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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Generosity
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
    • Sports
    • Suffering
    • Traveling Well
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Generosity

Since generosity echoes God's love, practicing it in our lives and congregations is essential. Our contributors explore the distinctive features of Christian generosity, its central role in discipleship, and why its practice is so difficult in a consumerist culture.

A generous spirit is often impeded by presumption or despair - which are believing we can control our happiness, or giving up on it. Either view, Doug Henry observes, can make us grasping of objects and resentful of others. Kelly Liebengood outlines the Pauline expectation of generosity that not only gives to those in need, but also makes room for them in our gatherings. Such subversive generosity is as countercultural today as it was then, Jason Coker notes: it "can critique global capitalism by envisioning a future where human dignity is more important than profit."

Allen Walworth and Richard Stearns offer prophetic calls for us to be generous with our resources. Patricia Snell Herzog examines our "comfortable guilt" with giving so much less than we want to give or our religious commitments require. She recommends that we foster a new culture of giving in our congregations, and for this Ruben Swint has a suggestion: that we learn to speak the language of generosity as well as the language of stewardship. Jonathan and Elizabeth Sands Wise provide a winsome portrait of a generous and hospitable lifestyle.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore the role of generosity in our discipleship. The guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Generosity issue and the set of five Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "Generosity of Spirit," by Douglas V. Henry
  • "Paul's Expectations of Generosity," by Kelly D. Liebengood
  • "Subversive Generosity," by K. Jason Coker
  • "Solving the Riddle of Comfortable Guilt," by Patricia Snell Herzog
  • "How Congregations (and Their Members) Differ on Generosity," by Ruben Swint

Art

  • "Imperial Gifts," by Heidi J. Hornik, on the San Vitale mosaics Emperor Justinian and His Attendants and Empress Theodora and Her Attendants
  • "Stopping to Help," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Jacopo Bassano's The Good Samaritan

Hymns and Worship Service

  • "All Who Thirst," by Anthony Carl and Kurt Kaiser
  • Worship Service by Sharon Kirkpatrick Felton

Inspirational Pieces

  • "In This Old House," by Jonathan and Elizabeth Sands Wise
  • "Time to Tithe," by Richard Stearns
  • "Unlikely Champions: A Widow's Might," by Allen Walworth

Book Reviews

  • "Generosity in the Bible," by Jo-Ann A. Brant
    • Craig L. Blomberg, Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship
    • Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just
    • Bruce W. Longenecker, Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World
    • Mark Allan Powell, Giving to God: The Bible's Good News about Living a Generous Life
  • "Toward a Theology of Generosity," by Arthur M. Sutherland
    • Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose
    • Mark Scandrette, Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most
    • Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace

Study Guides and Lesson Plans (Download the set of five Study Guides)

  • "Generosity of Spirit"
  • "Paul's Expectations for Generosity"
  • "Subversive Generosity"
  • "Solving the Riddle of Comfortable Guilt"
  • "How Congregations Differ on Generosity"
Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Generosity
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      • 2014 Faith and Film
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      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
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      • IFL@25
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        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
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      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
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        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
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      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
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        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
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      • Additional Information
    • Missio
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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