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EMBEZZLEMENT: THE CORPORATE SIN OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY? By Ray Mayhew Article

While reading some patristic documents recently I was startled to discover that the Church Fathers are univocal in their insistence that the bulk of the revenue collected by a local church belonged by right to the poor. There was no expectation among them that a large percentage of what was collected by a local congregation would be used for its own maintenance and ministry. In fact, to do so would have been viewed by them as a misappropriation of funds.

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Wealth, Poverty & Communities of Faith Article

Poverty is the state for the majority of the world�s people and nations. Why? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and are solely responsible for their plight? What about their government? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But often less discussed are deeper and more global causes of poverty.

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Faith and Wealth by Justo Gonzalez Book

Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance, and Use of Money

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Daily Bread and Forgiven Debts Article

One of the lingering questions when RT was started is how we would handle situations when we encountered more needs than our collectively tithe could meet. To date we have yet to enter that reality � not necessarily because the tithe is so large. It likely speaks to the fact that we are not relationally connected, but are still living segregated and disconnected from those in need. There are barriers that continue to separate us from one another.

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Twenty Questions Social Justice Quiz Article

1. In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation?

2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?

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Poor People by William Vollmann Book

From Publishers Weekly The varied responses to the question "why are you poor?" fuels this meditation on the nature of poverty by journalist and National Book Award�winning novelist Vollmann (Europe Central, etc.). The book, structured as a series of vignettes that span the globe and decades, describes Vollmann's encounters with individuals and families who many would consider poor. A handful of these people, including three generations of women in Thailand and two men in Japan, drive the book, as Vollmann closely examines their circumstances. His alternately sentimental and erudite inquiry is based in large part on his and their personal experience, as an antidote to the official and scientific data about poverty. Indeed, his attempt to understand poverty is deeply entwined with a more poetic inquiry into happiness. Some of the anecdotes set aflight by Vollmann's novelistic attention to details are provocative;others, however, come off as more nostalgic than illustrative, and give the book a desultory feel. But the book's movement between details and thought, spiced with Vollmann's singular style, is intriguing. On the table is not just poverty, but questions of community, fate and perspective. The book's greatest accomplishment is that�unlike other works of this sort�it's neither guilt producing nor guilt absolving. At the end, there's no implied sigh or self-congratulation, for writer or reader. This is the book's greatest achievement.(Mar.) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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From Publishers Weekly
The varied responses to the question "why are you poor?" fuels this meditation on the nature of poverty by journalist and National Book Award�winning novelist Vollmann (Europe Central, etc.). The book, structured as a series of vignettes that span the globe and decades, describes Vollmann's encounters with individuals and families who many would consider poor. A handful of these people, including three generations of women in Thailand and two men in Japan, drive the book, as Vollmann closely examines their circumstances. His alternately sentimental and erudite inquiry is based in large part on his and their personal experience, as an antidote to the official and scientific data about poverty. Indeed, his attempt to understand poverty is deeply entwined with a more poetic inquiry into happiness. Some of the anecdotes set aflight by Vollmann's novelistic attention to details are provocative;others, however, come off as more nostalgic than illustrative, and give the book a desultory feel. But the book's movement between details and thought, spiced with Vollmann's singular style, is intriguing. On the table is not just poverty, but questions of community, fate and perspective. The book's greatest accomplishment is that�unlike other works of this sort�it's neither guilt producing nor guilt absolving. At the end, there's no implied sigh or self-congratulation, for writer or reader. This is the book's greatest achievement.(Mar.)
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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