Building Good Life for All: Transforming Income Inequality in our Communities
By L. Shannon Jung Westminster John Knox Press, 2017 125pp
Reviewed by Janet Speer
L. Shannon Jung is a Presbyterian pastor, Professor of Town and Country Ministry, and Emeritus for Saint Paul School of Theology. He studies poverty and affluence and in this book he calls to transform our neighborhoods.
He credits his childhood in the Congo where his parents served as missionary dentists for the development of his passion to address the underlying causes of poverty. His message begins with a warning that the “poor” and the middle class are rapidly becoming one population. The “middle” live in an insecure world in which all areas of economic, social and spiritual American life seems to conspire against them. Jung clarifies and documents the problem and then shows us what to do.
Two acronyms define the societies addressed throughout the book: ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) and ALEC (Asset-Limited, Employed, Constrained). ALICE represents the poor while ALEC represents the middle class, but the two groups of people have started to merge. Using data from his home state of Florida, and national statistics from the United Way, Jung reports that America is becoming 50% either ALICEs or ALECs and that they are interdependent. The effects of this alarming statistic are felt among all segments of society and are especially important for Christians to notice and to act.
Jung provides clear tactics for Christian action, dividing his book into four strategies: Relief (charity), Self-help, Cultural formation (influencing public opinion) and Governmental action. His description of each tactic is bolstered with many stories and examples. The specificity of these chapters is a welcome break from books that provide theoretical explanations of the impoverished and the shrinking middle class without the means to address them. Jung is very clear on what he thinks we should do.
Most of his examples come from his home state of Florida where he has worked for many years. The stories make for engaging reading; especially the many examples of groups who have made an impact on the problem. They are “feel good” stories that encourage the reader to believe it is possible to attack a seemingly hopeless situation. If we value “fairness,” he says, “care for children, equal opportunity, mobility, nondiscrimination, work, making a contribution, national destiny and dignity of life,” we need to look at the populations caught up in a quagmire where day-to-day living challenges quality living.
He describes how he had experienced life as an ALEC himself. L. He tells of his experience with the fear that accompanies poverty, constantly worrying about money, attending a free dental clinic (with disastrous results), and found that “flourishing” was not in the cards. He discovered when one is living in fear, it is all but impossible to move forward, not only because there is an empty pocketbook, but because there is a paralyzing fear of living an undignified life.
But fear lingers in all populations and that is part of the problem. The wealthy and upper-middle classes are not exempt. Using Henri Nouwen’s parable in the book, Lifesigns, we see a world where people with means are so fearful that they cling to resources, consume, build walls and become spiritually numb. “Flourishing” doesn’t happen there either. Their pocketbooks are full but the paralyzing fear is still at hand. To reach the Shalom that Jesus wanted for us, the harmony of creation and the parts of the body Paul tell us that make us whole, we need to find other ways for everyone to flourish. Jung gives us accessible ways to reach out and become a supportive community; one where generosity and gratitude undergird values; actions that calm fears.
The final chapter provides a worksheet for church groups to discover where they “stand” in the struggle for a dignified life for all, taking us from the abstract to the precise. Study groups can use the worksheet and discussion questions following each chapter to help congregants think more deeply on several different levels. Participants will be asked to explore their former understanding of the problem, look at what is not working with current programs, what is right about others, and what they can do to become part of the solution. This hands-on approach may very well take a regular church group from exploration to action.
I liked this book. As an adult Sunday School teacher, I am always searching for works that challenge us to think, and then “set feet” to the discoveries. Jung is unapologetic about his liberal bent, but the material is specific and compelling enough to resonate to most all political persuasions. It is information we cannot avoid.
As Jung says early in the book, all populations will suffer from the movement of the ALECs to the ALICEs. We are foolish if we ignore the symptoms, and we are missing the call of Christ if we look the other way and rest comfortably on our platitudes. Building the Good Life for All offers us a fresh look at the issues, then provides step-by-step actions. A church might very well change a struggling neighborhood to a flourishing one if they explore these new possibilities.
— Janet Speer is a lay leader, playwright, Professor of Performing Arts, and Director of the Summer Theatre at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC.
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