For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty

by Anne Rathbone Bradley (Editor), Art Lindsley (Editor)

While much progress has been made toward poverty alleviation, many well-intentioned efforts have led Christians to actions that are not only ineffective, but leave the most vulnerable in a worse situation than before. Is there a better answer? Combining biblical exegesis with proven economic principles, For the Least of A Biblical Answer to Poverty equips Christians with both a solid biblical and economic understanding of how best to care for the poor and foster sustainable economic development. With contributions from fifteen leading Christian economists, theologians, historians, and practitioners, For the Least of These presents the case for why markets and trade are the world’s best hope for alleviating poverty.

Genres: Christian, Poverty, Nonfiction, Economics, Christianity, Politics

448 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2014

About the author

Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley is the Vice President of Economic Initiatives at the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE), where she develops and commissions research toward a systematic biblical theology of economic freedom. She is a visiting professor at Georgetown University and has previously taught at George Mason University and at Charles University, Prague. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Bernard Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy. She served as the Associate Director for the Program in Economics, Politics, and the Law at the James M. Buchanan Center at George Mason University.

Dr. Rathbone Bradley’s academic work focuses on the political economy of terrorism with specific emphasis on the industrial organization of al-Qaeda. Her academic research has been published in scholarly journals and edited volumes. She is currently working on a book that analyzes the political economy of al-Qaeda post 9/11. Based on her academic research she also worked as an Economic Analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Terrorism Analysis.

Dr. Rathbone Bradley received her Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2006 during which time she was a James M. Buchanan Scholar.

Reviews

[Malin Friess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of 12 different essays on a biblical response to poverty.

The causes of poverty are four-fold: 1) oppresion by others 2) external calamities 3) moral failure and foolishness 4) living in a fallen world.

The writers are strongly against open ended entitlements, redistribution of wealth, and unending aid to third world countries (unless it is emergency relief). They do strongly support development (building infra-structure, creating jobs)..even though it is more vanilla type ministry.

The authors really believe that transforming power of the Gospel can alleviate poverty and bring every one up--a transformed Believer will no longer oppress-but pay a fair wage, will end harmful addictions, and will cherish the responsibility to work and take care of his or her family. Eliminate sinful behavior..and many types of poverty will be alleviated.

4 stars. Some essays were much better than others. But something to think about having lived in Kenya for 2 years.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why should we help the poor? how should we help the poor? this book answers those two questions using scripture, empirical examples of what has worked or failed on the past, and knowledge from economics.

Specifically, the book warns against simple handouts as a long-term strategy to combat poverty. While useful in the short-term for disaster relief, long-term handouts create an unhealthy situation where people can prefer being "on the dole" more than working. the number of people getting assistance can thus increase rather than shrink. It is much better to encourage the freedom and ability to create and find jobs through training.

The book is a compilation of many authors who have studied this issue. This book is large and extensive, and so probably not the best resource for someone wanting a quick summary of the issues. But as a comprehensive guide on how best to help the poor, this is an essential read.

[Joel Ohman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend - this should be required reading for anyone, Christian or otherwise, wanting real answers on how to best go about alleviating poverty. From the principles of moral proximity to subsidiarity to many other things, this covers a lot of ground and was supremely helpful for me personally in thinking through what can be some very complex and thorny issues. This is a collection of 12 different essays from many authors so, sure, there are some points of disagreement here and there, not the least of which are some hermeneutical liberties taken by one of the authors, but on the whole, this is a fantastic book that accomplishes its purpose in convincing and comprehensive fashion.

[J Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly illogical. This book is filled with inferences drawn from biblical sources without acknowledging that other inferences are equally valid. Claims of truth are unsupported and fail to address competing thoughts.
The historical inaccuracies and outright fallacies are particularly difficult to deal with in terms of supporting conclusions that are drawn.
I wanted to like this book, but - short of simply engaging in confirmation biases - it doesn't achieve or demonstrate anything in a logical way.

[Andrew Scholes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part was good defining the problem. In the second part, I have not read that much about Economics since college. The third part was excellent going over what we need to do to help fix the problem. He is not a big fan of all that the government does for welfare recipients. It has had a negative effect on the charitable work of the people.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of essays to help the reader understand why aid to the poor in the form of money and supplies so often does more harm than good. International aid might be an excellent approach to short-term disaster relief, but counter-productive as a long-term solution to poverty.

[Michelle Hensley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book addresses both poverty and some excellent solutions. After working with low income and homelessness, I am constantly considering how I can help grow people out of poverty right where I am.

[Angel Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming shortly.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this, but it seems like several of the authors were... convinced that capitalism is the only option, and unwilling to consider that there could be anything wrong with such a system. For example, the last essay I battled through fought hard to convince the reader that pursuing profit is a sign of a good businessman (which I don't necessarily disagree with), and it struck me as either unaware or just insensitive that no consideration was made for the protection of the worker, or an acknowledgement that many corporations, particularly large ones, do not distribute benefits well.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This response to poverty begins in personal terms, then increases in abstraction, becoming another harangue against Progressive foolishness.

[Jonathan Stuckey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on the biblical perspective of poverty. It refutes the common deceptions that result from interpreting verses out of context and by reading into verses instead of proper exegesis. It then accurately describes how Christians should view poverty and the poor. More practically, the book then describes what Christians should do about it, providing a unique and fascinating framework to follow that could actually help lead the poor out of poverty. Only reason it is not 5 stars is because some sections are very repetitive and the structure of the book is odd. But this is still an excellent book for addressing the issue of poverty from a biblical perspective.