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My Communications

Videos & Podcasts

Videos

My Communications

ELCA Lifetime Achievement Award, October 2021

Acceptance of Honorary Doctorate Degree from the College of the Holy Cross, May 2021

Walk Talk Listen Podcast with Maurice Bloem, December 2020.

CrisisIbility and the Path Back to a Better World with Devry Boughner Vorwerk, Steve Young, Michael Wright, and Johanna Mendelson Forman, PhD, October 2020.

Bread for the World's 16th Annual Gala to End Hunger, November 2019.

Impakter: On the Sustainable Development Goals, 2019. 

Development Works: Rev. David Beckmann travels to Ethiopia and Guatemala, November 2018.

Democratic National Committee, 2016.

"What A Relief" Islamic Relief Podcast, July 2016

PBS News Hour with Ray Suarez, 2010.

World Food Prize, October 2010

Speeches

International Development and U.S. Politics Now,” 2019. The momentum of progress against hunger and poverty and congressional political support are an asset in a difficult time. An issue like global child malnutrition can still draw bipartisan support and help bring our divided nation together.

     

USAID Food Security Roundtable, 2016. Testimony regarding the development of the U.S. Global Food Security Plan, emphasizing the need to shift effort to fragile states.

 

McDougall Lecture: Building Political Will to End Hunger,” 2005. Given at the inauguration of  the biannual intergovernmental meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, this address outlines strategies to build the political will needed to end hunger. Past speakers in this annual lecture series include David Rockefeller and Julius Nyerere.

Articles

Books

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"I have noticed that many people in the United States think that mass hunger and poverty are immutable facts of life. They may volunteer at a soup kitchen or contribute to an international charity, but do not hope for large-scale change. They are often wary of getting involved in politics.

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For most of my life, many people thought that racial oppression was an immutable fact of life in South Africa. As a pastor, I encouraged people who believed in God to get active in pushing for change. In the end, God blessed us with a transition to a more just society.

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David Beckmann says that God is moving in our time to overcome hunger and poverty, and that people of faith in the United States can play an important role in this great exodus. I plead with you to read this book and act on it."
 

From the Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

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On Friday mornings, in a room tucked away in the maze of buildings that form the headquarters of the World Bank, two dozen staff members meet for coffee and serious talk. The subject of their excited and sometimes passionate discussions is the role of religious and ethical values in their work and, more generally, in the world's development.

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Friday Morning Reflections was written by the founders of these early-morning spiritual debates – David Beckmann, Ram Agarwala, Sven Burmester, and Ismail Serageldin. It offers a reflective quartet of essays on how ethics and religions relate to the work of international economic development. Though the authors have been shaped by four different traditions – Christian, Hindu, humanist, and Muslim - they share a common conclusion: spiritual values have been dangerously slighted in shaping the world's development, and consequently humanity's survival may be at risk.

Other Books

I also published four other books that are now out of date or out of print.  Arthur Simon (the founder of Bread for the World) and I co-authored Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God’s World (Paulist and InterVarsity, 1999). I co-authored two editions of The Overseas List:  Opportunities for Living and Working in Developing Countries (Augsburg, 1979 and 1985), the first with Elizabeth Anne Donnelly and the second with Timothy J. Mitchell and Linda L. Powers.

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I developed my early thinking on poverty, God, and politics (while working in Bangladesh) in Where Faith and Economics Meet (Augsburg, 1981). My first book was Eden Revival: Spiritual Churches in Ghana (Concordia, 1975). That’s still a good read, if you can find it.

Speeches
Books

Recent

Articles

"With Gospel Urgency: Visiting Fellow Navigates Politics of Poverty with Students, VIP Guests," interview with Rev. Kyle Oliver, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2022.

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Bread for the World leader prepares his exit after 27 years at the helm,” interview with Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service, 2019.

 

Chapter in The End of Hunger: Renewed Hope for Feeding the World edited by Jenny Dyer and Cathleen Falsani, 2019.

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Foreword in I Was Hungry: Cultivating Common Ground to End an American Crisis by Jeremy Everett, 2019.

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Foreword and Conclusion in The Jobs Challenge, Bread for the World Institute’s 2019 Hunger Report.

Articles
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