I’m currently reading Tim Keller’s book, ‘Ministries of Mercy.’ He gives three general causes of poverty:

1) Oppression (defined as “any social condition or unfair treatment that brings or keeps a person in poverty)

2) Natural disaster/calamity (i.e. COVID-19)

3) Personal sin

He writes, “Do we see now how crucial it is to distinguish these three causes? These distinctions are essential if we are to avoid uncritically adopting either the ‘liberal’ or the ‘conservative’ ideology toward the poor. The ‘liberal’ tends to see all the poor as oppressed...

“...and this does not see the importance of conditions [i.e. work or righteousness] in mercy ministry. But the ‘conservative’ tends to see all the poor as irresponsible, and thus overemphasizes conditions in mercy. Both sides oversimplify the complex causes of poverty” (108-109).

I thought this was a helpful part of his book.

(In fairness, I don’t think he’s implying all liberals or conservatives view the issue of poverty in these simplistic terms, which is why he puts them in quotes. He’s speaking about a specific kind of liberal or conservative.)