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Money Greed And God
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$ 19.49
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| Retail Value |
$ 24.99 |
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$ 5.50 (22%) |
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| Item Number |
598361 |
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Item Description...
Overview
Poses an argument in support of capitalism that reveals the ways in which capitalist practices enable Christians to follow Jesus's mandates about alleviating poverty and protecting the earth, in a guide that challenges popular misconceptions while supporting a middle-ground perspective between a hedonist life and extreme acts of self-denial. 25,000 first printing.
Publishers Description
Does capitalism promote greed? Can a person follow Jesus's call to love others and also support capitalism? Was our recent economic crisis caused by flaws inherent to our free market system? Jay Richards presents a new approach to capitalism, revealing how it's fully consistent with Jesus's teachings and the Christian tradition, while also showing why this system is our best bet for renewed economic vigor. The church is bombarded with two competing messages about money and capitalism: - wealth is bad and causes much of the world's suffering
- wealth is good and God wants you to prosper and be rich
Richards exposes these myths, and other common misconceptions about capitalism, and reveals the surprising ways that capitalism is, in fact, the best system to respond to the biblical mandates of alleviating poverty and protecting the environment. Money, Greed, and God equips readers to take practical steps in their own lives to conduct business, worship God, and serve others without falling into the "prosperity gospel" trap. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 255
Dimensions: Length: 1" Width: 6" Height: 8.75"
Weight: 0.8 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date May 1, 2009
Publisher Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0061375616
EAN 9780061375613
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Availability 46 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 04:35.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | An Evangelical Perspective Jan 25, 2010 |
As a Christian who believes in free markets, I was disappointed in the fatalistic and simplistic arguments set forth by this book. A more balanced and Biblical discussion is found in the writings of Ron Sider. I quote him below:
"There is no mandate in the Bible for a market economy. Christians can and have lived under many types of ...economic systems. No specific political or economic arrangement is 'the' Christian system. To baptize capitalism in that way is idolatrous."
"...On balance, a market economy respects human freedom better (than a communist/socialistic system), creates wealth more efficiently, and tends to be better at reducing poverty. ....This suggestion by no means implies that we should overlook glaring injustices in the way current market economies work.
"For starters, billions of people lack adequate capital to participate substantially in today's market economies. These economies are simply failing to meet the biblical demand that everyone has access to productive resources. (This right flows from the fact that God creates all persons as co-workers with him, called to exercise their creation mandate to care for themselves and serve their neighbors by using the material world around them to create new things. They cannot do that without access to productive resources.)
"Second, in practice, market economies tend to produce a consumeristic materialism that promotes devastating cultural decay.
"Third, today's global capitalism is producing devastating environmental decay.
"And finally, many market economies (including the United States, United Kingdom, and China) are becoming more and more unequal in distribution of wealth in a way that dangerously centralizes power and tends to neglect the poor.
"None of these problems are insurmountable. They do not mean we must abandon the fundamental framework of the market economy. But they do mean that substantial adjustments are necessary.
"...The Bibles makes it clear that private property is good but only God is an absolute owner. ..Claiming that there dare be no government modification of supply and demand means we worship a laissez-faire economic system rather than the God who is Lord of economics.
"...I conclude that Christians today ought to be ardent champions of human rights for everyone. As they do, they should endorse and promote market economies without claiming in any simplistic way that the Bible endorses them. Nor dare we overlook (market) weaknesses. In fact, precisely our commitment to a biblically grounded understanding of human rights will lead us to challenge and correct glaring weaknesses and injustices in the way today's existing market economies function even as we affirm their basic structure."
I highly recommend Ron Sider's books to anyone who wants to explore more about how God calls his people to live with grace and hope in a fallen world.
| | |  | Can you be a Christian in a Capitlist society Jan 16, 2010 |
| It has always been perceived that it was difficult to walk the Christian walk in a upwardly mobile Capitalist society. Finally, there is a book that provides the believer with the tools to defend their faith in Christ and in Capitalism. Richards is a fresh and clear writer. His positions are well footnoted and easy to check. This is a much needed book and one to which I will often refer. | | | | Required reading for every Christian Dec 30, 2009 |
Buy it, and get a few extra for friends.
Many Christians today - especially my younger peers - are being enchanted by a socialist approach to economics and government, believing that it is making government accountable to the values of Christ. They see American capitalism as selfish, destructive, and apathetic toward suffering in the world. They understand little about the results of collectivist experiments in the world through the 1900s.
Then there are the rest of us who are pretty sure capitalism is the best way, but we feel constantly confronted with questions like: Does it take advantage of the poor and uneducated? Does it cause unnecessary fighting and competition among people? Does it distract us from what's important in life?
These are great questions, and they, along with many others, are addressed by this book. It is a great study in economics and theology, but written in such a way that the layman can read quite easily. I absolutely recommend it to all Christians, and to anyone else who would like to hear a strong case for capitalism on the grounds of its efficiency AND morality.
Capitalism is simply the best economic system through which poverty and death are reduced in the world. | | | | Makes you think Nov 21, 2009 |
| Richards provides a well-reasearched and well-reasoned discussion of many of the misconceptions critics and some Christians have about capitalism. On the other hand, he does not attempt to suggest that capitalism is ordained by God. This is not propaganda, but is an enjoyable yet thought-provoking book. | | | | Why Capitalism Is the solution and Not the Problem Nov 9, 2009 |
I've been reading many academic books by folks from the Austrian School and also Geoffrey Brennan and James M. Buchanan. I learned much from those works, but Jay Richards boils it all down and concisely simplifies the basics of Capitalism while he dispels the myths about Capitalism. It's the kind of book I heartily (edited out sp:hardily) recommend to someone like my wife, who does not have a firm grasp of the basic principles behind free market economies and Capitalism. [edit on 1/06/10] I previously stated "Every high school kid should read this book" which seems redundant alongside my "Road to Serfdom" review. Really everyone should read this book. It's the kind of distillation of bigger picture principles that I rarely read anymore.
I've just finished re-reading this for a second, follow-up, reading. I felt I should note that this book is definitely from a Christian perspective. It might be hard for some to deal with, though I would argue that its elegant conciseness ought to be worth the trouble for non-christians. | | | Write your own review about Money Greed And God
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