Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem by Jay Richards

I am reading a fascinating book right now on economics and christian thought. Richards takes on common myths about capitalism (so far, he is making a compelling case)….more to come.

Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem by Jay Richards

Review
“In Money, Greed, and God, Jay Richards has written the definitive case for capitalism, a crisply written and incisive discourse on wealth and poverty, money and morality for the 21st Century.” (George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute and author of Wealth and Poverty )

“Jay Richards understands the objections to capitalism, and here explains why they do not convince him. The empirical findings revealed in Money, Greed, and God run against those objections.” (Michael Novak, Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute )

Product 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.

(from Amazon)

Has Christian America Come to an End?

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church responds to Newsweek.

“Has Christian America come to an end? That question has been hotly debated since Newsweek published their recent feature story reporting that the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990. Additionally, the percentage of self-identified Christians has dropped ten points in the past two decades.

As an evangelical pastor with one of America’s fastest-growing churches in one of its least churched cities, I do not find the report surprising or discouraging. Newsweek missed the subtle — but vital — difference between Christian America and Christendom America.” (read on…)

Christian Reviews of Dan Brown’s ‘Angels & Demons’

As I sit here and watch a Discovery channel special on Angels and Demons, I am reminded once again of how often questions of faith and science (and especially the Church’s relationship to these) are misunderstood and misconstrued. Dan Brown is at it again…though this one will not raise the issues that the Da Vinci Code did…

Here are two reviews…

Ben Witherington

Apologetics 315