Jesús de Nazaret y los marginados: claves, valores y principios inclusivos

The expression “absolute poverty” is one that leaves individuals below the minimum subsistence needs and places them on the very brink of death⁴. What exists in a country like Spain⁵ is “relative poverty”; according to Osorio et al. (2017). Being poor implies a lack and deprivation of concrete material needs and interests. In order to determine the degree of relative poverty, González-Carvajal (2009) refers to the fact that a point of comparison is necessary, i.e., one is considered more or less poor according to the distance that separates one from the other pole of reference ― for example, those who are considered rich.

The American socialist Michael Harrington (1974), in an epoch-making book in the history of the fight against poverty in the United States, observed that:

Establishing the boundary between poverty and relative wealth is a difficult and often subjective task. One possibility would be to consider poor people as those who lack the financial means to acquire at market prices the goods and services that a given society considers necessary for a decent life. The question, in this case, is to determine what those necessary goods and services are. Another variant for establishing a relative poverty line, was recommended by the European Union in the 1980s. Which proposed to consider people whose income is less than half of the average net income per inhabitant of the state in which they live as poor (Rapport, 1981). In turn, under this poverty threshold, two bands are distinguished: moderate poverty, with incomes between 50% and 25% of the median income, and severe poverty, with incomes below 25% of the median income.

The covid-19 pandemic increased global poverty and has meant that the global poverty rate reached 9.3%, up from 8.4% in 2019 (Mordeson & Mathew, 2024). Among the issues addressed by the New Youth Agenda and the Summit of the Future, both of which were created to respond to the needs of young people in the aftermath of the pandemic, are those related to the creation of an inclusive financial architecture that eradicates poverty and conflict prevention initiatives that lead to peace. Both organisations agree that education is an essential pathway to a more just, equitable and inclusive society (Del Valle & Von Feigenblatt, 2024).

2.2. Exclusion

After studying poverty, it should not be too difficult to differentiate it from exclusion. As has been shown, the wealth-poverty equation establishes a top and a bottom in the social organisation. In contrast, the inclusion-exclusion equation distinguishes between an insider and an outsider. Therefore, while all the excluded are poor, not all the poor are excluded.

Each society and each era defines its inside and its outside. In the broad context of Spanish society in the first decades of the 21st century, which can be extrapolated to different geopolitical scenarios in which the four main factors of inclusion-exclusion are shown in Table 1:

Social inequalities and other causes of exclusion have increased and amplified in recent decades, so that today new forms of social rejection can be observed in various discriminatory practices (Rolando, 2008). According to the FOESSA report (2014), the processes of social exclusion have intensified as a result of the combination of a worsening labour market and the cut back of social policies.

Exclusion, therefore, makes the incorporation of people in different spheres such as; economic, social, cultural, political and institutional― impossible. In this way, deprivation can manifest itself in the deprivation of material goods, ignorance of the tendencies of some social groups and the deprivation of civil and political rights that guarantee citizen participation (Sáenz & Umaña, 2015).

2.3. Jesus of Nazareth: among the poor and excluded

Table 1. Inclusion-exclusion factors
Subsystem	Inclusion	Exclusion
Labour	Occupation	Unemployment
Economic	Wealth	Poverty
Cultural	Education and training	School failure
Politician	Public protection	Absence of protection

As the previous sections have shown, both poverty and exclusion are universal realities that manifest themselves at all times. Even in the time of Jesus of Nazareth there were rich and poor⁶. Jerusalem, the city where Jesus died, was a centre for beggars. In the 1ST century A.D. many important political, social and religious events took place (Carbajosa et al., 2023). Jesus himself noted the continuous presence of poverty: “the poor you have with you always, and you can help them whenever you want” (Mk 14:7). Thus, the Nazarene maintains continuity with the Israel of the Old Testament, where the presence of poverty is inextricably linked to the need for help⁷. Jesus, therefore, assumes that the need to do good to the poor was an element of the past, valid in the present and will continue in the future (Marcus, 2011).

At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus pronounces some important and programmatic words in his hometown, Nazareth⁸. Here he quotes the prophet Isaiah (Is 61:1-2) to affirm about himself that he has been anointed “to preach the Good News to the poor” (Lk 4:18); and he even makes the poor the hallmark of his mission. To those who asked him if he was the Messiah he replied: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the Good News preached to them” (Mt 11:4-5).

Throughout the Gospels, we can see how Jesus systematically places himself at the side of the poor, not because of a special quality he finds in them, but precisely because they are in need: “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Lk 6:20-21).

Jesus’ relationship with the excluded, is paradigmatically captured in the parables of mercy (Lk 15:1-32), in which the joy for the lost son is expressed in profound words that can be hopeful for any teacher: “he was lost and we have found him” (Lk 15:24,32). In the case of the lost sheep (Lk 15:4-7), it is immediately excluded and marginalised because it is lost from the group, and two attitudes of the shepherd stand out: to go out to look for it and to rejoice in finding it.

Even more surprisingly, in the parable of the eleventh hour workers (Mt 20:1-16), those who worked for only one hour received the same pay as those who worked all day. In this case, Jesus manifests an inclusive attitude towards those who, being in the market place all day, no one had offered them work. The “last ones” have waited patiently and full of hope until the last minute for someone to notice them⁹. They do not give up their hope and sometimes they know their abilities and strength, even though they are not worth much in the eyes of others. Therefore, it can be said that the last ones, i.e. those who are excluded for whatever reason, are welcomed and become part of the group as they are, i.e. with their weaknesses and failures, strengths and successes, and are valued as individuals. For Jesus, quantitative performance or qualitative work no longer counts, but only that each person fulfils what he or she was called to do (Grilli, 2011).

2.4. The Church: between justice and charity

The attitude of service has always been a constant in the history of the Church, but in every age it has been adapted according to the circumstances. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) provides the keys for the Church. To see the needs of the impoverished, to reach out to the excluded and to act first with justice and then, where justice has not yet arrived, with charity¹⁰.

Poverty and exclusion are the framework of Caritas’ activity and constitute, in turn, the key space for its action; they are the most evident sign of the crisis of civilisation that humanity is experiencing; they are the most visible and significant sign of a model of society that is moving in a direction that does not conform to God’s process for the human being (Caritas, 2016).

Today, poverty is not an absolutely unavoidable fact, from a social point of view. There are sufficient means to ensure that no one is excluded from the basic resources of life, considered as a minimum in society itself. The main obstacles to eradicating poverty are not technical, but political and ethical¹¹. Poverty tolerated in the midst of plenty is a grave social injustice. In the same way, fighting for justice is for the Church in general and for each Christian in particular a fundamental demand and a preferential option in favour of the poor and oppressed.

As stated in the document of the Spanish Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral (1994):

In this regard, it is necessary to recall the Church’s task of proclamation and denunciation, which aims, on the one hand, to convert, if possible, the rich and “savage capitalism” and its oppressive mechanisms, and, on the other hand, to promote above all the economic and social liberation of individuals and peoples oppressed by poverty, destitution and misery. At the same time, the Catholic Church offers hundreds of resources and opportunities for promotion and development with various groups (Bishops’ Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Development, 2024). This form of collaboration with the people themselves involves a series of development programmes and other means, as well as stimulating their own initiative and creativity, without letting them fall into passivity, victimhood or inactivity (Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care, 1994).

For the Church, Insertion must be at the heart of all charitable actions, especially Caritas. For a long time, action has been divided into two main types: activities of assistance (charity) and activities of promotion and insertion (justice). Assistance, understood only as giving, would remain in the first aspect, so that in the face of poverty the response would be to provide only material resources, forgetting the other two substantial features (autonomy and participation), which are what differentiate assistance from welfarism (Caritas, 2016).

For all of the above reasons, it is essential to show the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and the marginalised, and how this relationship has marked and continues to mark the Church’s action with the poor, especially through Caritas.

3. An inclusive didactic proposal: universal values of Jesus of Nazareth

3.1. Educational legislative framework

Attention to student diversity and the construction of an inclusive teaching-learning process is one of the pillars of the new Spanish education law (LOMLOE, 2020). Inclusive education is based, to a large extent, on universal values, which is why it is of great importance to work on them with pupils. Likewise, some counter-values such as marginalisation and poverty can be studied in the teaching of the Catholic religion through the perspective and actions of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 guaranteed the ideological and religious freedom of individuals and proclaimed the non-confessional nature of the State and the right of parents to ensure that their children receive the “religious and moral education that is in accordance with their own convictions” (Spanish Constitution 16.1 and 27.1 and 27.3). The 1979 Agreement between the Spanish State and the Holy Church on Education and Cultural Affairs ―currently in force― established that school education would respect the right of parents to the religious and moral education of their children, and that the teaching of the Catholic religion would be provided in all schools under conditions comparable to other disciplines.

The various organic laws have regulated the teaching of the Catholic religion in order to guarantee that it is offered in the different schools and that it is voluntary for students (Valencia, 2023)¹².

The pedagogical and teaching aims of the Baccalaureate level is to provide students with training, intellectual and human maturity, knowledge and skills that enable them to develop social functions in which they can enter an active life with responsibility and competence. The teaching of religion can make a satisfactory contribution to these achievements, facilitating the development of critical judgement, teaching them to observe and analyse reality with respect, in terms of freedom, responsibility and truth. Thus, as explained in the Resolution of 21 June 2022, of the Secretary of State for Education, which publishes the curricula for the teaching of Catholic religion corresponding to the Baccalaureate, it “favours the educational process of students, contributing to their integral formation and the full development of their personality” (p. 1).

3.2. Theoretical framework

In contexts where a population is at risk of social exclusion, it becomes more necessary to work on poverty and marginalisation from an inclusive position that favours the development of people’s potential. UNESCO (2017, p. 7) defines inclusion “as strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach all learners”. However, educational inclusion goes beyond a set of principles that are developed in schools; it is a way of understanding education and even life by defending the right to a quality education that responds to their individual needs, without forgetting the importance of global learning developed within a social group. The needs of Baccalaureate students have changed in recent years, especially after the pandemic of Covid-19, as advocated in the New Youth Agenda and the Summit of the Future. Today, new relevant challenges emerge such as information processing, the spread of artificial intelligence, the commitment to an inclusive economy and the promotion of peace (Del Valle &VonFeigenblatt, 2024). For this reason, Baccalaureate students are a key target group for the construction of a fairer and more equitable society. Thus, starting from a key question and the theoretical foundation of Sacred Scripture, a didactic planning is proposed to develop the following learning situation: “From Jesus of Nazareth to the poor and marginalised”. This is justified by the need to achieve different goals related to the acquisition of universal values and competences to function in society (see Table 2) and the curriculum established by the Resolution of 21 June 2022.

Through this didactic approach, different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations General Assembly are worked on, as can be seen in Figure 1.

3.3. Learning situation and didactic proposal

The specific competences developed in Table 2 will be worked on taking into account the basic knowledge and assessment criteria considered in the different tasks or challenges proposed (see Table 3).

The great contribution of this proposal that we are discussing at the methodological level lies in the application of the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), promoting different forms of engagement, representation, action and expression (CAST, 2018). In this way, through different teaching strategies and resources, attention to differences in the classroom is facilitated and the basic principles of inclusion are favoured: presence, participation and success (Booth & Ainscow, 2015) (Figure 2). The global approach, holistic development and interdisciplinarity require, in the teaching of religion and all subjects, an adjustment to the characteristics of students (Escorcia, 2021).

3.4. Interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinarity is an essential characteristic of didactic planning at this educational stage, as its implementation avoids the fragmentation of knowledge and the lack of connection between the different subjects. Therefore, “From Jesus to the poor and marginalised” as a learning situation favours coherence and connection between the following subjects (see Table 4):

3.5. Attention to diversity

Finally, in relation to this didactic proposal, we consider the importance of measures of attention to diversity, since all classrooms are made up of students with different characteristics and needs, which enriches the teaching-learning process. This proposal is in itself an instance of attention to diversity, given that it has taken into account the main measures set out in the Order of 30 May 2023; in addition, specific measures may be implemented as necessary according to the context.

The teaching of religion, and in particular the specific learning situation of this research, allows us to value and respect differences. Furthermore, the use of active teaching methodologies, together with the implementation of inclusive teaching strategies and resources, helps to incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning and inclusive education into the classroom, thus guaranteeing a religious education that reaches everyone. Undoubtedly, Jesus of Nazareth acts as a transcendental model for inclusion. As the texts of Sacred Scripture narrate, he approaches and helps all people.

4. Concluding remarks

The questions we set out to discuss at the beginning of the article referred to the possibility of showing the figure of Jesus of Nazareth as a way of understanding poverty and marginalisation. Indeed, through his words and actions, Jesus offers guidelines for social and educational inclusion based on a series of universal and timeless values.

In order to answer these questions, we have considered an analysis of some of the fundamental issues for humanity: poverty, exclusion and marginalisation. We have chosen these issues because, in our opinion, they are topics that can connect with the concerns and questions of adolescents and young people. Thus, different experiences have been developed that address inclusion and religious education as ways to respond to diversity and enhance its positive aspects. On the basis of this analysis, a global learning situation has been proposed, with interdisciplinary possibilities. We recognise, however, the continuous task of integration, connection of concepts, repetition and advancement that many teachers, individually and many schools, collectively, have incorporated into their classes as a regular practice. This interrelation and connection is the warp and woof of the threads that are the subjects, which together make up the fabric of the whole educational process.

We have developed the work taking into account three basic aspects: seeing, judging and acting. Seeing is the moment of becoming aware of reality. Thus, we start from the situation of Jesus and his time to move on to the concrete facts of daily life today. For this, it can be very interesting to come into contact with the reality of the excluded through the experience of Caritas, in order to “help the pupils to see”. When we speak of judging, we have tried to analyse the facts of reality in the light of the message of Jesus and of the Church, in order to discover what is helping or hindering people to reach their full dignity. In this sense, the words of Jesus become a theoretical-practical framework for action: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to see me” (Mt 25:35-36). Finally, we have considered the need to consider different possibilities for action. This prevents the reflection from remaining only in the intellectual sphere and makes it easier to translate it into concrete commitments, such as knowledge of and participation in the projects carried out by Caritas, the pupils’ own inclusive attitude, as well as other paths of action that can be opened up inside or outside the school environment.

To look to Jesus of Nazareth or the Gospels for inclusive language in today’s terms would be anachronistic, but his attitudes and actions show and build what today would be called a more inclusive, less discriminatory society. There is no doubt that Jesus, through his words, actions and gestures, proposed a just, free and caring society. Centuries later, his teachings continue to offer fundamental values that promote inclusion, so that all people have a place in any community, enjoy their fundamental rights and have access to all the services they need.

The analysis carried out has come to an end, but the task of educational inclusion continues. For the teaching of religion, it is necessary to allow oneself to be questioned, to listen to old voices that generate new dialogues and, at the same time, to respond with new voices in an open dialogue.

Table 2. Specific competences to work on in the learning situation “From Jesus of Nazareth to the poor and marginalised”
Specific competences	Justification of competence
Understand and assume one’s personal life project, recognising one’s own ideas and beliefs, contrasting them with Christian anthropology and other worldviews, in order to enter adult life and the professional world.	Through Jesus, the aim is to work on the autonomy and responsibility of the student, learning the Christian values (solidarity, tolerance, generosity, etc.) that Jesus shows in Sacred Scripture, with respect and a critical spirit, in the face of the diversity that surrounds us.
Recognise and develop the relational nature of the human being as the foundation of duties and freedoms, developing civic and democratic attitudes, contrasting the Gospel with other contemporary humanisms and ideologies, in order to learn to live with others and contribute to the construction of an inclusive society.	To recognise the social dimension of human dignity and human rights based on respect, learning from Sacred Scripture how Jesus approaches all people regardless of their social condition. Jesus proposes values of social and educational inclusion that help to manage personal freedom.
Interpret democratic, socio-economic and ecological challenges, analysing their causes and consequences from the social morality of the Church, discerning the socio-political implications of religions and social movements, in order to assume integral ecology and personal and social responsibility for the care of life and the planet.	With Jesus, we will work on this competence by approaching the reality of the poor and marginalised through caritas, aspiring to acquire the values of democratic citizenship and an integral ecology. Jesus helps the student to develop a civic and democratic commitment through a social and political participation coherent with Christian values. This competence will be worked on by analysing the common good carried out by caritas, learning by doing, living practical experiences of service-learning with the organisation.
Understand and admire cultural heritage, interpreting its meaning and expressions with the methods of analysis proper to each discipline, critically assessing the contributions of Christianity in the development of peoples, in order to intervene with their own criteria in intercultural dialogue, artistic creation and in the social construction of thought.	This competence allows us to analyse the culture of Jesus in order to understand how he approaches the poor and marginalised and what values he transmits to us. Jesus and his culture are in contrast with our times and we hope that this learning will allow the student to contrast Christian values with the humanisms of our times. Contrast between different cultures that emerge in the same Christian feeling in connection with fundamental rights and, therefore, with inclusive principles.
To value the spiritual dimension as a source of meaning and vital learning, through the analysis of personal experiences, knowledge of spiritual traditions, and interdisciplinary dialogue with other visions of life and the world, in order to discover the personal, social and cultural opportunities of spiritual experience as a proposal for the fullness of personal and community life.	Who better than Jesus to develop and value the spiritual dimension of the human being. From the analysis of the texts of Sacred Scripture, we aim to enable students to get to know Jesus and his relationship with the poor and the marginalised, promoting their own and mutual knowledge of emotions, affections, symbols and beliefs through different forms of expression. This competence is developed in dialogue with philosophy and science, so that students can work on discernment in the face of personal, social and cultural opportunities.
To know the method of theology and its different specialities, analysing its place among knowledge and disciplines, establishing a transdisciplinary dialogue with other sciences, in order to critically confront ethical challenges and social transformation.	This competence is the basis of the learning situation: getting to know the Christian message through Jesus in dialogue with other subjects.

Table 3. Basic knowledge, assessment criteria and tasks/challenges taken on
Specific comp.	Basic knowledge	Evaluation criteria	Tasks or challenges
Competence 1	Personal and professional projects, in ecclesial and social life, developed in vocational terms. Social values, critical thinking and personal and professional project.	Recognise the essential elements of a vocational and professional life project based on autonomy, freedom and social responsibility, with a sincere attitude of seeking the truth, taking into account the Christian proposal and social values.	The development of tasks and challenges has been carried out on the basis of the experiential learning cycle (Kolb and Free, 1975). Experimentation Task 1. “Approaching Jesus in Sacred Scripture”. Analysis of selected texts through individual and group reading. Dramatisation of the situations represented. We comment individually on what Jesus is like. Task 2. “The Decalogue of Jesus before the poor”. Divide the class into small groups of four to five students. Taking into account the common reflection of the first part, each of the groups will elaborate a decalogue with the ten basic attitudes of Jesus towards the poor by means of the technique of the rotating sheet of paper. They will make an explanatory video with the decalogue. Afterwards, they will present their decalogue in the classroom. Task 3. “From the poor to the marginalised”. (Inverted class). A text will be provided through the platform and the students will have to watch a video in which two teachers give different visions of the Scripture text. In the classroom, the students will elaborate a design thinking about Jesus with the marginalised, which will be exposed to the course. Afterwards, through cooperative learning, students will construct a decalogue of Jesus’ attitudes towards the marginalised. They will elaborate a presentation with the decalogue that they will present in the classroom. Reflection Task 4. “From Scripture to Christian life” (Service Learning). The aim is for students to have a direct experience of the reality of Caritas as an example of the charity of the Church. Explanation of Caritas projects. Detection of needs by observing the reality for the planning of an intervention project by the students to be carried out in the organisation. Task 5. “We intervene with the values of Jesus”. Taking into account the decalogues constructed, a team work plan will be drawn up to be developed in each of the three Caritas projects. The students will become volunteers and will have to put into practice the attitudes of Jesus by providing a service to the community. Task 6. “Symbiosis”. We contrast the context, attitudes, culture and other dimensions related to Jesus with the service-learning carried out in Caritas. Students will express their feelings, emotions and evaluate their experiences in the organisation. Thinking Task 7. “How Jesus leads us to inclusion”. The students will interview a Caritas user in a team and draw up a timeline of their life, which they will analyse in order to respond to their current situation. We will construct theories based on the figure of Jesus. Task 8. “You, Jesus, and Jesus, you”. We reflect on universal values and Christian values. We discuss what Jesus’ message is and how it is carried out. To do this, each group of pupils will choose a word in which they see Jesus with the poor and marginalised, and explain why they have chosen it. Action Task 9. “In the skin of...”. We approach the poor and marginalised through different Scripture texts and then propose solutions to different real situations posed by the teacher to the students. For example: what would you do if a poor person asked to sleep in your house? The students will have to give an answer based on Jesus. Task 10. “Shall we play?” We will carry out multi-games (questions, mime, among others), so that the pupils will respond taking into account the attitudes of Jesus towards the poor and marginalised.
Competence 2	Christian humanism: Jesus Christ, salvation and model of full humanity. Fundamental principles of the social doctrine of the Church (DSI).	Distinguish the fundamental principles of the Christian social message, contrasting them with other contemporary humanisms and ideologies, applying them to different social situations.
Competence 3	Strategies for the analysis of the main social, political, economic and ecological problems of today’s world, in the light of the social doctrine of the Church and other humanisms. Social and human promotion projects of the Church, in history and in the present, and their contribution to social inclusion and the common good.	Design personal and community projects that promote human fulfilment and social transformation, cultivating individual responsibility, social justice and integral ecology.
Competence 4	Social and cultural manifestations as an expression of the values and beliefs of the identity of peoples.	To participate actively in cultural creation with a critical sense, developing feelings of belonging to one’s own tradition and constructing cultural diversity from humanising criteria proper to the Gospel.
Competence 5		To value the Christian experience manifested in Jesus Christ and in so many witnesses throughout history, as a full response to questions of life and meaning, in interdisciplinary dialogue with diverse philosophical proposals.
Competence 6		To discern the challenges of today’s civilisation, establishing the contributions that both science and theology can make to social transformation through mutual collaboration.

Table 4. Subjects involved in the learning situation
Subjects	Justification
Greek II	The texts analysed in one of the tasks ‒as well as the entire New Testament‒ were originally written in Koine Greek, a variety of the Greek language used in the Hellenistic world. The Greek of the New Testament maintains the grammatical construction developed under the linguistic parameters of the classical language with various influences, especially Semitisms and Latinisms (Blass et al., 1982). The activity we will propose will focus on the translation of a text by the evangelist Luke¹³.
Latin II	The task would be the same, mutatis mutandis, as in the previous section for the subject “Greek II”. In this case, the Latin text of the Vulgate would be used.
World literature	An activity can be carried out within the analysis of significant complete works or fragments of world literature. The activity would focus on the observation, recognition and evaluation of the evolution of themes and forms created by literature in the various artistic expressions of world culture. In this case, the passages Mt 25:31-40, Lk 10:30-37 and Lk 15:11-32 are proposed for the corresponding literary analysis and text commentary. The aim is for the student to be able to carry out a critical work on a significant work of a given period, reading and interpreting it in relation to its historical and literary context on the basis of the necessary bibliographical information, and also to be able to make a personal assessment of it.
History of art	In this case, it will be a cross-cutting activity covering various blocks of the subject. Among the basic knowledge is the contribution of the Christian religion to architecture and iconography. On the other hand, the study of art history should provide students with the necessary knowledge for analysis, interpretation and aesthetic evaluation through the language of forms and visual thought. For this reason, we propose to analyse, among others, some works of art that have as their source of inspiration the texts analysed (referring, for example, to the Last Judgement, the parables of the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son, among others).

Notes

Professor at the San Leandro Theological Institute of Huelva (Spain) since 2015. Doctor in Biblical Theology from the Pontificia Università Gregoriana of Rome (2020). Master's Degree in Teacher Training of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate in the specialty Educational Guidance (International University of Valencia, 2017).

Biblical abbreviations and biblical texts are taken from Biblia de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (2010). Biblical quotations follow the editorial criteria of Revista de Educación Religiosa.

From a qualitative research approach (Abero et al., 2015), through an inductive-deductive process, a literature search was carried out in the main databases following Creswell’s (2002) steps: identifying the key words of the literature search (poverty, marginalisation, inclusion, diversity, Jesus of Nazareth); locating the literature (databases, review of specialised journals, legislation); reading and analysing the most interesting literature (reading and marking important parts); organising the literature you have selected (deciding how to organise the essay) and writing the literature review in essay format.

Currently, absolute poverty is concentrated in the south of the planet. We want this paper to focus on the issues related to poverty that are closest to high school students, which is why we will not delve into conceptual aspects that are beyond the scope of our study.

The broad framework of this study is Spanish society in the first quarter of the 21st century, although many of the elements analysed, possible causes and patterns of action can be extrapolated to other similar social contexts.

It is estimated that in Palestine in the 1st century AD, the society where Jesus preached, there were about 20% of “beggars”, called πτωχός in the Greek of the New Testament. About 60% could be considered “poor” (πένης), i.e. those who had the bare necessities for their daily survival. Between 15% and 18% had what was necessary to live with peace of mind, and approximately 2% controlled most of the economic and political resources (González Faus, 2023).

“Therefore I command you, ‘Open your hand to your brother, to the poor, to the needy, to the poor of your land” (Deut 15:11).

Nazareth is considered the “homeland” of Jesus (Mk 6:1). While at the beginning of his public life (Mk 1:21-28) his activity has a hopeful beginning, in the case of Lk 4:16-30 (also Mk 6:1-6) Jesus’ action towards the poor and disadvantaged, i.e. all those in need, provokes conflict and rejection as an intrinsic element of the proclamation of the gospel. Moreover, the city of Nazareth represents the whole of Israel, which, being the first to hear the good news (Rom 1:16; 2:10), is also the first to resist it (Bovon, 2015).

Jesus’ saying “the last shall be first and the first last” (Mt 20:16) has become part of the proverb and popular wisdom as a sign of the opportunities offered to all, without excluding anyone.

The action of the Samaritan (Lk 10:33-34,35) has two blocks of seven verbs, which represent perfection and completeness in the biblical context: 1. he had compassion; 2. he approached; 3. he bandaged; 4. he threw them out; 5. he carried; 6. he carried; 7. he cared; 1. he took out; 2. he gave; 3. he said; 4. he cared; 5. he spent; 6. he paid; 7. he returned. In this way, the fullness of action is underlined as opposed, clearly, to the lack of action on the part of the priest and the Levite (Gourgues, 1997; Crimella, 2009).

The encyclical Fratelli tutti emphasises the consequences of globalisation on situations of poverty: “the advance of this globalism usually favours the identity of the strongest who protect themselves, but seeks to liquefy the identities of the weakest and poorest regions, making them more vulnerable and dependent” (FT, #12).

The LOMLOE (2020) introduces a small modification to the LOE, referring to the compulsory offer of Catholic Religion and the voluntary choice for students. According to Article 7 of the Order of 30 May 2023, which governs the curriculum of the Baccalaureate stage in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, students in the second year of the Baccalaureate may choose to take Religion in the second year of the Baccalaureate at the choice of the student if they are of legal age, or of their parents or legal guardians. The subject will be assessed in the same way as the other subjects of the stage, although the subject of Religion will not be taken into account when calculating the average of the Baccalaureate.

The literary quality of Luke’s Gospel has been recognised far beyond the realm of biblical studies. St. Jerome, author of the translation of the Hebrew and Greek Bible into Latin at the end of the fourth century, said of Luke's Gospel: “inter omnes evangelistas graeci sermonis eruditissimus fuit” (Guerra, p. 317). Thus, this Gospel, literary superior to the others, has formed part of the list of Greek texts in the exam that gave access to the University in Andalusia (Selectividad, currently P.E.V.A.U.), together with texts by authors dated between the V-II B.C., such as Xenophon, Apollodorus, Euripides and Pseudo Callisthenes, among others.

Bibliographical references

Abero, L., Berardi, L., Capocasale, A., García Montejo, S., and Rojas Soriano, R. (2015). Investigación educativa. Abriendo puertas al conocimiento.Clacso.

Ainscow, M. (2001). Developing inclusive schools. Autumn, 26,1-7.

Ainscow, M. (2007). Taking an Inclusive Turn. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 7(1), 3-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-3802.2007.00075.x

Ainscow, M. (2024). Developing Inclusive Schools Pathways to Success.Routledge.

Blass, F., Debrunner, A., and Rehkopf, F. (1982). Grammatica del greco del Nuovo Testamento. Claudiana.

Booth, T. & Ainscow, M. (2015). Guía para la educación inclusiva. Desarrollando el aprendizaje y la participación en los centros escolares(adaptación de la 3.ª ed. revisada del Index for Inclusion) OEI.

Bovon, F. (2015). El evangelio según San Lucas (vol. II). Sígueme.

Carbajosa, I., Echegaray, J. G., and Pineda, F. V. (2024). La Biblia en su entorno. Verbo Divino.

CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (version 2.2). CAST. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Caus, N. (2024). ¿Qué es la pobreza? Manos Unidas. https://goo.su/RaTDDn

Comisión Episcopal de Pastoral Social. (1994). La Iglesia y los pobres. Revista Corintios 13(72), 343-478. https://goo.su/6zVIz6

Comisión Episcopal para la Pastoral Social y Promoción Humana. (2024). Guía de recursos para migrantes.Conferencia Episcopal Española; EDICE. https://goo.su/VdKZ01

Conferencia Episcopal Española. (2010). Biblia de la Conferencia Episcopal Española. https://www.conferenciaepiscopal.es/biblia/

Constitución española. BOE, (311), de 29 de diciembre de 1978.

Creswell, J. (2002). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Merrill.

Crimella, M. (2009).Marta, Marta! Quattro esempi di triangolo drammatico nel grande viaggio di Luca. Cittadella.

Del Valle Blanco, D. & Von Feigenblatt, O. F. (2024). Similitudes y complementariedades entre “La nueva agenda juventudes” y “La cumbre del futuro”. Revista Internacional de Pedagogía e Innovación Educativa, 4(1), 289-296. https://doi.org/10.51660/ripie.v4i1.163

Escorcia Torreglosa, L. M. (2021). Mi realidad como profesora de Religión Católica en la Etapa de Secundaria Obligatoria y en Bachillerato. Educación y futuro. Revista de Investigación Aplicada y Experiencias Educativas, 43, 165-181. https://redined.educacion.gob.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11162/211550/Escorcia.pdf

Fundación FOESSA. (2014). VIII Informe sobre exclusión y desarrollo social en España. Cáritas Española.

Francisco. (2020). Fratelli tutti. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html

Friedman, V. J., Tardieu, B., Almeyda, G., Broxton, M., Friedman, D. H., Kyomuhendo, G. B. y Lifvergren, S. (2024). Action Research for Transforming the Poverty Field.Action Research, 22(1), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503231221078

González Faus, J. I. (2024) Ricos y pobres en el Nuevo Testamento. Cristianisme i Justícia.

González-Carvajal, L. (2009). El clamor de los excluidos. Sal Terræ.

Gourgues, M. (1997). Les paraboles de Luc.D’amont en aval.Editions Médiaspaul.

Grilli, M. & Langner, C. (2011). Comentario al evangelio de Mateo.Verbo Divino.

Guerra, M. (1995). El idioma del Nuevo Testamento: gramática, estilística y diccionario estadístico del griego bíblico. Publicaciones de la Facultad Teológica del Norte de España, Sede de Burgos.

Harrington, M. (1974). La cultura de la pobreza en los Estados Unidos. Tiempo Presente.

Illanes Segura, R. (2017). Jóvenes en situación de riesgo social y participación ciudadana comprometida[tesis doctoral, Universidad de Sevilla]. IDUS. https://hdl.handle.net/11441/74105

Kolb, D. & Fry, R. (1975). Towards and applied theory of experiential learning. En C. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of Group Processes (pp. 33-57). John Wiley.

Ley Orgánica 3/2020, de 29 de diciembre, por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación [LOMLOE]. BOE, (340), de https://www.boe.es/eli/es/lo/2020/12/29/3

Luz, U. (2012). El evangelio según san Mateo (Vol. III). Sígueme.

Marcus, J. (2011). El evangelio según Marcos (Vol. II). Sígueme.

Messiou, K., Bui, L. T., Ainscow, M., Gasteiger-Klicpera, B., Bešić, E., Paleczek, L., Hedegaard-Sørensen, L., Ulvseth, H., Vitorino, T., Santos, J., Simon, C., Sandoval, M. y Echeita, G. (2022). Student diversity and student voice conceptualisations in five European countries: Implications for including all students in schools. European Educational Research Journal, 21(2), 355-376. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904120953241

Messiou, K., De los Reyes, J., Potnis, C., Dong, P. y Rwang, V. K. (2024). Student voice for promoting inclusion in primary schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2024.2317729

Mordeson, J. N. & Mathew, S. (2024). Global Poverty. In Sustainability and Global Challenges: Analysis by Mathematics of Uncertainty(pp. 217-226). Springer Nature.

Muntaner Guasp, J. J., Rosselló Ramón, M. R y De la Iglesia Mayol, B. (2016). Buenas prácticas en educación inclusiva. Educatio Siglo XXI, 34(1), 31-50. https://doi.org/10.6018/j/252521

Naciones Unidas. (2018). La Agenda 2030 y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible: una oportunidad para América Latina y el Caribe. CEPAL. https://goo.su/2LpZgP4

Orden de 30 de mayo de 2024, por la que se desarrolla el currículo correspondiente a la etapa de Bachillerato en la Comunidad Autónoma de Andalucía, se regulan determinados aspectos de la atención a la diversidad y a las diferencias individuales y se establece la ordenación de la evaluación del proceso de aprendizaje del alumnado. Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía,(104), del 2 de junio de 2024. https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/boja/2024/104/37

Ortiz Medina, I., Martínez Pérez, J. y Hernández Ortiz, M. (2024). Tipología y evolución de la pobreza en el mundo 1979-2021. Research, Society and Development, 13(2), 1-23, https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v13i2.45033

Osorio, O. R. C., Guzmán, C. E. L. y Martínez, N. B. (2017). La pobreza desde las teorías de Ricardo y Sen. Análisis Económico, 32(79), 149-176. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/413/41352781007/html/

Parrilla, A. (2003). La voz de la experiencia: la colaboración como estrategia de inclusión. Aula de Innovación Educativa,(121), 43-48. http://hdl.handle.net/11162/88191

Pujolàs, P. (2001). Atención a la diversidad y aprendizaje cooperativo en la educación obligatoria. Aljibe.

Resolución de 21 de junio de 2022, de la Secretaría de Estado de Educación, por la que se publican los currículos de las enseñanzas de religión católica correspondientes a Educación Infantil, Educación Primaria, Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato. BOE, (150), de 24 de junio de 2022, pp. 88433- 88483. https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2022-10452

Sáenz, A. V. & Umaña, S. A. (2015). Una fotografía de la pobreza desde la investigación social. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 1(147), 101-115. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=15341140008

UNESCO. (1994). Declaración de Salamanca y Marco de acción ante las necesidades educativas especiales. UNESCO.

UNESCO. (2017). Guía para asegurar la inclusión y la equidad en la educación. https://cutt.ly/lynYb

UNESCO. (2020) Towards inclusion and equity in education: status, trends and challenges.UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374246

Valencia Candalija, R. (2024). La enseñanza de la Religión en la LOMLOE: el regreso al futuro de las incongruencias del pasado. Anuario de Derecho Eclesiástico, 39, 461-498. https://doi.org/10.55104/ADEE_00012

Valenzuela Aguirre, A. (2018). Aprendiendo a vivir juntos en una sociedad plural: aporte de la Educación Religiosa Escolar Católica (EREC). Revista de Educación Religiosa, 1(1), 163-183. https://doi.org/10.38123/rer.v1i1.30