Читать книгу Grateful and Generous Hearts - John H. Westerhoff III - Страница 8

One of our problems in the church is that we rarely discuss the relationship of theology and economics, the economics of God. Rarely do future clergy study economics in seminary, or future business executives study theology in business school. For too long we have appeared content to maintain a heretical dualism between a material and spiritual world. Regretfully, it is a position still present in the church’s canons, which speak of the vestry being responsible for the temporal affairs of the church and the rector the spiritual.

Nevertheless, for Christians there can be only one reality and it is spiritual, a reality that has two dimensions, one material and the other nonmaterial. For this reason, when we discuss the spiritual life in the church we need to include the material, that is, money. As we correct this misunderstanding and consider the spiritual life and the economics of God we become aware that we have typically misinterpreted the biblical tithe. For example, the tithe of ten percent of all one’s holdings was to be an expected beginning point, not a goal to work toward. In fact, there is some evidence that there might have been two tithes, one paid to the temple and priests and the other to the poor and the needy. And when the people came to worship they were to bring both tithes and offerings. The offerings were a tithe of their time and talents to the service of God and the needy.