Blog & Mablog

Theology That Bites Back

  • Home
  • The Proprietor
  • Video Gallery
  • Speaking & Events
  • Books
    • eBooks
    • Books by Me
    • Books by Family
    • Book Log
  • Audio Sets
  • Controversy Library
  • App
  • Store
    • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • All Products
You are here: Home / Books and Culture / Books / Book of the Month/July 2018

Book of the Month/July 2018

Sunday, July 1, 2018 By Douglas Wilson

I just finished reading Toxic Charity, and want to commend it to every pastor and every deacon board of every church that is involved in mercy ministry. It is written by Robert Lupton, a veteran urban activist, someone who has been an urban activist for many years, and who has seen what he is warning us about up close.

If the goal of charity work is to actually help the people you are helping, then the principles that Lupton outlines will be immediately evident. If the goal is some other thing, which it frequently is, then the temptation will be to write this off as just one more conservative attempt to beg off helping the less fortunate. But Lupton has the moral authority to speak to this issue, having spent his life seeking to actually help out.

Charity work can be devastating. When the facts of such devastation become undeniable, and yet are still denied, it must be because powerful forces are at work within the philanthropists. And what is more powerful than selfishness? When people are trying to work off the guilt, and you tell them to do something different, you are telling them to throw away their one chance at atonement. And when people are giving in order to display their own sense of superiority, and you tell them to do something different, you are asking them to topple their god.

Mercy ministry needs to extend mercy that actually relieves, mercy that actually helps. Lupton lays out the necessary principles that must be kept in mind—and they apply to individual relief, to rebuilding neighborhoods, and to foreign aid. Every church that has a benevolence fund, a food bank, a neighborhood ministry, or any other ministry that wants to do good in this world should read and study this book.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Book Review

Submit A Letter to the Editor. Well-written, fair-minded letters may be interacted with in featured posts. Also, please mention the title of the post which you are addressing.

Theology That Bites Back

Search from Dan to Beersheba

SkyRocket

SkyrocketWP WordPress Maintenance, Hosting, and Support Service

About the Proprietor

Follow

Bookmarks

  • Ben Zornes
  • Calvinist International
  • Christian Daily Reporter
  • Femina
  • Free From Bitterness
  • Having Two Legs
  • Right Mind
  • The Westminster Standards
  • Warhorn Media

What’s Done Been Wrote

Tag Cloud

Adoration Apologetics in the Void Auburn Avenue Stuff Book Review Chrestomathy Church Government Church Year Confession for the Nations Creation and Food Culture and Politics Devil in a Blue Dress Dualism Is Bad JuJu Education Exhortation Familial Getting By Goo-Mongers Grace and Peace Hamartiology Life in the Regeneration Liturgy and Worship Local Politics Mere Christendom Moscow Diversity Cleansing N.T. Wrights and Wrongs Obama Nation Building On Scandal Parable Political Dualism Politics Postmodernism Practical Christian Living Psalms Puritan Poetics Second Battle of Tours Selected Quotes Sex and Culture Shameless Appeals Study Guide for the Institutes Taking a Stroll on the Links The Lord's Table Thinking Straight Topical Who Is Sufficient? Your Friday Funny

Category Count

Get the App


app by woväx

Search from Dan to Beersheba

Copyright © 2019 Blog & Mablog · Website by SEO Skyrocket