Customer Reviews

God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel

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[ This review originally appeared in THE ENGLEWOOD REVIEW OF BOOKS
Vol 2, #40 - 9 October 2009 ]

The biblical writer of Ecclesiastes wrote: "Of the making of books there is no end," and if that is true, it is even truer that there is no end of the making of many books about money: books on how to get it, books on how to keep once you've got it, etc. etc. But, in all my years of reading, selling and reviewing books, I've never encountered a book about money that is anything like Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's newbook God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel. Ultimately, God's Economy is about the good news of the kingdom of God; indeed that is the "health and wealth gospel" of the book's sub-title. But before your mind turns from the words "health and wealth" to images of the myriad of televangelists who have made plush lives for themselves - e.g. Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar - by preaching such a gospel to the masses, allow me to reassure that Jonathan's message bears little in common with these slick television preachers. God's Economy is about "abundant life" - which although Jonathan doesn't specifically mention it - is perhaps a better translation of the familiar New Testament Greek phrase that is usually rendered "eternal life." He describes this abundant life: "It's a celebration of God's economy, where the poor find bread and the rich find healing because we rediscover one another as friends ... and we are not alone anymore." As he demonstrated in his previous books (including two superb ones that awe reviewed in the ERB last year: New Monasticism and Free to Be Bound), Jonathan is a masterful storyteller weaving together stories from Scripture, from church history and from his own experience. God's Economy is a delight to read, humorous at times, but ultimately these stories - like those Jesus told - are disarming, shining the light into those dark places of our souls in which lie our assumptions about how the world works and our deeply rooted plans for preserving ourselves (and those closest to us) in a hostile world.

Jonathan begins the book by calling us to submit our hopes and dreams to Gods' transformative "revolution of imagination." God calls us to a life of abundance, Jonathan observes, but we come to know this not in amazing possessions or wealth in our bank accounts or 401K's, but rather in the wealth of loving friendships we have in the family of God. Part of this transformation of our imaginations to which we are called is understanding the story that drives our lives no longer as a story about me as an isolated individual, but about us as a community of god's people. Readers who miss this point, might be to misunderstand statements that Jonathan makes like: "Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes are right about one thing: our God of abundance does want to give you your best life now. It's just that God's abundance is more radical that many of us have dared to dream." As the book goes on it becomes clear that the abundant life that God offers is not to me, as an isolated individual, but for us a community of God's people that share life together.

After calling us to submit our hearts and minds to the abundant and transformative reign of God, Jonathan reminds us that money is a power. Here he observes that as a power, money "manipulate[s] and possess[es] people by creating believable illusions." Reminding us of numerous stories of Jesus from the Gospels, Jonathan notes that in God's economy, the power of money is unmasked and this new kingdom thus interrupts every economic system because "it refuses the law of scarcity and insists that the impossible can happen." Under the "believable illusions" that money creates as a power lies the reality that we are loved unconditionally by God and that we long to love and be loved by those that God has placed around us.

Over the remainder of the book, Jonathan surveys five economic tactics to which we are called as followers of Jesus. He contrasts tactics which are inserted into the cracks of empire, with the strategic planning of the world that seeks to systematize and control.

The five tactics that Jonathan explores here are:

1) Subversive service (based on Mark 9:35)

2) Eternal Investments (based on Matthew 6:20)

3) Economic Friendships (based on Luke 16:9)

4) Relational Generosity (based on Matthew 5:42)

5) Gracious Politics (based on Mark 12:17)

Perhaps the most striking of these tactics is that of economic friendship, which emphasizes the reality that "God's economy comes to us as a community of friendship. Though Jesus made it clear that miracles happen, it's not God's standard operating procedure to rain bread form heaven or provide money from a fish's mouth. Instead, God invites us into the abundance of eternal life through economic relationships with other people." Jonathan goes on to imagine that our sharing with one another could go beyond the routine meeting of one another's needs to even the idea of us lending money to one another, avoiding the ridiculously high fees and interest rates of most banks and building up friendships by working together in this way.

It is refreshing to find a book, such as God's Economy, that talks about money without bending toward either rewards that are merely eternal, abusive get-rich-quick schemes or self-preserving fear-mongering. Its message, although challenging to us who have lived for so long under the tyranny of money, is good news - full of hope and the abundant goodness of God's provision. God's Economy is a very readable book that calls us into the depths of divine love for which we were created, a love that functions best when shared with those around us.

The book God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove provides an interesting look at a controversial subject: How should Christians understand money?

The first four chapters prepare us through a combination of autobiography on the part of the author, examination of biblical texts, and theological discussion on the issues of poverty, money, and power. The latter four chapters explain four "tactics" Jonathon suggests Christians use in the world to help us create a new understanding of abundance.

Towards the beginning of the book Jonathon challenges many fundamental aspects of the "American dream." In speak of Joseph, for example, he says that his life was one "marked less by teh abundance of possessions than by abundant relationships." He takes the rest of the book to discuss how Christians might re-order their thinking around relationships instead of possessions. He says elsewhere that "what concerns Jesus about money isn't so much how we should use it...as how it affects our relationships with God."

He also spends the first four chapters attempting to get rid of the popular ideas that problems in the world are either: (1) The fault of the rich having too much, or (2) The poor being lazy. He explores a kind of "third way" where the lines aren't so finely drawn, and where relationships are central. His main example for this kind of life is St. Francis of Assisi who valued the relationships in his life over his wealth and possessions (indeed even ripping his own clothes off his back to return them to his father). Money has away of "quietly colonizing" us in ways we least expect. He notes, as many authors have noted as of late, how the `protestant ethic' has separated 'spiritual' and `material' realities into separate spheres (to the point of excluding God in the `material' reality).

Another preparation Jonathon makes before delving into his four tactics is understanding the importance of first century economies and the importance of the feast-table. The biggest problem that modern readers of the biblical text have is understanding first century economies. We have to understand that the household was also the primary means by which commercial ventures took place. There was no separation between the two in this time period, and thus to understand Jesus' teaching about family, we must understand that family household economics was all their was. There was not other way of doing things. The point of such household economies was to create as big and powerful a household as possible with as many servants as possible.

From here, Jonathon goes into his first tactic: subversive service. We are called, not to be the great fathers of great households, but to be like children. To read the text as Jesus speaking of childlike faith is incoherent to a first century economy. Rather, the authors seem to be calling us to be `nothing' - or, at least, nothing as a child was considered nothing in a household economy structure. We are to BE the least and the last.

The second tactic is what Jonathan calls "eternal investments." When I first read the title of this chapter I was a little unsure of what to think. I don't like the idea of someday you'll be rewarded in heaven for all the good things you do on earth. Luckily, that's not at all what he was referencing with this second tactic. Rather, he was talking about investing in things that don't fade away (i.e. people rather than possessions). He talks about the difference between investing eternally and investing effectively. If our investments are to be "effective," Jesus would have sided with Judas in criticizing Mary when she anointed his feet with oil.

The third tactic Jonathan refers to as "eternal friendships." For the example here Jonathan speaks of the shrewd manager who made friends in order to save his job. I enjoyed Jonathan's interpretation of the shrewd manager, and I think he makes some good points that I had never really heard in church before regarding the important parable. He charges those reading to try and understand the "wisdom of the weak" and not just 'serve' them. He talks about many organizations serving the poor who don't actually consult the poor (thinking that they will only 'slow them down.'). In order to be the people of God, we need to get rid of the lines of separation and create a life of abundance now in the friendships we make (without fear).

The fourth and final tactic is relational generosity. Relational generosity is different than most Americanized charities because it calls us to be in relationship with those who we serve. We are not to be part of some philanthropic organization that gives to the poor, but then goes to live apart from them for most of our day.

The book, as a whole, is a very well thought out way to live as Christians in the world. It is about more than money and health and wealth because it deals with our entire lives. There will be some for whom the book will be too radical. I am also sure that Jonathan will be called a 'socialist' by those who do take a few of things he says in the book out of context. There are parts in the book where he talks about new monasticism and the rich giving to the poor in churches. All of these things will make his message difficult to swallow if you hold capitalism too tightly, but he seems to be right on in his theological and biblical analysis of the Christian life. The book is both imaginative and grounded.

If you give his book the chance to speak to you, I'm sure it will change you in some way, shape or form.

Originally published on my blog [...]

Christians often make very bad economists, or at least bad economics writers. They may have good theology, but good theology does not necessarily make good economic sense. And Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is OK with that. He wants to focus on ways that we can re-define our understanding of economics. This is a common theme of both Christian and non-Christian books I have been reading lately. Economics is increasingly moving toward mathematical/rational determinism and away from ethical theory.

Wilson-Hartgrove is writing directly to move Christians back toward an ethical understanding of economics. As a student he wanted to change the world through politics and the religious right. Then he was deeply affected by a homeless man and began a long journey toward redefining what it means to be a Christian.

The first third of the book is a long introduction to both the author's biography and his way of understanding economics. The last two thirds of the book explores five `tactics' that Wilson-Hartgrove believes will redefine our relationship to God's Economy. Those tactics are 1) Subversive service, 2) Eternal investments, 3) Economic friendships, 4) Relational generosity and 5) Gracious politics.

This is book written not out of academic or theological insight, but practical living. The author has spent the last twenty years exploring these ideas through actually trying them. He is calling the church to change, not from an academic window or prophetic pulpit, but from the streets and homes of his community.

I just finished a financial bible study with my church small group. It was filled with practical advice that is hard to disagree with: get rid of debt, live in your means, focus on God, serve him with all your resources, make giving and saving your priorities. Overwhelmingly the study was focused on balance. But when I read Jesus talking about money, he rarely (ever?) talks about balance. Instead he talks about selling everything you have and giving it to the poor. Or expecting God to provide everything you need and be completely dependent on him. Or using our resources to extravagantly celebrate God in ways that is actually scandalous. I do not think that the small group study was bad. It was practical, focused on skills for young couples to work on as they set up new households. But when I think about which of these better characterized Jesus' actual teachings, I have to say that Wilson-Hartgrove clearly captures the spirit of Jesus' teaching better than the conservative `balanced' approach.

This is a potentially life changing book. How do you relate to money? How does God intend for us to relate to money and to God and each other? Highly reccomended>