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About the Book

June 4, 2022

Many of the blog posts written from about April 2020 through January 2022 were the first drafts of book chapters for what ultimately became The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today. It took a lot of work and excellent contributions and editing from many people, but today I'm very excited to share that this book is now available for presale through Forward Movement. 

Description

"This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has ever wondered what the Bible really says about economic injustice and the wealth gap." -Kelly Brown Douglas, Dean, Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary

In the ancient heart of Christianity is a deep longing for God’s reversal of rich and poor. Its depiction of “the righteous poor and oppressive rich” and God’s preferential option for “the least of these” continues to represent something new, countercultural, and strange, both in ancient Rome and today.

Author Miguel Escobar grounds the discussion of wealth and poverty in the teachings of Jesus, weaving in the words of early church leaders and his own personal experience.

The Unjust Steward presents a compelling case for a profound overhaul in the way the church and its people value the poor and transform into servants of God instead of stewards of wealth.

Will also be available on Kindle and Apple Books (coming soon).

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Reviews

"In The Unjust Steward, Miguel Escobar offers a series of moving and insightful reflections on how wealth and poverty, inequality, and economic justice are treated in the biblical and early church theological tradition. By taking us from Jesus to Augustine, faith leaders will find many theological and biblical resources for deepening their congregations’ discussions on issues of wealth and poverty. Through its thorough scholarship and insightful reflections this book is a call to action from unexpected voices, the early church fathers. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has ever wondered what the Bible really says about economic injustice and the wealth gap."

-Kelly Brown Douglas, Dean, Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary

"Here is a book that inspires, yes, but also challenges and unsettles all who would take seriously Jesus’s Way of Love. Weaving together words of wisdom from spiritual giants of early Christianity with profound reflections from his own life, Miguel Escobar pulls back the curtain of wealth and poverty to reveal our longstanding complicity with systems of injustice and calls us to make better, more humane choices, reflective of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, that can change the world."

-The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, XXVII Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and author of Love is the Way

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About the Author

Miguel Escobar is executive director of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary (EDS at Union). There, he works with the Very Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, dean of EDS at Union, in the formation of social-justice faith leaders for the Episcopal Church. Previously, Escobar served as managing program director for leadership, communications, and external affairs at the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF). He earned a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 2007 and served as the communications assistant to then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori from 2007 to 2010. Escobar is chair of the board of directors of Forward Movement and serves as secretary of the board of directors of Episcopal Relief & Development. He grew up in the Texas Hill Country and attended Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, where he studied the Roman Catholic social justice tradition, Latin American liberation theologies, and minored in Spanish. Escobar divides his time between two partnered parishes in Brooklyn, New York: All Saints, Park Slope, and San Andres in Sunset Park. He lives with his husband, Ben, and dog, Duke, in Brooklyn.

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