Rich Christians (Book Review)

Pointing the finger and crying “socialism!” or “Communism!” at everyone and everything that suggests structural change to bring justice and empowerment to the poor, amounts to nothing more than scare tactics. The problem is that these scare tactics train the people who listen to them to ignore the injustices of the world and of our system in particular. A Billion people simply should not be starving, and they would not be starving if our economic systems were structured as though economic poverty and world hunger were indeed problems. The truth is, we need to do better. We need to change as individuals, as churches, and as members of a corporate governmental structure such as the United States of America.

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider is timely even now, 5 years since it has been written. Sider unabashedly calls out injustice and points out the problems with our personal life styles, our churches, and our systems in the U.S.. And he doesn’t stop there. He actually takes the risk of offering specific suggestions as to how we might implement structural changes.

In four parts; Poor Lazarous and Rich Christians (where he discusses the economic divisions in the world between wealthy Western Christians and the more than 1 Billion starving people in the world), A Biblical Perspective (where he reveals the Biblical concern for poverty plastered throughout the texts of scripture), What Causes Poverty (a close look at the structural and systemic issues which perpetuate the kind of economic divisions the world is facing), and Implementation (where he suggests ways by which we might seek justice for our 1 Billion hungry neighbors) Sider takes us on a journey from conviction to hope. His thorough investigation, if taken seriously, could offer folks at every level of political involvement–from average Joes and Janes to Politicians and Presidents–a renewed ordering of priorities, which might place those in greatest need as the greatest priority, as well as a greater vision and hope for social change. Surely we can change, otherwise there is no hope for the world’s poor or for the credibility of the gospel itself. At the heart of this change must be the heart for jubilee (Leviticus 25).

I am quite certain that many will read the early pages of this book and cry out, “socialist,” as so many have trained themselves to do with the help of radio and television pundits. But if we can rise above the rhetoric and face the music, then we may be able to do something beautiful. Rich Christians is a must-read… especially now!

“At a time when Marxism has collapsed and democratic capitalism is in danger of an overconfident neglect of its own failures, we must continue to re-examine economics from a thoroughly biblical perspective. We need economists immersed in biblical faith who will rethink economics as if poor people mattered… at the heart of God’s call for jubilee is a divine demand for socioeconomic structures that provide all people with the opportunity to acquire the capital necessary to earn their own way. We must discover new, concrete models for applying this biblical principal in our interdependent world. I hope and pray for a new generation of economists and political scientists who will devote their lives to formulating, developing, and implementing a contemporary model of jubilee.” -Sider (Page 266)

“Proclaim liberty throughout the land” -The inscription on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia from Leviticus 25:10