The Christian gospels make it abundantly clear that Jesus calls on us to care for the poor. What is not at all clear, however, is the best means by which Christians living in a modern, industrial society--particularly one in which the state has built a large, technocratic edifice ostensibly devoted to solving the problems of poverty--can and should carry out the Lord's directive. This volume takes on the challenge of beginning to answer that question.It is important to note that this is not a new discussion, but rather a very old one that began to fade from the public consciousness during the twentieth century. Throughout much of American history, poverty and the relief thereof were discussed in an explicitly moral or religious context. the care of the indigent was largely the function of the church and of mutual aid societies, many of which were founded and guided by explicitly religious precepts. Discussing poverty relief without also discussing religious institutions, faith, and Scripture would have been largely unfathomable to America's founders.the Progressive era changed all of this.

Over the course of the twentieth century, the relief of poverty went from being the function of private religious and philanthropic charities to a function of the state--increasingly on the federal level--administered not by people giving their time, treasure, and talent to their fellow men out of compassion, religious duty, and moral obligation, but by the administrative state distributing the funds of others collected through taxation. for better or worse, this represents a massive change from what America's founders--much less the ancient Israelites and early Christians - would have seen as philanthropy.the spiritual implications of this change are profound. As Richard Turnbull discusses in chapter five, it has removed the principle of voluntarism from the equation; and without voluntary action, virtue is hollow.This leaves Christians in a difficult position. While they are called to help the poor, it is unclear how they can best fulfill this injunction, particularly when the state claims to be doing this on their behalf. In an environment in which far too many aspects of life are politicized and in which people of faith are increasingly under attack, how can Christians fulfill their biblical responsibilities? What insights can they gain from economics and from faith that could help them be better stewards of the poor?.