Kingdom Economics

by Bryan Johnson, Ph. M, B.Th, A.C.A.

The key-note speech delivered recently to the Forum on Public Theology, Otago Univerity, Dunedin, New Zealand ……..

Introduction

Jesus said in John 18 vs 36 – 38, that His kingdom was a different kingdom to that operating in Israel in his day. Jesus also said he was different type of King to the King of Israel. Jayakumar Christian, a development practitioner and colleague in India, has explored the reversal of power in Revelation. It was the lamb of God that was slain who is worthy to open the scroll, not the British lion, the Indian tiger or the American eagle.1. Jesus told many parables and stories about money, wealth, justice and poverty. 2.

We can conclude from a study of these scriptures that Jesus’ worldview was holistic, so that money, finance, barter and trade were an integral part of that worldview. 18 years working for his father as a carpenter would have exposed him to the world of business and commerce.

When Jesus made disciples, he would have included in that process the use of money, employment, work, and the reward of labour. Jesus disciples were economically interdependent as a mobile band of religious brothers learning how to live by Jesus’ strange new kingdom life principles. His instructions to the disciples when first sending them out as a ministry team included very specific instructions about money and ministry. Introducing the disciples to the ideas of abandonment of non essentials, and voluntary poverty, he instructed them to “take no food, no traveller’s bag, no money, wear sandals, and take only one coat?” 3.  Most modern Christians look at Jesus life during his 3 years of public ministry, and dismiss it as not having any relevance for modern lifestyles that extend to 70 years and more. In-depth research, and application of Jesus’ teaching, and how the New Testament Church functioned are full of robust economic lessons relevant to our present global financial crisis.

Leslie Newbigin has shown how the modern separation of the physical and spiritual realms explains the wide range of modern dichotomies that are prevalent in the modern worldview.4. The modern Church in the Western world has largely ignored economic discipleship because relationships within dichotomist Church communities are too shallow to embrace economic inter-dependency.

Jesus used the love of money, and the sin of greed to strike at the heart of human affection for things, rather than a meaningful relationship with God. Jesus carefully explained that greed hardens the heart, and makes it difficult for greedy people to show love, justice and compassion for the poor. St Jerome spoke bluntly: “The Gospel rightly calls riches ‘unjust’ because they have no origin other than injustice, and nobody can own them without losing them.” 5. Roman Catholic Church orders, and some European evangelical orders, embrace economic inter-dependency. Most ordinary Church members see these orders as only useful to those who have taken oaths of celibacy.

The post war European Church prophetic voices for economic discipleship have been few. Ron Sider shocked American evangelicals in 1977 with his book “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”. Sider advocated new forms of Christian Community that would redistribute wealth and create economically interdependent churches. The shift to these new forms of Church were difficult to embrace in the very competitive and consumer hungry western society. Consequently poverty in the west is appearing at an ever increasing rate. The Church is ill-equipped to speak prophetically to this need because it has not made economic disciples of its members. Most Christians live ineffectively in highly competitive, and an increasingly intense economic world trying to find the difference between the economic systems of the world, and those of the Kingdom of God. Sider concluded his book in chapter nine stating that structural change was essential for the Church and the world. He quoted C.I. Schofield, author of the Schofield Bible Notes, 1903, “The present social order is the most abject failure the world has ever seen…

Governments have never learned how to so legislate as to distribute the fruits of the industry of their people. The countries of the earth produce enough to support all, and if the earnings of each was fairly distributed it would make men toil some, but no man toil too much. This great civilisation of ours has not learned how to distribute the product of human toil so that it shall be equitably held”. 6.

Christians have been victims of the global economic melt down for the same reasons non-Christians have.  The slick investment advertising, and the offer of income without work, has been driven by greed that deceived so many people from many religious backgrounds. In New Zealand the prophecy preachers of the 60’s to 90’s tried to warn Christians of the dangers of the “mark of the beast” and other secret banking codes. That was as far as economic discipleship went. It did not address the heart and root of the misuse of God’s generously provided resources. Christians were not taught the root cause of economic evil, and how to practice kingdom principles. Sider observes, the “neglect of biblical teaching on structural injustice, what we might call institutionalised evil, is one of the most deadly omissions in evangelicalism today”. 7. A few Christians who were labelled “alternative life-stylers” tried to voluntarily reduce consumption, produce household vegetables and fruit, establish alternative energy sources, modify their lifestyles, and experiment with cooperative based communities. They were on a quest for long term sustainability, but very few achieved it.

Early New Zealand history ignored

Economic interdependency was at the heart of early Maori prophetic movements. Maori culture was holistic and as the gospel brought redemptive patterns to Maori society the prophets were captivated by the concept of the city of God. Jesus prayer in Matthew 6:10 “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” was a future reality Maori prophets longed for. Two such prophets were Te Whiti O Rongomai and Tohu Kawaru. They applied kingdom economics in a cooperative pattern of economic interdependency that created the city of Parihaka in South Taranaki in the 1870’s and 80’s. The City of God on earth became a reality. Prophet Rua Kenana formed his Christian community at Maungapohatu in the Urerewa among the Tuhoe based on the New Testament. Maori had an Old Testament view of many economic concepts, including land ownership and use in particular, and this made them very receptive to Christianity as they discovered these concepts in the Bible. Christopher J. H. Wright states that “the land gift to Israel was declaration of God’s dependability. Every harvest reminded Israel of this. This land whose produce they now enjoyed had not always been theirs”. 8. Maori prophets, empowered by their new found authority from the Bible, were bold enough to experiment with the implementation of Jesus’ teaching of kingdom economics, but sadly it was “institutionalized evil of the domination system” that led to the annihilation of these communities.

Theological foundations for economics

Most good theology has its roots in the Godhead and the actions of God in creation. R. Paul Stevens describes the Triune God in three terms of people-hood, vocation and leadership. Stevens charts these three terms in operation in each of the three persons of the Godhead.  God had a vocation. 9. God measured his outcomes and productivity. So does our understanding of God as Father extend to Him being a provider? If we can accept that God is a providing God in creation it gives us a sound basis for exploring the foundations of Kingdom economics. Genesis 1:11-12 tells us that God created plants and fruit. In Genesis 1:20-22 we see God creating fish and birds. Genesis 1:24-25 records God’s creative acts in producing a vast array of animals. As a caring providing father, God has set the stage to make it possible for His first command in Genesis 1:26-28 to be obeyed without the threat of starvation. God provided for human success. The rate of reproduction in the animal, plant, bird and fish kingdoms is generally faster than in the human kingdom. Mankind could multiply and fill the earth without fear of starvation. Sustainability was in the mind of God. Understanding God’s fatherly love for us in the creation order is vital for our learning how to trust Him with our economic welfare and future. God continued to show His power to provide in Joseph’s journey to Egypt and his provision for Jacob in the time of famine. During the Exodus from Egypt under Moses God provided, water, bread and birds to feed the newly forming nation of slaves heading for the Promised Land. Throughout the Bible, stories of God’s provision for his people are not just occasional occurrences, but a continuous theme. God is seeking to get his people to learn to trust him in all circumstances even the economically challenging ones.

Paulo Freire in his book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” states that “An epoch is a full realisation of something that impedes full humanization.” He states that “A critical and dynamic view of the world strives to unveil reality.” “To achieve the full realization of the human task requires permanent transformation of reality in favour of the liberation of people.” 10.

What are these hidden realisations? The hidden realisations that change our economic worldview are;

God is a providing God; God has a vocation; God loves everyone on earth; God has created entrepreneurial people in each people group; God has given mankind incredible talents of creativity; and God intends for mankind to live in caring sharing communities.

“Jesus is the happy God”, exclaimed some Hindu women in Kolkata, after they experienced economic liberation. This was the result of applying economic discipleship in their community liberating them from their former condition of destitute poverty. They were part of the formation of a sustainable community of people bonded together in love, work, play and worship. The realisation that their former destitute poverty had impeded their full humanisation liberated them into permanent holistic transformation.

The creation, earning, and sharing of wealth is vital to the success of a viable community.

God’s objective is for mankind to live in clusters of viable holistic communities comprising nations. For us this becomes a study in kingdom micro and macro economics.

Why the current Global economic crisis?

When the 20^th century arrived it brought an explosion of democratic freedoms associated with the development of human wealth distributed to new classes of rich people who had no background or history of creating or managing wealth. The lust for power produced by this new found wealth was the “Achilles” heal of the world economic crisis. The status orientation of wealthy societies fuelled speculation based on perception, feeling and greed rather than the tangible industrial production that took place in the 19^th century. The world had few new inventions that made a major difference to the enhancement of the wealthy lifestyle. Investment focus changed from productive assets to buildings, and property speculation driven by rapidly expanding populations in developed countries moving to greater urbanisation, placing pressure on limited land resources in large cities. William Easterly makes the statement “The potential for future high income is a potent incentive to do whatever it takes to get there”. 11. Abuse of power in the economic sense emerged, and investment fund managers gained a very powerful role in an economy driven by investors looking for greater and greater returns, and the huge bonuses fund managers’ could earn if successful. So these people gained a vested interest in the property speculation markets. The vast sums of money they controlled, and sought to “invest” in the property market gave them the power to buy and sell property at inflated prices created by their own buying and selling.

They lost focus on the value of essential productive assets. These investment managers were driven by the competition between investment firms to show higher and higher returns. The higher the returns, the higher the number of investors they were likely to attract. Unsustainable greed underpinned the entire speculative industry, not production of vital commodities and services to alleviate world poverty. The unbridled greed of the global rich sought higher and higher returns from illusory asset values based on an immoral method of valuation, rooted solely in economic considerations. This unbridled greed was contributing directly to increasing global poverty. In the last six years the number of destitute poor in India has risen from 300 millions in 2003, to 460 millions in 2009. At the same time Western charities held fundraising rock concerts promoting the idea that we can reduce global poverty without a fundamental change to the status seeking, and greedy powers of the celebrity industry. Today as I write this article the New Zealand Herald business section has a half page article that features how celebrity appointments to Company Boards can enhance share prices. 12. This type of triviality is evidence that the value of the shares of Companies traded on the stock exchange are influenced not by the measurable production of essential commodities, but by the perceptions of the rich who have made a lifestyle of status seeking, spending their money according to perceived value and not actual value. Greed has caused such poor judgement among the rich, and powerful that they cannot see the fallacy of their ways. Over-valuing assets based on perception and feelings will always lead to financial collapse and bankruptcy.

The size of the Global economic problem?

One third of the world’s population, are 2 billion urban poor slum dwellers. 1 billion of these people are destitute poor – they do not know where their next meal is coming from. Paul Collier states that “The problem matters, not just to the bottom billion who are living and dying in fourteenth century conditions. It matters to us. The twenty-first century world of material comfort, global travel, and economic inter-dependence will become increasingly vulnerable to these large islands of chaos. And it matters now. As the bottom billion diverges for the increasingly sophisticated world economy, integration will become harder not easier.  Already this problem is surfacing. The World Bank has not a single resident in the Central African Republic. Development agencies find it very difficult to get staff to serve in Chad and Laos”. 13. Despite the hype of so many global poverty initiatives we are losing the battle against poverty. The methods we are using will not create a sustainable and just economic order. US Prophet Bruce McLaren stated that “the prosperity crisis was the key symptom of an unsustainable economic system”. 12. The end result of the abuse of power by the rich and greedy will probably be a violent revolution, either by the poor overthrowing the rich, or the rich continuing to use abusive power to control the poor.

The end result of the present economic system is that everybody would be investors and there would be no producers. This will result in bankrupt economies with worthless non-productive assets.

A Biblical view of humanity?

The Bible has the best theology of humanity. The creation story reveals God as creating mankind as the climax of His creation. The “least to greatest” theme of the Bible is revealed in dust being transformed into intelligent design. God states that “he has created mankind in His own image male and female he has created them”. God created us for community. God’s compassionate fatherly and motherly heart for mankind is consistently spoken about by his prophets down through Biblical history. God’s genius in creation results in myriads of varieties of species and sub-species all with unique differences. Man strives to invent and produce, but this results in mass production where the attempt to demonstrate the intelligence of man is done at the expense of degrading mankind to a repetitive production machine. This also rampantly consumes wastefully the resources of the earth. The human machine is expected to produce without thought for his unique creativity, and without building meaningful relationship with the owners of the business or the productive unit. There must be a better way.

Cooperative communities and Kingdom economics?

The New Testament teaches that every member of the Body of Christ is uniquely gifted to contribute to the welfare and growth of the holistic Christian community. Marva Dawn interprets Romans 12 so we can have a vision of how “we can invite those who have the gift of showing mercy to exercise that gift with ‘cheerfulness’”. 15. This theology reflects the vision of the City of God, a society where every member is valued, has latent creativity, and is of immeasurable value. Everyone belongs, relates, speaks acts, contributes, and lives in the Body. Work is best seen in the theological framework of worship to God as expressed by Jesus in his carpentry work for his earthly father Joseph. Everything Jesus did was intentionally designed to bring honour to his heavenly father. When work is seen in this perspective the joy of creating is realised;

Work and obedience = blessing.

Work and disobedience = curse and poverty. 16.

The latter opens the door to the exploitation of other human beings by the greedy.

Two are better than one, and in cooperative economics inspired by the new community of believers in Acts 2, more than two are even better still. When the Church becomes a holistic fully interdependent community it has the potential to start realising the dream of the City of God. The deep heart change that the Spirit of God incarnates into believers breaks fear, and replaces it with unselfish love. Incarnational abandonment becomes a possibility. The Spirit’s divine power can break through the stronghold of self-aggrandisement and greed. The result is intergenerational stewardship and creative utilization maximising the beauty of creation rather than mindless exploitation of humans and resources.

Dichotomistic worldviews prevalent in western societies are the result of the sin of independence. Without embracing a holistic worldview it is very difficult for the vision of the City of God to be realised. The sad history of New Zealand is that Pakeha have tried to use their dichotomistic worldview, and abusive power driven by greed to dominate Maori who had a holistic worldview and a vision for the City of God. Maori embraced the Gospel of the Kingdom so profoundly that by 1860 90% of Maori were Christians and over the next 20 years their prophets tried to lead them into a practical expression of the City of God through the building of Parihaka and Maungapohatu.

Foreign examples of economic models serving the poor

Probably one of the best examples of a new model of economics for the poor is that developed by Mohammed Yunus, 17, of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank and its productive investments. In recent times a new breed of benevolent entrepreneurs in India have birthed “Inclusive Capitalism”, 18, through the formation of Fabindia, a marketing Company selling the handicrafts of large scale cooperatives with 22,000 artisan shareholders across five states. Fabindia has access to 86 retail stores in 39 cities throughout India selling their art to the rich. Finally, a group of benevolent business executives with superb marketing skills have used their extensive expertise for the uplift of the poor. This has produced and excellent model where poor artisans can access rich markets and transfer money from the rich economy of India to the poor. The previously poor artisans not only have a guaranteed market for their art but they receive dividends form their share in the success of the Marketing Cooperative.

This concept of a production based marketing cooperative has been critical to the international success of the New Zealand dairy industry. This industry owned by farmers who receive the profits of their production invest it wisely in increased productivity that has resulted in the most efficient dairy industry in the world. There are no non-participating shareholders in this industry. Everyone involved in Fonterra has a vital interest in the industry’s success and long term viability.

Land – a sacred trust

Maori held the biblical view of land that it was a sacred trust from God. They held land in collective ownership. The British Colonial Government actively and deliberately destroyed that system of collective ownership undermining the heart of the holistic worldview of Maori and the potential for collective economic development. Land is essential to the welfare of a nation. Its wealth and productivity is vital to the expression of God’s pastoral care and provision of a nation’s basic needs. Remove land from a nation and they will lose their power to provide for their people. Bryant Myers states that “Land and natural resources are gifts to all humankind, not only a few. While this does not mean there can be no private land ownership, Wright argues that ‘the right of all to use is prior to the right to own.’” 19.

The poverty faced by 2 billion people around the world is primarily an issue of land rights and access. The powerful control far too much land and the poor have no access to land. A rich country like Australia with a per capita income of US$28,780 per annum, 2003, 20, has huge tracks of land that could be made productive if it was inhabited. The powerful rich classes of Australia, Canada, the United States of America and Russia fear and oppose the migration of people to inhabit their under-utilised land. These wealthy countries are controlled by the greedy who invest their wealth primarily in non-productive and speculative buildings and property, withholding investment in productive investments that would alleviate poverty.

In New Zealand we have sufficient land for every citizen to own a piece of land and thereby enable everyone to have an asset for collateral lending and business development. Singapore has practiced a system for 35 years where every Singaporean receives an inalienable apartment when they reach 25 years of age. This has created a nation of millionaires and redistributed wealth in this tiny island nation with no natural mineral resources.

The Poor

The Kingdom of God is unshakable (Heb 12:28) because it is the true reality, the way things really are. 21. Christ is the unchanging person (Heb 13:8) the reality of the kingdom in human form, the only way to enter God’s kingdom. God’s concern for justice is evident throughout the Bible and his prophets were continually advocating for the poor and broken in heart when pondering the plight of the poor (Leviticus 25: 35-37). 22. They captured the Spirit of God’s fatherly concern for the marred image of God reflected in the faces of the poor. Mother Teresa so aptly described this brokenness when she said; “looking into the face of the poor and dying I see the broken body of Christ”. God’s redemptive action for the plight of the poor is through a people who have humble hearts. A humble and contrite heart is a pre-condition to entering the kingdom of God. Compassion for the poor is the barometer of the condition of the hearts of God’s servants. Incarnational lifestyles among the poor are the most powerful way to walk with the poor. Bryant Myers states that “there is no greater loss, no greater pain for the three-in-one God than abandonment. This must shape our view of poverty. Poverty is about relationships that don’t work, that isolate, that abandon and devalue. 23. Transformation must be about restoring relationships with God, with self and with community, with the “other” and with the environment”. Myers states that “the triune premise is that love is completed when it is invested in the other”. 24. A rich Christian abandoning a wealthy lifestyle to live among the poor is an act of incarnation that demonstrates the reality of Christ’s message for the poor. This is a possible a universal first step we could take towards redistribution of wealth for the benefit of the poor.

Redistribution

The knowledge of economics can be used to assist the poor to make their dreams of liberation from poverty a reality. Access to capital through micro-finance schemes and business advice to set up cooperatives with access to group lending, 25, markets and marketing expertise are the vital services the incarnational worker among the poor can give to the poor. The poor have developed advanced life survival skills and have dreams that can be made a reality. The poor micro and macro economies must have access to capital and be able to access the rich economies to redistribute wealth. This must happen at a local, national and international level. The World Bank report dated the 14^th January, 2002 concluded “A better life for poor people requires stimulating economic growth that is pro-poor”. 26. Empowerment comes to the poor when access to capital is provided without collateral security. Worldview transformation comes to the poor from a new understanding that the theology of creation that is inclusive of them. Training in creative production accompanied by the wise use of money, marketing expertise, market access, business planning, budgeting and mentoring are all the “gifts of love” that will facilitate the transformation of poor communities.

This level of redistribution cannot be achieved in slum communities if exploitation of the poor by criminal gangs continues unabated. The domination system of Governments is blind to the domination system of violence used by gangs to exploit the meagre resources of the poor. “Once the spiral of violence has begun, comments Andrew Schookler, ‘No one is free to choose peace, but anyone can impose upon all the necessity for power’”. 27. Revival has the power to change social structures quickly and radically. Good egalitarian government, fair and just laws, and infrastructural development of essential services will also assist the transformation of poor communities.

Dependency to Freedom

The kingdom of God advocates help for the poor through freedom. Freedom is a reality when the poor escape the powers of exploitation. Walter Wink in his book ‘The Powers that be’ advocates the end of the ‘Domination System’ He says that “‘Jesus challenged the ‘Domination System’’ of his day right where it affected men and women in the routine of their lives, in the push and pull of relating to the institutions that shaped their times”. He quotes Luke 22: 24-27 as an example. Economic inequities are based on domination. Jesus said “You cannot serve God and wealth” Matt 6:24. The words and deeds of Jesus reveal that he is not a minor reformer but an egalitarian prophet who repudiated the very premises of the “Domination System; the right of some to lord it over others by means of power, wealth, shaming, or titles. In his beatitudes, his healings, and his table fellowship with outcasts and sinners, Jesus declared God’s special concern for the oppressed (page 65)”. 28. Amartya Sen winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in Economics titled his famous book “Development as Freedom”. Sen advocates measuring our human achievements not by the measure of wealth but by freedom. Years of seeing development used as a tool of oppression has given him the insight to seek a new paradigm for measuring human progress. 29. In New Zealand we need to urgently seek new economic models that measure our national progress not by the number of welfare dependants our Government can “Dominate” but by the success we can achieve in granting freedom to our poorer citizens from dependent poverty. God made us for freedom. We can only worship Him from the heart when we are free to choose to do so. He wants us to express our love for him without coercion or obligation. Let us advocate for a kingdom worldview that will change the direction of our nation from the “Domination System” to the “Freedom System” where everyone has access to land, resources, capital, training, markets and mentoring.

TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Bryan Johnson <ulftrainer@yahoo.co.nz>

Endnotes

1. B. Myers, “The Biblical Story” in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and Practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

2. Matt 6:1-4; 13:1-52; 17:24-27; 18:15-21-35; 19:16-30; 20:1-16; 22:12-17; 33-45; 22:15-21; Mark 4:1-20; 30-33; 10:17-30; 11:15-23; 12:1-17; Luke 12:14-33; 16:19-31; 20: 9-26; 21: 3-4.

3. Mark 6:7-12

4. L. Newbigin, “The dichotomies of the modern worldview”, in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

5. St. Jerome, “Quite openly and unhindered”, in “Bring Forth Justice”, Waldron Scott, (Paternoster Press, 1980)

6. C. I. Scholfield, “Structural Change” in “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”, Ronald J Sider, (Hodder and Stoughton, 1977)

7. R. J. Sider, “Institutionalized Evil Today” in “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”, Ronald J Sider, (Hodder and Stoughton, 1977)

8. R. P. Stevens, “One God, One People” in “The Other Six days”, R. Paul Stevens, (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999)

9. C. J. H. Wright, “The Economic Angle” in “Living as the People of God”. Christopher J H Wright, (IVP, 1983)

10. P. Freire, “Dialogics” in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Paulo Freire, (Continuum, 1970)

11. W. Esterly, “Tales of Increasing Returns; Leaks, Matches and Traps” in “The Elusive Quest for Growth”, William Esterly, (MIT Press, 2002)

12. New Zealand Herald, Business Section C6, “Celebrities add sparkle to boardrooms”, New Zealand Herald, The Economist, (3^rd April, 2010)

13. P. Collier, “Falling Behind and Falling Apart – The Bottom Billion” in “The Bottom Billion”, Paul Collier, (Oxford University Press, 2007)

14. V, Grigg, “Economic Discipleship”, in “Kingdom Economics”, Viv Grigg, (Unpublished)

15. M.J. Dawn, “Preface”, in “Truly the Community”, Marva J Dawn, (Wm B Eerdmans, 1992)

16. R. P. Stevens, “Doing the Lord’s Work” in “The Other Six days”, R. Paul Stevens, (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999)

17. M. Yunus, “Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty” in “Banker to the Poor”,  (Public Affairs, USA, 2003)

18. _________, “Inclusive Capitalism” in “Business Today”, August, 10^th 2008, (India, 2008)

19. B. Myers, “The Biblical Story” in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and Practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

20. W. Baumol, R. Litan, C Schramm, Unleashing entrepreneurship” in “Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism and the economics of growth and prosperity”, William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, Carl J. Schramm, (Yale University, 2007)

21. B. Myers, “Three important theological ideas – the kingdom of God” in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and Practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

22. A. Eldersheim, “Commerce” in “Sketches of Jewish Social Life”. Alfred Eldersheim, (Hendricksen Publishers, 1994)

23. B. Myers, “Jesus died alone on a cross” in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and Practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

24. B. Myers, “Who are we?” in “Walking with the Poor – Principles and Practice of Transformational Development”, Bryant L Myers, (Orbis Books, 2003)

25. B Armendariz, J Morduch, “Group Lending” in The Economics of Microfinance”, Beatriz Armendariz, Jonathon Morduch, (MIT Press, 2007)

26. J D Wolfensohn, “Creating better lives for poor people – 14th January, 2002” in “Voice For the World’s Poor”, (The World Bank, 2005).

27. W Wink, “The Domination System” in “The Powers that be – Theology for a new Millenium”, Walter Wink, (Doubleday, 1998)

28. W Wink, “Jesus Answer to Domination” in “The Powers that be – Theology for a new Millenium”, Walter Wink, (Doubleday, 1998)

29. A. Sen, “The 29. A. Sen, “The Perspective of Freedom” in “Development as Freedom”, Amartya Sen, (Anchor Books, 1999)