"The Holy Use of Money: Personal Finances in Light of Christian Faith", by John C. Haughey, is a book that brings light on how some people in the world are "infected" with "mammon illness". The author presents the vision of Pentecost as a cure to ease the financial woes caused by this "mammon illness".
A Brief Overview
Although the book is excellently written, it is written with some theological terms, that may appear heavy at first for some who have no background on theology. But if really interested to understand the gist of the book, one can read it casually and refer to any AI app for understanding theological terms. You can use Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini. If you have access to a theological or any specialized dictionary, then that will greatly clarify the meaning of some terms.
The basic message and content of the book is that it makes the readers aware of what the author terms as "mammon illness". He says this illness is more of the spirit. It is where most people in our times put their trust. When, the author says, that trust is put on other things rather than on God, then one can indeed be "infected" by the illness. It makes many run after so many things, and be so anxious about concerns that are not really essential when thought out more deeply.
After the author has named the illness many of modern people have, he writes on to show that there is a "cure" to this illness. The author explains that the Pentecost symbol event can be a cure to this "mammon illness".
It has "the effect of giving the economic/financial/possessional components of our lives a meaning that conjoins them to the "spiritual" in the hearts of believers." "...To live in time and the Spirit, to live within the experience of transcendence and immanence simultaneously, to assign a spiritual worth to material possessions, to bring to material expression a spiritual experience, to transform money and property into fellowship and community - any or all of these give evidence that polarities have been bridged and that paradoxes have been integrated..." The Pentecost symbol "generate(s) a unitary vision that combines opposites - the Spirit and the economic order."
-- A very thorough and deep explanation by the author; the truth he elaborates on goes deep into the very heart of what one should truly prioritize in life and work.
The chapters of the book
The book has only nine chapters. Below is a list of the titles to give the reader an idea of the book's content.
- Naming and Healing the Illness
- The Sublation of the Economy
- Inclusion, the Second Function of Faith
- Is Tithing a Holy Use of Money?
- Obedient Hearing - The Third Function of Faith
- Extending the Tent Poles
- Discipleship and Today's Economy
- Hope and Economic Activity
- That Christ May Be My Wealth
Suggestion as to what chapters to focus on
To get the core message of the book, one can study and focus more on the first, the eighth and ninth chapters. Once the gist of the book is generally understood, then the other chapters will simply fill in the missing details. Especially important to understand is the author's spiritual treatise on the Pentecost symbol as a cure to that mammon illness. The author simply digs deeper into the truth that all material things and possessions gain its proper place when put much lower than one's trust in God. For it is the Holy Spirit that inspired the first Christian community to share and help one another not only in prayer but also in material things. In that early Christian community, no one had more, and no one had less. Each one had his or her need according to each one's respective state of life.
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