Neither Poverty nor Riches...

As my current status line says, I am looking forward to do a slow reading of Neither Poverty nor Riches...

I know it won't be an easy reading... But I am looking forward to learning about what the whole Bible has to say on the whole issue of responding to the poverty around us...

I am not looking for an easy answer, and so am hoping that what the books says about itself in its back-cover will really be what I will find as I read it...

Why do I want to know more about this?

Partly just wanting to know more about what God has to say on this issue, I guess...

Partly because I feel that Sydney has become more and more like my home-country with more homeless and poor people around...

Partly, because I do want to know how to deal with this... and maybe even help others get a better idea on how they should see and respond to poverty around them - especially if they plan to go back to our home-country and make a difference there - as Christians...

This is what the back of the book says:

"Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. (Proverbs 30:8)

One of the most difficult questions facing Christians today is that of the proper attitude toward possessions. In wealthy nations such as Britain and the USA, individuals accumulate much and yet are daily exposed to the plight of the poor, whether the homeless on their own city streets or starving children on their TV screens. What action should we take on behalf of the poor? What should we do with our own possessions?

In Neither Poverty nor Riches Craig Blomberg asks what the Bible has to say about these issues. Avoiding easy answers, he instead seeks a comprehensive biblical theology of possessions. And so he begins with the groundwork laid by the Old Testament and the ideas developed in the intertestamental period, then draws out what the whole New Testament has to say on the subject, and finally offers conclusions and applications relevant to our contemporary world.

Neither Poverty Nor Riches is one book that all should read who are concerned with issues of poverty and wealth."