WealthWatch: A Study of Socioeconomic Conflict in the Bible
Ebook
The purpose of this book is to help postmodern Westerners understand what the Bible has to say about wealth and possessions, basing itself on the presumption that (a) nobody can understand themselves apart from some recognition of their spiritual roots, and (b) that these roots sink deeper into the pages of the Bible than most Westerners realize. Focusing upon that part of the Bible most widely recognized to be its ideological core--that which is called Torah by some, Pentateuch by others--it interprets this "great text" against other "great texts" in its literary-historical environment, including (a) some epic poems from Mesopotamia, (b) some Jewish texts from Syria-Palestine, and (c) some Nazarene parables from the Greek New Testament.
"This remarkable book by Michael Moore asks what the Bible and
other ancient texts have to say about important socioeconomic
questions involving wealth: its acquisition and protection;
deprivation and slavery; corruption and hedonism; and even
relations between management and labor. This is a thoughtful and
eminently readable study that nicely lays out the big problems
entailed by wealth and looks at how ancient literature offers
critiques of wealth practices and related social problems. Moore
offers insights and wisdom from the Bible and other ancient
classics to anyone trying to think about and evaluate modern values
in a culture that all too often seems sadly obsessed with
money."
-Mark S. Smith
Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
New York University
"Michael Moore has written an extraordinarily wide-ranging,
widely-read, lively, swashbuckling, and illuminating book on a
topic of huge importance in our world--indeed (as he shows) in any
world. It will give you new understanding of the Bible, it will not
bore you, and the footnotes alone are an education."
-John Goldingay
David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament
Fuller Theological Seminary
"A thoroughly researched review of socioeconomic conflicts in the
Bible and its contemporary world in continuity with present
conflicts, featuring corruption, addiction, and our ongoing (debt-)
slavery, prompted by the breakdown of the family economic unit
(divorce) and catastrophic medical bills. Drawing upon familiar
Biblical stories and motifs-including the emphasis on sharing and
the rejection of sheer acquisitiveness-Moore challenges present-day
readers and leads them to change their perceptions and
actions."
-Herbert Huffmon
Professor of Old Testament Studies
Drew University
Michael S. Moore is a faculty associate at Arizona State University and Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Balaam Traditions (1990) and Faith Under Pressure (2003).