This paper explores the function and the role of poverty in the theology of John Calvin. In recent years, Calvin scholarship has been concerned to the ministry of the Genevan Church to social welfare policy, especially the poor. The writer tries to reveal peculiarity of Calvin’s system with respect to social welfare, examining numerous studies on his social and economic ethics. This study demonstrates that Calvin’s theology of poverty undercuts merit piety of medieval Roman Catholic Church, and that he relates the issue of poverty to his Christology, the nature of the Christian life, and the Church. This study proceeds as follows. The introduction discusses the concept of the Church Fathers and understanding of medieval church on poverty. The second chapter describes Genevan context of the sixteenth century in regard to civil relief system. This chapter shows that before Calvin comes to Geneva, there has been social care system developed by Genevan citizens. The chapter sketches an historical context for Calvin’s theological view on poverty. This fact plays an important role in reconstruction of social welfare institutions by Calvin. He endeavors to reform relief system of the poor in coordination of the ecclesiastical system and civil magistrates. Chapter three will be divided into three parts. First part examines Calvin’s theology of the poverty in his writings and sermons. Calvin interprets multifariously the poverty of Christ and its significance for the Christian life and the church, investigating theological meanings of physical and spiritual poverty. Second part examines the right use of wealth, showing that Calvin is essentially primer among the Reformation theologians to wrestle with the interrelation of secular economic development and the material and moral welfare of the individual. Third part argues the relationship between the ecclesiastical system and civil system in Calvin’s social welfare. This part demonstrates that for Calvin, coterminous interaction between the church and civil government on charitable work was unique. Conclusion part says several remarks of Calvin’s theology of poverty.

2005년 행정자치부 통계 자료에 의하면 국제결혼 건수는 2002년에는 15,900건, 2005년에는 43,000건에 이르렀다. 이는 결혼으로 국내에 이주한 여성의 수가 매우 급증하고 있음을 입증하는 사실이다. 정부의 주도로 이들 가정에 대한 다문화 지원 시업을 추진하고 있고, 그 중에서 주요사업이 ‘결혼이주여성 한국어교육’이다. 현재 결혼이주여성 한국어교육은 여러 곳에서 개별적으로 이루어지고 있으나 이들 기관은 교육의 전문기관이 아니라, 여러 가지 문제점을 안고 있다. 이러한 문제점을 해결하기 위해 본고에서는 대학과 공공기관이 연계하여 결혼이주여성 한국어교육을 실시하여 연계 전후를 논의해 보았다. 그 결과 대학은 강사의 수당을 지급받아 좀 더 안정적으로 운영할 수 있었고, 공공기관에서는 교육의 전문성을 살릴 수 있어 적극적으로 장려해야 함을 주장하였다. 다소의 단점도 있었지만 독자적으로 시행할 때의 문제점을 많이 극복할 수 있어 지역사회와 공공기관 그리고 대학기관이 협력한다면 효과를 극대화할 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

As the proportion of the elderly population in rural area is growing rapidly, the quality of life of the rural elderly is becoming a major concern. According to Rowe and Kahn(1997), active and productive engagement in society is a central component of successful aging. Yet, the effect of various social support network on psychological well-being of the rural elderly is not well known. This study is an attempt to empirically examine the connection between social support network and psychological well-being of the rural elderly. For this purpose, community welfare specialists gathered data from 1033 rural elderly in 32 villages, using structured questionnaires. The statistical methods used for the data analysis were descriptive statistics, cross tables, ANOVA and hierarchical regression analysis using spss wins 10.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: The majority of rural elderly have social support networks composed of more than one person and the mean number of their social support network was ten persons. The elderly who keep frequent contact with many adult children and friend/neighbor are happier than the elderly who keep contact with fewer number of children and friends. The size of the network of relatives significantly affects the level of loneliness of the elderly. Theoretical and practical implications of this study for the improvement of the quality of life of the rural elderly is discussed.