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We live in a money-crazy age. Activity on Wall Street is more frenzied than ever before, even as some of its kingpins face fraud charges. Books and magazines on money are selling extremely well. Hundreds of experts are ready to tell you—for a fee, of course—how to make money, how to keep it, and how to use it to make even more money.

What should Christians make of all this? We have seen how Christian leaders through the centuries have regarded money. Their lack of unanimity is echoed by voices of today. The various Christian theories about money raise a confusing cacophony, differing on basic biblical interpretation and fundamental views of human society.

Take the Bible passage where Jesus commands the rich young ruler to sell all he has and give to the poor before becoming a disciple. Was this a command for all Christians everywhere or just for him? Or does it apply only to those who let money become their god? But what does it mean for money to become your god? Does that happen to Christians today? If Jesus’ command does apply to today’s believers, is it something for the church to legislate or merely to urge or encourage? And what do we do about the guilt that results from such urging? And, speaking of results, what would happen if all Christians would sell all and give to the poor? What would that do to the structure of society? Would that serve to make society less Christian, because it would remove believers from the ranks of the rich and influential? Or would it be a powerful testimony of the devotion of Christ’s followers?

You get the idea. Add to this confusion the fact that the Bible itself seems to present varying perspectives on wealth. The Old Testament in particular shows it as a sign of God’s blessing. Jesus calls it a danger.

Further, consider that the Bible was originally written to people in situations quite unlike modern America. Old Testament Israel was a theocracy. How directly can we apply its economic principles to our current structures? New Testament believers were generally poor and persecuted. Can we learn how to make economic choices within our democratic society from principles written to people who had virtually no political power?

Modern Christian views of money answer these questions differently. Some focus more on Old Testament teaching, others on the New Testament. Some are more individualistic in their approach, others more societal. Some see the church as a transforming agent within society, bringing in the kingdom of God (and there are different ideas of what that means), others see the church as separate from the world, quietly waiting for the Lord’s return.

The simple-living movement took root in the late 1960s and became fairly popular—at least in the religious press—during the inflation-wracked 1970s. Ron Sider has always been the major spokesman for the movement; his Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger explained its principles well. Magazines such as The Other Side and Sojourners carried the flag.

But there are two flags, really— personal and social. Regarding personal lifestyle, the movement has had a strong Mennonite influence, withdrawal from the world and its idols. Money and the things it buys can get in the way of one’s relationship with God. Therefore, they should be shunned.

Yet this personal discipline has always been married to a social commitment to care for the downtrodden of the world. Sider et al forged a new social consciousness among evangelicals. Evangelism and church growth were not enough, they maintained. For us to be faithful disciples of Christ, we must minister to “the least of these his brethren.” But there have always been significant disagreements over how that is best accomplished. Do you volunteer to work in an inner-city soup kitchen, or do you vote for legislators who promise more compassionate social systems, or do you set up pickets at companies that oppress the poor? The pragmatic considerations of ministry to the poor inevitably led to politics, and liberal politics at that. The simple-living movement has consistently stood for the rights of individuals and against the structures of society which, in their view, oppress the have-nots while pampering the haves.

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