The Most Influential Christian Ethics Book I Have Read
"I`d have to give first place to The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder. This was the book that first told me just what it meant to follow Jesus as Lord. I read it at 19 and became a pacifist and was convinced that following Jesus meant (among other things) adopting a simple lifestyle, living a life of free servanthood, and working with active nonviolence for justice in the world. The book also introduced me to the meaning of the "Powers and Authorities" in Paul and the "jubilee" theme that Jesus takes from Leviticus and Isaiah-which have become central for my ethics. Other influential books include: James McClendon`s Ethics, Bonhoeffer`s The Cost of Discipleship, Martin Luther King, Jr.`s Strength to Love, Ron Sider`s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, T. B. Maston`s Biblical Ethics [and several more]."
Michael L. Westmoreland-White,
Research Associate, Fuller Seminary.
"Progress and Poverty (1879) by Henry George inspired the American Populist Movement, the Progressive Movement, the Social Gospel Movement by George`s personal friend Walter Rauschenbusch, and most of the progressive leaders of the 20th century. By the end of WW I, it became the second best-selling non-fiction book (second only to the Bible) in the history of the world, and it has been translated into more than 30 languages. Time Magazine`s two top men of the century, Einstein and Roosevelt, both endorsed it. It`s greatness lies in its clear simple explanation of how poverty, social problems, and maldistribution of wealth are caused by political and economic institutions (rulers, powers and principalities)-not by the Creator. George charged it is blasphemy to blame these on the Creator when the earth`s bountiful resources are sufficient to support all of God`s children. The book endorses both free enterprise and socialism-each in its proper time and place. The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation was formed (Schalkenbach.org) to perpetuate the book`s ideas."
Charles Reed, Waco, Texas
