Helen Rhee is a religious studies professor at Westmont College. I do not know her well but have admired her from afar. When I heard that she authored Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation, I knew that it had to be on my reading list.

As the title implies, this book explores how the early Christian Church came to understand wealth and poverty. That was not an easy task, and the shaping of an understanding of wealth/poverty took hundreds of years to work out. In part this was due to the blending of cultures within the Church: Jewish, Greek, Roman, poor, rich, merchants, farmers, leaders, etc. Finding a suitable understanding of wealth was critical for the well being of this eclectic group.

But it was equally important to fully understand the meaning of the Scriptures. Jesus said some very powerful things about the rich and the poor. How was that to work out in actual practice? Were the rich truly at risk of eternal damnation if they did not give their wealth away? Do all the poor really deserve to be called blessed? Is wealth ammoral, or does it carry some taint of worldliness that keeps us unclean? Can we use wealth to further our spiritual growth? Can poverty be alleviated in a way that honors Christ?

Some of these questions seem obvious to us today, but that’s only because thousands of years of thinking, practice and research has gone into finding the answers. And some of the questions still perplex us today.

Rhee has created a book that walks us through this process and helps us to understand how we got to where we are today. Part history, part theology, and part cultural understanding, the book reflects the authors strengths. That’s not to say it’s perfect — there are parts of the book that seemed to need more editing. And it can all sound very academic at times.

But the information is phenomenal and very helpful for any early 21st Century believer who wants to best understand their relationship with wealth.