Jesus and Money
by Ben Witherington III
Paperback
Price: £9.99
Publisher:SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)
Published:18 March 2010
ISBN:978-0-281-06254-6
GoodBookStall Review:
Most of this book is a fascinating and thought-provoking analysis of what the Bible teaches about money and possessions. It was written for a primarily American readership to refute the ‘prosperity gospel’ message and begins by examining the – mainly Old Testament – Scriptures used to justify it. This is followed by a description of first-century socio-economic realities, how they differ from ours, and how we should interpret Biblical exhortations in light of them. Chapters cover the words of Jesus Himself, James, Luke, Paul and John of Patmos. Much care is taken to present an accurate translation of the original texts, with the author often providing his own version.
The main body of the book assumes a reasonable level of education and intelligence and achieves its objective perfectly well in itself. Unfortunately it is sandwiched by a finger-wagging introduction that supposes all readers to be mindless, avaricious consumers, measuring success by possessions and obtaining them by overuse of credit, and a ‘deprogramming’ section in similar vein. Don’t be put off by these. Even if you are not an advocate of prosperity gospel and believe your lifestyle to be Christ-honouring, this is an informative, challenging work and well-worth reading.
Reviewer: Diane Morrison (22/05/10)
Most of this book is a fascinating and thought-provoking analysis of what the Bible teaches about money and possessions. It was written for a primarily American readership to refute the ‘prosperity gospel’ message and begins by examining the – mainly Old Testament – Scriptures used to justify it. This is followed by a description of first-century socio-economic realities, how they differ from ours, and how we should interpret Biblical exhortations in light of them. Chapters cover the words of Jesus Himself, James, Luke, Paul and John of Patmos. Much care is taken to present an accurate translation of the original texts, with the author often providing his own version.
The main body of the book assumes a reasonable level of education and intelligence and achieves its objective perfectly well in itself. Unfortunately it is sandwiched by a finger-wagging introduction that supposes all readers to be mindless, avaricious consumers, measuring success by possessions and obtaining them by overuse of credit, and a ‘deprogramming’ section in similar vein. Don’t be put off by these. Even if you are not an advocate of prosperity gospel and believe your lifestyle to be Christ-honouring, this is an informative, challenging work and well-worth reading.
Reviewer: Diane Morrison (22/05/10)
