by Donna Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 2018
Although somewhat limited in scope, a lucid and well-researched look into solving problems facing African-American...
In this debut book, a minister supports a Virginia church’s financial literacy initiative.
Within a context of growing fiscal illiteracy in the United States—hitting African-American communities particularly hard after the recession of 2008-09—Taylor wants to build an argument for a “financial empowerment ministry.” The author, an associate minister, writes that “financial education and knowledge can be a motivating factor for African-American consumers to save and invest more of their incomes that can positively impact their churches, families and their communities.” Her research focuses on the First Agape Baptist Community of Faith in Alexandria, where an aging population, in combination with younger worshippers feeling constrained by indebtedness, had greatly affected the church’s monetary situation. By digging into the ministry of stewardship that the Rev. Dr. Daniel Lloyd Brown instituted, Taylor explores how preaching tithing practices had not only a tremendous impact on the church’s finances, but on congregants’ overall ability to manage their personal budgets as well. The author covers the basis in Scripture for preaching stewardship and tithing before explaining her methodology: a pre- and post-survey instrument measuring knowledge of both stewardship and debt management after church members’ participation in a financial literacy skills course. Taught by Taylor, the course was conducted over seven sessions, which alternated between praying, Scripture reading, worshipping, and applying biblical principles of stewardship to real-world debt problems, such as planning for long-range goals with an annual income of $24,000. The author also includes several helpful charts and graphs exploring her data, research, and the questionnaire tool used. In her meticulous book, Taylor asserts that “the church is responsible for empowering congregants” and promoting “spiritual, social, and financial growth opportunities to aid in the maturation of the believer.” The only things missing from her impressive argument are more reasoning and data to support the idea that the church is the best avenue for empowering the African-American community overall. But Taylor writes clearly and efficiently, contextualizing her efforts within the great financial and racial issues of the day and offering a practical solution that will greatly appeal to Christians across the country.
Although somewhat limited in scope, a lucid and well-researched look into solving problems facing African-American communities.Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5043-9388-1
Page Count: 174
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2018
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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by Bari Weiss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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