Wealth and the Will of God: Discerning the Use of Riches in the Service of Ultimate Purpose

Though the ideas vary greatly, the chapters are organized to facilitate comparisons among these thinkers on issues of ultimate purposes or aspirations of human life; on the penultimate purposes of love, charity, friendship, and care; on the resources available to human beings in this life; and finally on ways to connect and implement in practice our identified resources with our ultimate ends.

Biographical Note:

Paul G. Schervish is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. He is author of Gospels of Wealth: How the Rich Portray Their Lives.

Keith Whitaker is a research fellow at Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy and Managing Director, Family Dynamics, at Wells Fargo Family Wealth. His work has appeared in Philanthropy Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

Commendation Quotes:
Ideas of major importance to the practice of philanthropy. The volume brings a philosophical and theological perspective to questions about motives for and practices of giving that is little evident in the extant contemporary literature on philanthropy.

Commendation Quotes:

"Ideas of major importance to the practice of philanthropy. The volume brings a philosophical and theological perspective to questions about motives for and practices of giving that is little evident in the extant contemporary literature on philanthropy."

--Thomas H. Jeavons "ARNOVA "

Commendation Quotes:

Ideas of major importance to the practice of philanthropy. The volume brings a philosophical and theological perspective to questions about motives for and practices of giving that is little evident in the extant contemporary literature on philanthropy.

--Thomas H. Jeavons "ARNOVA"

Marc Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Review Quotes:

"A new book by Paul Schervish is always likely to be a development of interest to people who study and care about philanthropy, as he is one of the most eminent experts on this topic. The book, co-written with Keith Whitaker, has an explicitly religious angle, exploring some of the spiritual resources of the Christian tradition that can aid serious reflection on wealth and giving. Six chapters focus, in turn, on six thinkers who have written about the ultimate purposes of human life: Aristotle, Aquinas, Ignatius, Luther, Calvin and (probably less well known to a UK audience), Jonathan Edwards, an 18th century American preacher. The notion of 'moral biographies' is described as a means for integrating an individual's personal capacity and moral outlook in order to 'live well' and achieve their own ultimate ends. As an endorsement on the book jacket notes, this book: 'brings a philosophical and theological perspective to questions about motives for and practices of giving that is little evident in the extant contemporary literature on philanthropy'."--Philanthropy UK Nwsltr, Issue #41, Summer 2010

"Ideas of major importance to the practice of philanthropy. The volume brings a philosophical and theological perspective to questions about motives for and practices of giving that is little evident in the extant contemporary literature on philanthropy."--Thomas H. Jeavons, ARNOVA

Table of Contents:

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Moral Biography
1. Aristotle: "Being-in-Action" and Discernment
2. Aquinas: "Distinguish Ends and Means"
3. Ignatius: All Things Ordered to Service of God
4. Luther: Receiving and Sharing God's Gift
5. Calvin: Giving Gratitude to God
6. Jonathan Edwards: Awakenings to Benevolence
Conclusion: Classical Wisdom and Contemporary Decisions: The Contribution of Western Christianity to Discernment about Wealth

Selected Readings
Index

Publisher Marketing:

Wealth and the Will of God looks at some of the spiritual resources of the Christian tradition that can aid serious reflection on wealth and giving. Beginning with Aristotle-who is crucial for understanding later Christian thought-the book discusses Aquinas, Ignatius, Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. Though the ideas vary greatly, the chapters are organized to facilitate comparisons among these thinkers on issues of ultimate purposes or aspirations of human life; on the penultimate purposes of love, charity, friendship, and care; on the resources available to human beings in this life; and finally on ways to connect and implement in practice our identified resources with our ultimate ends.