Giving—The Sacred Art

Lauren Tyler Wright, MDiv, former program manager at the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University, is a researcher and seminar leader on the topic of generosity in faith communities.

It is hard to make individual philanthropy, a sacrificial virtue mandated by the major world religions, sound enticing, inspirational and even occasionally pleasurable—but this book often succeeds in doing just that. "Generosity can give you joy," asserts Wright, a researcher on faith and family at Indiana University. In this refreshingly candid volume on the transformative power of sharing one's material, emotional and spiritual wealth, the author ponders the theological, psychological and social significance of giving. It is many things, she says: worship, stewardship, discipline and an act of redemption, charity and justice. Less a scholarly tome than a practical treatise, Wright’s book offers multiple resources, including worksheets, exercises, quotations from some of the world’s faith traditions and a bibliography. Readers of all faiths, or none, will find many useful suggestions for incorporating giving into their lives. The writer’s willingness to share specific examples of change from her own life is both helpful and provocative, underlining her assertion that giving offers the potential to change not only the individual but ultimately the world. (Sept).

• Introduction: Giving as a Sacred Art? ix1 Giving as Worship: Responding to God's Generosity with Joyful Gratitude 12 Giving as Stewardship: Managing Our Abundance 213 Giving as Holy Obligation: Transforming Identity through Discipline 574 Giving as Redemption: Restoring Money as Life-Giving Legal Tender 775 Giving as Charity: Providing for the Needy with Compassion 956 Giving as Justice: Believing in and Working toward Righteous Equality 113Appendices 131Appendix A—How Much Money Do I Receive Each Year? 132Appendix B—How Much Money Do I Spend Each Year? 133Appendix C—What's Left? Debt or Extra-abundance? 138Appendix D—Creating a Budget 139Notes 141Glossary 149Suggestions for Further Reading 153Resources 159Acknowledgments 168