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Research Library List

This a powerful work of narrative nonfiction that examines how housing insecurity shapes the lives of low-income families in Milwaukee. Rather than treating eviction as simply a consequence of poverty, Matthew Desmond argues that eviction is also a major cause of poverty. By following the lives of several tenants and landlords over many months, he reveals the constant struggle families face to pay rent, keep their children in school, maintain employment, and preserve their dignity. The book shows that the threat of losing one's home affects nearly every aspect of a person's life. Desmond presents eviction as a systemic problem rather than an individual failure. He demonstrates how rising housing costs, limited affordable housing, low wages, and economic inequality combine to create a cycle that is difficult to escape. The book also explores the perspectives of landlords, showing the financial pressures and incentives that exist within the housing market. Through detailed reporting and personal stories, Desmond illustrates how both tenants and property owners are caught within broader economic structures, although the burdens fall most heavily on those living in poverty. The central message of Evicted is that safe, stable housing is essential to human flourishing and should be considered a basic foundation for opportunity. Desmond concludes that addressing poverty requires more than increasing incomes; it also demands policies that make affordable housing accessible and prevent unnecessary displacement. The book challenges readers to see housing as a moral and social issue, arguing that reducing eviction would strengthen families, improve communities, and create a more just society.

Poverty

Evicted

Matthew Desmond

This book highlights the housing crisis among the poor in the US. From a Biblical perspective it illustrates systemic sin and the loss of dominion that Jesus came to restore.

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Walking with the Poor is one of the most influential works on Christian transformational development. Drawing on years of field experience in international relief and development, Bryant Myers argues that poverty cannot be understood simply as a lack of money or material resources. Rather, poverty reflects broken relationships?with God, oneself, other people, and creation. Because poverty is relational, lasting solutions must be relational as well Myers challenges both traditional evangelism that overlooks physical and social realities and development programs that ignore the spiritual dimension of human life. He contends that people are created in the image of God with dignity, purpose, and the capacity to participate in God's work in the world. Effective ministry therefore seeks not merely to provide aid but to restore people as responsible participants in their families, communities, and societies. The book presents a holistic understanding of mission in which proclamation of the gospel and compassionate action belong together. Myers emphasizes listening to communities, empowering local leadership, and addressing the cultural, social, economic, and spiritual forces that perpetuate poverty. He also explores the role of the church as an agent of transformation, capable of demonstrating God's Kingdom through justice, reconciliation, and faithful service. Rather than offering a simple methodology, *Walking with the Poor* provides a theological framework for understanding development as participation in God's redemptive work. It has become a foundational resource for missionaries, relief organizations, development practitioners, and Christian leaders seeking to integrate biblical faith with practical service.

Poverty

Walking with the Poor

Bryant Myers

Few books have influenced my understanding of mission more deeply than Walking with the Poor. Bryant Myers helped articulate a vision of ministry that refuses to separate evangelism from compassionate action. His emphasis on restoring relationships profoundly shaped my own thinking about the Kingdom of God.

While Myers provides an outstanding framework for transformational development, I believe his work also points toward a broader biblical theme that I describe as Restored Dominion. God's saving work restores people not only spiritually but also to their God-given vocation as image bearers who live under God's gracious rule and participate in the flourishing of their communities. For that reason, this book serves as one of the foundational bridges between biblical theology and practical mission.

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*King Leopold's Ghost* by King Leopold's Ghost, written by Adam Hochschild, recounts the brutal colonization of the Congo under Leopold II of Belgium during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hochschild explains how Leopold acquired the Congo by presenting himself as a humanitarian and philanthropist while secretly establishing it as his personal colony, the Congo Free State. Behind the rhetoric of civilization and anti-slavery, the regime exploited the region's people and natural resources—especially rubber and ivory—through forced labor, violence, and terror. The book documents the immense human suffering caused by Leopold's rule. Villages were destroyed, families were held hostage, and workers who failed to meet rubber quotas were routinely beaten, mutilated, or killed. Millions of Congolese died from execution, starvation, disease, overwork, and the collapse of traditional society. Hochschild also highlights the courageous efforts of missionaries, journalists, diplomats, and activists such as Edmund Dene Morel and Roger Casement, whose investigations exposed the atrocities and helped launch one of the world's first international human rights campaigns. Ultimately, *King Leopold's Ghost* is both a history of colonial exploitation and a warning about the corrupting influence of unchecked power and greed. Hochschild argues that the suffering in the Congo was not an isolated tragedy but a consequence of imperial systems that placed profit above human life. The book challenges readers to remember this largely forgotten chapter of history and to recognize the importance of truth, accountability, and international advocacy in confronting injustice and defending human dignity.

Poverty

King's Leopold's Ghost

Adam Hochschild

Tragic in Congo

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For generations, the Wall Street Crash has often been reduced to a few iconic images: frantic traders, collapsing stock prices, ruined fortunes, and breadlines that eventually became symbols of the Great Depression. Sorkin argues that this simplified narrative obscures the complex web of personalities, institutions, and decisions that produced the catastrophe. Rather than writing an economic textbook, Sorkin tells the story through the people who lived it. Presidents, central bankers, financiers, newspaper publishers, industrialists, economists, speculators, and regulators all become central characters. Their private correspondence, diaries, telephone conversations, boardroom discussions, and personal relationships reveal how optimism slowly hardened into denial even as warning signs multiplied. A major contribution of the book is its emphasis on contingency. The crash was not inevitable in the way later histories sometimes portray it. Numerous moments existed when different choices by financial institutions, government officials, or the Federal Reserve System might have moderated?or at least altered?the course of events. Yet personalities, institutional rivalries, political calculations, and excessive confidence repeatedly prevented decisive action. Sorkin also challenges the tendency to identify a single villain. Although figures such as Charles E. Mitchell, Richard Whitney, and other prominent financiers receive careful scrutiny, the book portrays the crash as the product of an entire financial culture. Bankers encouraged speculation, newspapers amplified optimism, politicians often preferred reassuring rhetoric to caution, and millions of ordinary Americans eagerly embraced the promise of effortless wealth. One of the book's recurring themes is the power of psychology. Booms are sustained not only by money but by confidence, reputation, social pressure, and stories people tell themselves about endless prosperity. Once confidence evaporates, panic spreads faster than facts, creating a cascade of selling, bank failures, unemployment, and social upheaval. The narrative extends beyond October 1929 into the political and institutional transformations that followed. The crisis eventually produced sweeping reforms, including stronger banking regulation, the separation of commercial and investment banking, federal deposit insurance, and the creation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sorkin argues that many of these reforms arose directly from the painful lessons of the crash and continue to shape modern financial markets. Throughout the book, Sorkin draws implicit parallels between 1929 and more recent financial crises?notably the financial crisis of 2007-2008. He avoids simplistic comparisons but suggests that excessive leverage, speculative enthusiasm, political pressure, regulatory blind spots, and overconfidence remain recurring features of financial history. His central message is that while technologies, markets, and institutions evolve, human nature changes very little.

Greed

1929

Andrew Ross Sorkin

1929 demonstrates that financial crises are never merely economic events; they reveal the strengths and weaknesses of a society's institutions, leaders, and values. By tracing the human decisions behind the Wall Street Crash, Andrew Ross Sorkin shows how optimism, overconfidence, and the pursuit of wealth can undermine public trust and reshape a nation. Its lessons remain relevant as modern markets continue to grapple with speculation, technological change, and recurring cycles of boom and bust.

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Originally broadcast as BBC radio talks between 1941 and 1944, Mere Christianity seeks to explain the essential beliefs shared by Christians across denominational lines. Lewis deliberately avoids debates over church government, baptism, communion, or end-times prophecy, instead focusing on what he calls "mere Christianity"?the central doctrines that unite orthodox Christians. Lewis begins with a simple observation: human beings everywhere appeal to standards of right and wrong. Even those who deny objective morality instinctively protest when they believe they have been treated unfairly. From this common experience Lewis argues for the existence of a universal Moral Law that points beyond human convention to a moral Lawgiver. From there he explores humanity's inability to live up to this moral standard. Christianity, he argues, offers the only adequate explanation for both humanity's moral failure and God's provision for redemption through Jesus Christ. Lewis then develops classic Christian doctrines including the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, salvation, faith, hope, charity, forgiveness, sexual ethics, humility, and the transformation of human character. Throughout the book he emphasizes that Christianity is not merely about becoming a better person but about becoming a "new creation" as God remakes human beings into the likeness of Christ. One of Lewis's most memorable analogies compares God to a sculptor transforming a simple cottage into a palace. Human beings often ask God to repair small problems in their lives, while God intends a complete reconstruction because He plans to dwell within them. The final chapters explore sanctification and the Christian life. Lewis argues that every choice gradually shapes one's character toward either greater likeness to Christ or increasing self-centeredness. Christianity is therefore not simply about isolated moral decisions but about becoming the kind of person God intends. Lewis's style combines philosophical reasoning, imagination, wit, and everyday illustrations. He avoids technical theological language whenever possible, making complex doctrines understandable without sacrificing intellectual depth.

Faith

Mere Christrianity

C.S. Lewis

Originally broadcast as BBC radio talks between 1941 and 1944, Mere Christianity seeks to explain the essential beliefs shared by Christians across denominational lines. Lewis deliberately avoids debates over church government, baptism, communion, or end-times prophecy, instead focusing on what he calls "mere Christianity"?the central doctrines that unite orthodox Christians.

Lewis begins with a simple observation: human beings everywhere appeal to standards of right and wrong. Even those who deny objective morality instinctively protest when they believe they have been treated unfairly. From this common experience Lewis argues for the existence of a universal Moral Law that points beyond human convention to a moral Lawgiver.

From there he explores humanity's inability to live up to this moral standard. Christianity, he argues, offers the only adequate explanation for both humanity's moral failure and God's provision for redemption through Jesus Christ.

Lewis then develops classic Christian doctrines including the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, salvation, faith, hope, charity, forgiveness, sexual ethics, humility, and the transformation of human character. Throughout the book he emphasizes that Christianity is not merely about becoming a better person but about becoming a "new creation" as God remakes human beings into the likeness of Christ.

One of Lewis's most memorable analogies compares God to a sculptor transforming a simple cottage into a palace. Human beings often ask God to repair small problems in their lives, while God intends a complete reconstruction because He plans to dwell within them.

The final chapters explore sanctification and the Christian life. Lewis argues that every choice gradually shapes one's character toward either greater likeness to Christ or increasing self-centeredness. Christianity is therefore not simply about isolated moral decisions but about becoming the kind of person God intends.

Lewis's style combines philosophical reasoning, imagination, wit, and everyday illustrations. He avoids technical theological language whenever possible, making complex doctrines understandable without sacrificing intellectual depth.

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*How Should We Then Live?* by Francis A. Schaeffer traces the history of Western civilization from the Roman Empire to the modern era, arguing that ideas have profound consequences for culture. Schaeffer contends that Western society was built on a biblical understanding of God, humanity, and moral truth, which provided the foundation for human dignity, freedom, justice, and creativity. As Western culture gradually abandoned its Christian worldview in favor of humanism and relativism, he argues, it also lost the objective basis for morality and meaning, leading to growing social and cultural fragmentation. Throughout the book, Schaeffer examines the influence of philosophy, art, science, politics, and religion on the development of Western thought. He discusses key historical movements such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the rise of modern secularism, showing how each shaped society's understanding of truth and human purpose. Schaeffer believes that the rejection of biblical absolutes has resulted in moral confusion, authoritarian tendencies, and a diminished appreciation for the value of human life. The book concludes by calling Christians to engage culture thoughtfully and courageously rather than retreating from it. Schaeffer urges believers to demonstrate the truth of Christianity through both intellectual integrity and compassionate living, showing that biblical faith provides a coherent foundation for personal life and public society. Rather than merely criticizing modern culture, he challenges Christians to answer the question posed by the title by living faithfully under the lordship of Christ and bearing witness to God's truth in every sphere of life.

Theology/Church

How Shoud We Then Live

Francis Schaeffer

How Should We Then Live? helped popularize the idea of a Christian worldview and inspired generations of believers to think seriously about the relationship between faith and culture. Schaeffer demonstrated that theology influences art, politics, economics, education, and public life, encouraging Christians to engage society rather than retreat from it. Although some historical interpretations have been debated, the book remains a landmark in evangelical cultural thought and continues to shape discussions about Christianity's role in the modern world.

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White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity examines the deep historical relationship between white Christianity and white supremacy in the United States. Drawing on history, sociology, and public opinion research, Robert P. Jones argues that racism within many white Christian churches has not been an unfortunate exception but a persistent feature woven into American religious life. He traces this legacy from slavery and the Civil War through segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and into the present, showing how many churches either supported or failed to challenge systems of racial injustice. Jones contends that this history continues to shape American politics, culture, and religious identity. Using survey data and personal reflection, he demonstrates that white Christians, particularly within white evangelical traditions, have often been more resistant than other groups to acknowledging systemic racism and supporting racial justice initiatives. While recognizing individuals and congregations that have worked for reconciliation, he argues that meaningful change requires an honest reckoning with the church's historical complicity in racial oppression rather than minimizing or denying it. The central message of *White Too Long* is that authentic Christian faith requires confronting the legacy of white supremacy through truth-telling, repentance, and structural change. Jones calls on churches to move beyond symbolic gestures toward practices that promote racial equity, justice, and reconciliation. He concludes that facing this difficult history is essential not only for healing America's racial divisions but also for restoring the moral credibility and witness of the Christian church.

Church/Culture

White too Long

Robert P. Jones

Crisis in the White Church in America

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Peter Zeihan argues that the modern world of abundant goods, inexpensive shipping, and tightly integrated global supply chains was not a natural development but the result of an unusual geopolitical arrangement created by the United States after World War II. By guaranteeing safe international trade routes, protecting allies, and promoting free trade during the Cold War, the U.S. enabled decades of unprecedented globalization. Zeihan contends that as America's strategic priorities change and its willingness to police the world's oceans declines, this system is beginning to unravel. ([Wikipedia][1]) The heart of Zeihan's argument is that geography and demographics—not ideology or economics alone—will determine which nations prosper in the coming decades. Many countries, especially China, Russia, Japan, and much of Europe, face shrinking and aging populations that will reduce their labor forces, weaken their economies, and strain their governments. As globalization recedes, nations that depend heavily on imported food, energy, or manufactured goods will become increasingly vulnerable. Countries with favorable geography, abundant natural resources, energy independence, and younger populations—especially the United States—are, in his view, better positioned to weather the transition. ([Wikipedia][1]) Despite its alarming title, the book is not about the literal end of civilization but about the end of the global economic order that has defined life since 1945. Zeihan predicts a future of shorter supply chains, regional economies, greater geopolitical competition, higher costs, and more frequent disruptions in manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and finance. While he acknowledges that innovation and adaptation will continue, he believes the coming decades will be marked by significant upheaval as nations adjust to a world that is less interconnected, less predictable, and more dependent on local strengths than on global cooperation. ([supersummary.com][2]) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_the_World_Is_Just_the_Beginning?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The End of the World Is Just the Beginning" [2]: https://www.supersummary.com/the-end-of-the-world-is-just-the-beginning/summary/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The End of the World Is Just the Beginning Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary"

History/Current Trends

The End of the World is Just Beginning

Peter Zeihan

Geography and demographics are the key

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In Transforming Worldviews, Paul Hiebert argues that genuine Christian conversion involves more than changing beliefs or outward behavior—it requires a transformation of a person's worldview, the deep, often unconscious assumptions through which people interpret reality. Drawing on anthropology, philosophy, and theology, Hiebert explains that every culture has a worldview that shapes its understanding of truth, morality, relationships, power, and the supernatural. Because worldviews operate beneath the surface, people may profess Christian beliefs while still interpreting life through non-biblical assumptions, resulting in syncretism rather than true biblical faith. ([Trinity International University][1]) Hiebert examines the major worldviews that have shaped human societies, including traditional oral cultures, peasant societies, modernity, postmodernity, and the emerging global ("glocal") culture. He demonstrates that each worldview offers valuable insights while also distorting reality in significant ways. Missionaries, pastors, and Christian leaders must therefore understand both the culture they are serving and the worldview beneath it. Rather than merely changing customs or teaching doctrines, effective ministry addresses the foundational assumptions that give rise to beliefs, values, and behaviors. ([Trinity International University][1]) The book concludes by presenting a biblical worldview centered on God's creation, redemption, and the coming Kingdom of God. Hiebert emphasizes that worldview transformation is both an event and a lifelong process of discipleship in which the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and the Christian community gradually reshape how believers understand God, themselves, others, and the world. He challenges the church to move beyond superficial measures of spiritual growth and to cultivate disciples whose entire way of seeing and living reflects the reign of Christ. ([Trinity International University][1]) [1]: https://www.tiu.edu/divinity/books/transforming-worldviews-an-anthropological-understanding-of-how-people-change/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS)"

Worldview

Transforming Worldviews

Paul Heibert

Why people don't change theri minds

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*How Jesus Changes the World* argues that the message of Jesus is not primarily about escaping the world but about transforming it through the coming of the Kingdom of God. Gary Fairchild presents Jesus as announcing God's reign over every dimension of life—personal, social, economic, and political—and calls believers to participate in God's work of restoring creation. The book emphasizes that the gospel is both deeply personal and profoundly public, inviting people not only into a relationship with Christ but also into lives of justice, mercy, compassion, and faithful service. A central theme is that Jesus consistently identified with those on the margins of society. Drawing heavily from the teachings of Jesus, especially passages such as Matthew 25, the book highlights Christ's concern for the thirsty, the hungry, the sick, prisoners, refugees and strangers, and those living in poverty or under injustice. Fairchild challenges readers to move beyond a faith focused solely on individual salvation toward discipleship that reflects God's heart for neighbors in need. The Kingdom of God is presented as the framework that unites evangelism, discipleship, humanitarian action, peacemaking, and social responsibility. Ultimately, *How Jesus Changes the World* is both a theological vision and a practical call to action. It encourages Christians to recover the biblical understanding of the Kingdom of God as the organizing theme of Scripture and to allow that vision to shape their churches, communities, and daily lives. Rather than offering a political program or a social gospel detached from faith, the book argues that lives transformed by Jesus become instruments through which God changes families, communities, nations, and, ultimately, the world.

Theology/Mission

How Jesus Changes the World

Gary C. Fairchild

Jesus IS changing the world

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*The Universe Next Door* by James W. Sire is a classic introduction to the major worldviews that have shaped Western thought and global culture. Sire explains that a worldview is the set of fundamental assumptions people hold about reality, truth, humanity, morality, and the meaning of life. Using a series of probing questions—such as "What is prime reality?" and "What happens to a person at death?"—he compares Christianity with alternative worldviews, helping readers understand how these perspectives influence the way people think and live. The book surveys a wide range of worldviews, including theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, Eastern pantheism, the New Age movement, postmodernism, and later editions also discuss Islam and other contemporary perspectives. Sire describes each worldview on its own terms before evaluating its internal consistency, ability to explain human experience, and practical implications. He argues that every worldview has strengths and weaknesses, and that understanding these competing perspectives is essential for meaningful dialogue, evangelism, and critical thinking. Sire concludes that the Christian worldview provides the most coherent and comprehensive explanation of reality because it accounts for the existence of the universe, the dignity and fallenness of humanity, the basis of morality, and the hope of redemption through Jesus Christ. Rather than simply defending Christianity against competing ideas, the book equips readers to recognize the assumptions underlying every belief system and to engage others thoughtfully, respectfully, and with intellectual confidence.

Worldview

The Iniverse Next Door

James W. Sire and James Hoove

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*Believers in the Age of Empire* explores what it means to follow Jesus faithfully in a world shaped by competing loyalties, political power, consumerism, and cultural pressures. Gary Fairchild argues that "empire" is more than a particular nation or government; it is any system that seeks ultimate allegiance by promising security, prosperity, or identity apart from God. Drawing on the biblical story—especially the experience of Israel, the life of Jesus, and the Book of Revelation—the book calls Christians to recognize the subtle ways empires shape their values and to recover their primary citizenship in the Kingdom of God. A central theme of the book is that worship forms disciples. Fairchild contends that Christian worship is not merely a weekly gathering but a way of life that shapes believers' hearts, imaginations, and loyalties. In contrast to the liturgies of empire, which cultivate fear, pride, and self-interest, the church's worship—through Scripture, prayer, sacraments, music, confession, and community—forms people into the likeness of Christ. Faithful worship becomes an act of resistance against the false promises of empire and a witness to God's reign in the world. Ultimately, *Believers in the Age of Empire* is a call to hopeful perseverance rather than fear or political outrage. Fairchild encourages believers to read Scripture in its historical context, particularly the New Testament's encounter with the Roman Empire, while applying its lessons to contemporary society. The book concludes that the church changes the world not by seeking power but by embodying the life of Jesus through humble service, faithful worship, courageous witness, and unwavering allegiance to the Kingdom of God.

Church/Culture

Believers in the Age of Empire

Gary C. Fairchild

Situatio in Rome compared to us

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C*When Helping Hurts* by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert challenges traditional approaches to poverty alleviation, arguing that many well-intentioned efforts unintentionally create dependency and undermine the dignity of those they seek to help. The authors define poverty as more than a lack of material resources; it is the result of broken relationships—with God, with oneself, with others, and with creation. Because poverty is multidimensional, effective ministry must address spiritual, emotional, social, and economic needs rather than simply providing money or goods. The book encourages churches and Christian organizations to move beyond relief toward rehabilitation and long-term development. Relief is appropriate during genuine crises such as natural disasters, wars, or emergencies, but most situations require empowering people to use their own gifts, abilities, and resources to improve their lives. Corbett and Fikkert emphasize listening to local communities, partnering with them as equals, and building on their strengths rather than imposing outside solutions. They argue that sustainable transformation occurs when people actively participate in solving their own challenges. Ultimately, *When Helping Hurts* presents a biblical vision of poverty alleviation rooted in restoration rather than charity alone. The authors call Christians to approach those in need with humility, recognizing that both the materially poor and the materially wealthy are affected by the brokenness of the Fall and both need the redeeming work of Christ. The book has become an influential resource for churches, missionaries, and nonprofit organizations by encouraging ministries that restore dignity, foster self-reliance, and reflect God's desire for holistic reconciliation and human flourishing.

Mission/Church

When HELPING Hurts

Steve Corbett , Brian Fikkert

How to give the best way

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*In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership* by Henri J. M. Nouwen is a meditation on the nature of Christian leadership drawn from Nouwen's transition from a distinguished academic career to serving adults with developmental disabilities in the L'Arche community. Reflecting on Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, Nouwen argues that Christian leaders must resist the temptations to be relevant, spectacular, and powerful. Instead, they are called to follow Christ in humility, dependence on God, and loving service to others. Nouwen identifies three movements that characterize authentic leadership. Rather than seeking relevance by proving their usefulness, leaders are called to cultivate deep intimacy with God through prayer. Instead of pursuing popularity or dramatic success, they are invited to confess their weaknesses and live transparently in community. And rather than exercising control over others, Christian leaders should lead through vulnerability, compassion, and mutual relationships, recognizing that true authority comes from serving rather than dominating. Ultimately, *In the Name of Jesus* presents leadership as a spiritual vocation rather than a position of influence or achievement. Nouwen encourages pastors, missionaries, and all Christian leaders to root their identity in being loved by God rather than in accomplishments or recognition. The book concludes that the most effective leaders are those who faithfully reflect the character of Jesus, demonstrating humility, prayerful dependence, and sacrificial love in every aspect of their ministry.

Spirituality

In the Name of Jesus

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Good book for grounding

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