middle class and, thus we have closed our eyes to them and the deeper meaning behind them.