skitch41's review
4.0
A Much Needed Call to Poverty Action for Evangelicals
In America, too often evangelical Christianity has been associated with the hypocrisy of the religious right rather than who we call Lord: Jesus Christ. In this much needed, but data-wonky, call to Action, Mr. Black calls the evangelical church’s attention to an area of active evangelism that is too often ignored: poverty.
The Bible, both Old and New Testament, is filled with admonition from God, the prophets, and Jesus Christ to take care of the poor and the hungry. Mr. Black does a tremendous job of survey the Bible, and recent biblical scholarship, to show how central poverty alleviation is to the message of Christianity. In a few chapters he even does a deep dive into biblical passages to prove his point. This is both much appreciated, but it can be a bit overwhelming to anyone who has not been versed in scholarly works. Mr. Black’s last chapter, which details efforts by evangelicals in South Africa to meet the needs of the local poor, is also very good, but relies heavily on social science data. Thus, this book can feel rather wonky to anyone who has not experienced this kind of literature before. Even I found myself going cross-eyed from the details at times.
Overall, this is a fabulous book that I would highly recommend to all Christians interested in taking seriously Christ’s call to feed the poor, cloth the hungry, care for the sick and look out for those in prison.
In America, too often evangelical Christianity has been associated with the hypocrisy of the religious right rather than who we call Lord: Jesus Christ. In this much needed, but data-wonky, call to Action, Mr. Black calls the evangelical church’s attention to an area of active evangelism that is too often ignored: poverty.
The Bible, both Old and New Testament, is filled with admonition from God, the prophets, and Jesus Christ to take care of the poor and the hungry. Mr. Black does a tremendous job of survey the Bible, and recent biblical scholarship, to show how central poverty alleviation is to the message of Christianity. In a few chapters he even does a deep dive into biblical passages to prove his point. This is both much appreciated, but it can be a bit overwhelming to anyone who has not been versed in scholarly works. Mr. Black’s last chapter, which details efforts by evangelicals in South Africa to meet the needs of the local poor, is also very good, but relies heavily on social science data. Thus, this book can feel rather wonky to anyone who has not experienced this kind of literature before. Even I found myself going cross-eyed from the details at times.
Overall, this is a fabulous book that I would highly recommend to all Christians interested in taking seriously Christ’s call to feed the poor, cloth the hungry, care for the sick and look out for those in prison.
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