The last chapter of Schneider’s book was really interesting, and in his epilogue, where he summarized the work of the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, he really got my attention. De Soto’s book The Mystery of Capital sounded really intriguing so I made a point of ordering it. Besides, he’s a South American writing on …
A Socialist Tricycle
Schneider’s seventh chapter concentrates on four “parables of affluence,” taken from the gospel of Luke. In doing this he is tackling the central challenge to his thesis, and he is taking it head on. “All the Gospels agree that a great deal of Jesus’ teaching was on the subject of wealth, and that most of …
The Font of Lasting Generosity
Schneider’s next chapter undertakes the very important task of reconciling two disparate strands of teaching in the gospels. He does well with this task too. First we find the well-known demands of an all-or-nothing discipleship. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke …
Jesus and Halliburton
I enjoyed Schneider’s next chapter, but don’t have a lot to say about it. That is probably because he is interacting with the claim of “radical Christianity” that Jesus completely identified with the poor in His Incarnation, a claim that I tend to take less seriously than Schneider does. To insist that Christ was impoverished …
A Layer of Pea Gravel
John Schneider continues his good work in chapter four, and reminds me of another book I am currently reading (and which I would recommend), which is Nancy Pearcey’s Total Truth. She says that when evangelicals begin their presentation of the gospel with the fact and reality of sin, they are presenting the gospel out of …
Fat Cats and the Wealthy
God gave us a clear indication of how He wanted the world to run — in abundance — by how He created the world in the first place. God placed our first parents in a garden of delight. Our natural and instinctive response to this is that the Fall changed all that. The ground is …
A Package of Oreos and a Gallon of Milk
This next chapter of Schneider’s book was really good. When I perform weddings I routinely resort to the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. In the first pages of Genesis, before the Fall, God tells us He created us male and female, and after the Fall, Jesus still appeals to that creation order when …
Gnosticism Run Through the Filters
The first chapter of Schneider’s book describes the rise of democratic capitalism, a phenonemon that caused the Church to confront something brand new in human history — the rise of mass affluence. The Church had always had to deal with wealth, and with the wealth of wealthy members, and then had to deal with her …
Freedom Index
Before continuing my review of Schneider’s book, let me make one additional comment on a point I made in my first post. Use of catch-phrases like “capitalism” are often not very helpful because they are used in confusing ways by numerous disparate groups. At the same time, relative freedom from government officials pilfering your resources …
Bit and Bridle in One Hand, Lump of Sugar in the Other
David Bahnsen was kind enough to send me a copy of The Good of Affluence: Seeking God in a Culture of Wealth, which I began to read last night. I have really enjoyed what I have read thus far, and because it has been a while since I blogged through a book, here we go. …