Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in ... (ISBN 0801066131)

Christians should read this:
I agree with the review by Jean-Luc for the most part, but I also wanted to add a few of my own thoughts. As Sider says early in the book, he's not a policy wonk, so that is his weakest point. Trust him on that one. As a more policy oriented person, I agree that some of those things would be great, if implemented, but that's the hard part of all policy - getting it passed and implemented. Some of his suggestions are not politically feasible (yet). Some of his other policy ideas are, IMHO, just questionable. Not just politically difficult, but I'm not convinced that all the ideas are that great. His Biblical framework is wonderful. I enjoyed reading his perspective on that, as he exegetes quite well. I also was biased to begin with, in that I had already done some thinking on my own about this issue, and was finding myself just saying "Wow, that's kinda what I was thinking." yeah. so good book. read it. don't take the policy stuff to seriously. but take the Biblical stuff seriously. He does a good job there. and the principles of the more holistic view of things, too. Those are good.

Fair and Balanced:
The debate over how best to help the poor seems to be polarized around the logical conclusions of two seemingly opposed assumptions. The conservative assumption is that most people are poor because of the personal choices they make. The liberal assumption is that people are poor because of bad environments and injustice. The conservative point of view leads to public policies that reward personal initiative while allowing families to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions as a means of discipline. The liberal point of view initiates policies that redistribute the wealth through entitlements and public projects while attempting to change the environment through the force of law. The weakness of the liberal position is that it tends to enable poverty rather than eradicate it. The weakness of the conservative position is that it tends to ignore injustices and do nothing to remove the very real barriers to the upward mobility of the poor. Ronald Sider in his book Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America argues that these are not competing assumptions but complimentary ones. "I have lived and worshiped with he poor far too long to side either with the liberal who quickly dismisses the way personal choices contribute to poverty or with the conservative who ignores the way complicated structural barriers make it difficult for many hardworking people to escape poverty" (p. 35). Sider's "Twelve Principles of a Just Society" is the foundation for his policy suggestions that make up over half of the book. While one may quibble with the details of the suggestions, on the whole they are a way out of the political rancor that characterizes the current debate. I highly recommend this book to all. It educates. It makes reasonable suggestions to open the discussion on how best to address these problems. Most of all it is irenic and offered in the spirit of brotherly love as opposed to the power politics that have come to characterize our political discourse.

Do we care?:
In 1995 the poverty level for a family of four in the United States was $19,806. 37 million people in the US live at or below this level. Ron Sider correctly asserts that it is morally unacceptable for 37 million people to live in poverty in this country while the wealthiest people are gaining a larger percentage of all wealth. In Just Generosity, Sider presents his vision for overcoming poverty in America. And it is a compelling vision. Sider's vision is distinctive because he acknowledges that poverty is caused by both systemic injustice in society's structures and by poor moral decisions by impoverished individuals. Both must be addressed in order to stop cycles of poverty. Drawing upon biblical study, Sider presents the goal of an economy of justice: "Every person or family has access to productive resources (land, money, knowledge) so they have the opportunity to earn a generous sufficiency of material necessities and be dignified participating members of their community" (81). Sider deals with a vast array of programs and issues like welfare, minimum wage, tax credits, health care, and education reform, showing how each could be employed in ways that encourage work, empower the poor, and strengthen families. Sider ends with this troubling question: Do enough Christians really care? This book should be required reading for any that do.

A Wealth of Ideas:
Ronald J. Sider's, Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America, is a book about solutions. The solutions to overcoming poverty that Sider offers are both broad-ranging as well as full of depth. They are not band-aid solutions that only deal with surface-level symptoms. Instead, Sider targets understanding and overcoming the causes of poverty in America. The breadth of his approach to overcoming poverty is seen in the number and variety of organizations he suggests mobilizing together for the sake of the poor. Sider envisions faith-based organizations doing all that they do best in the battle against poverty. Likewise, businesses will bring what they have to offer; the media will do its part; while the government (though not expected to carry the full weight of the problems or the solutions) will also be expected to work towards empowering the poor of the society. Together, these forces comprise a "holistic, comprehensive approach" (137) to overcoming poverty. The depth of his approach can be seen in the various levels of positive-change that he suggests these organizations work together to offer. Sider enlists the creative energies and resources of these varied organizations for the purposes of not only removing barriers that keep members of society from making a reasonable living, but also for such purposes as "character formation, spiritual renewal, and caring communities" (185). It is at this point that I find Sider's work most compelling. He, in other words, cares equally about providing for the very real and pressing needs of individuals and communities (hunger, safe housing and streets, etc.) as well as longer-range needs (such as quality education for all: education that includes the character as well as the mind - that is, spiritual development as well as mental development) that, as they are met with equal excellence, will work steadily to eradicate poverty in the coming days and generations. Sider's books are thorough. Just Generosity is no exception. At times, in fact, it is easy to get lost in the details. Yet the details concerning poverty are what many of us are lacking. We know there is a problem. We even recognize that the problem is multi-faceted. Yet without the aid of someone like Sider who brings together "sophisticated socioeconomic analysis with normative biblical principles of justice" (14), we are left with our limited awareness of the issues (mixed, possibly, with a measure of guilt and a heap of good intentions) that often lead to us do very little to actually work towards effecting solutions to the problem of poverty in our own neighborhoods - much less all over America.

A Covenant of Compassion:
Just Generosity Ron Sider Ron Sider is a writer committed to several agendas. He is a strong advocate for the word of God, an unconditional submission to Jesus Christ, and a deep desire to see poverty in America eliminated. Sider begins chapter four with a question that seems to drive his passion for the subject this book addresses. "If a person works fulltime all year, can that person earn enough so that his or her family can escape poverty? For millions of Americans today, the answer is no." The closing chapter offers the hope for America's poor. Sider says we can end the scandal. He offers what he call a Generous Christian Pledge. He proposes that all believers adhere to the pledge. He says, Generous Christians and other people of good will can transform our country. We can end the scandal of widespread poverty in the richest nation in history.