One of the constant themes in my life — and the one I’d focus on if I ever wrote a book — is how we balance wealth, giving, and our faith. We live in the wealthiest age in the history of the human race, yet we have billions living in poverty. It’s a tension that I’ve pondered most of my life.
That’s why I jumped at the chance to read Peter Brown’s new book Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD
Brown, a Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton, is a brilliant scholar. His books are highly detailed and thorough (this book is over 700 pages long). His writing is wonderful and his insights seem to jump off each page.
That’s not to say the book is for everybody. The level of detail can be overwhelming, and obviously going “deep” on such a specific topic in an age so long ago … well, I can see why some folks would fall asleep.
But not me. This book tackles topics I love. Ancient history. Church history. Culture. Giving. Faith. Right up my alley.
The conclusion of the book? I don’t want to give away the whole thesis with this short review (nor could I). But what’s fascinating to me is how the very idea of giving changed as the Church rose in influence. In the pre-Constantine era it was the norm to give to the well being of your home city. Rome is a great example, with public baths, the Colosseum, the aqueducts, beautiful arches, etc., much of which was sponsored by wealthy citizens. But that began to shift around 350 AD. It became the norm to give toward the poor and the Church. Later even that shifted a bit as “the poor” became anybody in need, not just the destitute.
That’s a profound shift, one that Christians still operate within today. It’s interesting to see how it all unfolded.
So maybe this book isn’t for everybody. But the topic should be. How do we define our giving habits and purposes? In what way do we support “the poor” and why? How do we support our church? Good questions. This book may not answer them, but it gives a context for the conversation.
