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Wealth and Piety: Middle Eastern Perspectives for Expat Workers
Your supporters consider you saintly and self-sacrificing. Your Middle Eastern friends might beg to differ. So might God. In this book, Dr. Shaw tackles the elephant in the room. Wealth and Piety explores biblical and Arab cultural expectations for getting, using, talking about, and giving money.
This book contains hundreds of verbatim observations about local and foreign wealth by thirty-five Middle Easterners from nine countries, representing all major religious groups. These comments are a mirror in which workers can see their own status and moral reputation as people of the region see them.
Combining biblical commentary, cultural analysis and practical advice for expats, Wealth and Piety is designed for both new and experienced workers, as well as mission leaders, administrators, supporters and donors. Although focused on the Middle East, much of the wisdom of this book is valuable for workers anywhere in the Muslim world or in societies characterized by patronage or an honor/shame orientation.
This book contains hundreds of verbatim observations about local and foreign wealth by thirty-five Middle Easterners from nine countries, representing all major religious groups. These comments are a mirror in which workers can see their own status and moral reputation as people of the region see them.
Combining biblical commentary, cultural analysis and practical advice for expats, Wealth and Piety is designed for both new and experienced workers, as well as mission leaders, administrators, supporters and donors. Although focused on the Middle East, much of the wisdom of this book is valuable for workers anywhere in the Muslim world or in societies characterized by patronage or an honor/shame orientation.
214 pages, Paperback
Published August 3, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 3, 2025
I should know by now that I don’t enjoy books that are a formatted as a collection of interviews. Too often, one person’s advice conflicted with another’s, and I was still left wondering which was true or right for us. I turned to this book because of a situation of intense financial need in one of my friendships, and while I found helpful perspective and advice, I didn’t find a lot of clear answers. To be fair, if the author had offered clear answers, I would have been skeptical of them.
I skimmed the first half, which was an in-depth look at the righteous rich in the Bible, and may have been the most helpful if I had invested in it.
The core thing I feel I learned from this book is that if ME neighbors see you as rich, they must also see you as generous if they are to think of you as a Godly person.
I skimmed the first half, which was an in-depth look at the righteous rich in the Bible, and may have been the most helpful if I had invested in it.
The core thing I feel I learned from this book is that if ME neighbors see you as rich, they must also see you as generous if they are to think of you as a Godly person.
December 27, 2025
Really good content here, especially the first half of the book's exploration of the biblical understanding of the "righteous rich." The interviews with Middle Easterners were fascinating and relevant for cross-cultural workers, but the formatting of interviewees' quotations felt confusing and at times disjointed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews