Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

"I have never cheated widows or others in need..." -- Job 31:16-34  Righteousness is a word we know pretty well. We have heard it applied to issues of morality, theology, and legal standing. We have likely heard righteousness applied to questions of correct belief, living in God's forgiveness, and enjoying God's favor. We hear of righteousness in Paul's writings related to questions of faith. In the Bible, however, righteousness has far broader meanings that relate to how we treat others than might be apparent after listening in on the majority of our Bible studies, worship services, and even seminary classes. One major theme in the Bible in regard to righteousness has to do with economic issues. For a society with a history of colonialism tied to Christianity, this is not a theme that has often been picked up. When the church has a cozy relationship with legal structures, economic structures, and the interests of the wealthy, it is not a simple thing to dig ...

Writing a book is a learning experience. At least in my case, it is more of a learning experience for the author than for the readers. Part of that is simply that the limits of a book do not lend to incorporating many discoveries that lie beyond the scope of the book. I began writing on the economic teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures by doing searches for various terms, but soon realized that I would need to read the text verse by verse to pick up on other economic themes that were not expressed in terms of gold, money, poverty, and wealth. Economics is about more than our forms of money. It includes the creation of and distribution of wealth. In my study, I soon saw that the consistent comments against the fertility cults in and around Israel were about more than competing deities. They were likewise about the economic practices and attitudes that informed these cults. The reason the people participated in the fertility cults was in order to gain control over the agricultural and...