ABSTRACT
The advantages of voluntary charity over welfare, Himmelfarb contends, are that it is discriminating, morally uplifting, personally ennobling, and associated with religion. Although the advocacy of charity and philanthropy is laudable, and, indeed necessary, it causes concern when the distinction between charity and justice leads to a devaluation of justice or is combined with a criticism of social welfare. The context, therefore, for discussing charity and justice in relation to social welfare is constituted by the ambiguities of both societal structure and conceptions of justice. The relation between charity and justice is such that charity can be described as providing a focal intensity an interpretative vision of justice. In analyzing the relation between charity and justice the author have argued that one should not simply place the role of religion on the side of charity and the church on the side voluntary organizations of service.
