Did Jesus really mean the poor will always be with us? Or is it possible to end extreme poverty? And if so, can the Church take the lead on the effort?

Scott Todd has written Fast Living: How The Church Will End Extreme Poverty to discuss these questions and more. It’s a compelling book filled with personal, Biblical, and social insights about extreme poverty.

Note that we’re talking “extreme poverty” here, which would be defined as those who live on less than $1.25 a day. Todd argues that eliminating it can be done and he provides stats and theories on how.

Do I buy it? I’m not sure. I want to believe it, and I realize it’s entirely possible if the trends continue. But humanity has traditionally found ways to screw it all up, so our historical record with achieving such grand goals is poor. For this reason I remain a skeptic that the goal is achievable.

But that does not mean it’s not worth pursuing. Or that it is impossible. Likely? Probably not, in my opinion. But doable? Yes.

Todd makes waves when he talks about the passage when Jesus says the poor will always be with us. He completely changes the interpretation of that passage so that it means Jesus was NOT saying this to all of us forever. Even if his interpretation is wrong, and I’m not smart enough to know, it’s a conversation we need to have. Todd is right when he says too many people have sat on the sidelines because they saw the inevitability of economic failure for the poor as an impossible reality to avoid.

An interesting book, one well worth reading. Not sure I agree with it all, but I don’t think the author meant for us to agree with it all. He’s pushing the envelope in a new direction, and that’s a good thing.