The Christian Response to Globalization: Work and Dispossession for the Sake of Another

Abstract

The market-driven economy has increased human flourishing in the western world but it is also coincident with outrageous levels of global wealth inequality; scholars have long wondered if this trade-off is inevitable. I suggest that it is not, and that Christians should not be surprised that governmental mechanisms meant to prevent or combat this inequality are unable to create a viable solution. Throughout the Bible, the responsibility to care for the poor and oppressed is consistently assigned to the Church because a sustainable solution will only come through Christians who are willing and able to creatively and radically use their wealth for the benefit of others.