At a recent Chesterton House roundtable, Dr. Charles Lee, Director of Cornell's Parker Center for Investment Research, spoke on "Success and Significance." Asked how business professionals can maintain a sense of calling given the association of business with greed and hedonism, Lee replied, "We were well represented among Jesus' disciples." Lee later added that studying business "may not be the classics, but neither is it prostitution."

Living in the material world isn't always easy, especially for creatures who aren't merely material. Indeed, the twin temptations of hedonism and asceticism require us to ask: Is wealth a blessing or a curse? Is the pursuit of profit the exercise of Godly dominion or a kind of prostitution?

The fact is that God created us economic creatures. Our need for food and shelter is conditioned by sin, but it nevertheless precedes our sin. And so my tendency to despise economic constraints, like the tendency to consider business as somehow inherently impure, is nothing less than the age-old Gnostic tendency to assert the spiritual over against the material.

In the recent issue of Faith & Economics, a publication of the Association of Christian Economists, there is a debate between those who advocate simple and sacrificial living as the Christian ideal, and those who advocate "godly materialism." The bookends of this debate are Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (IVP, 1977), and John Schneider, author of The Good of Affluence: Seeking God in a Culture of Wealth (Eerdmans, 2002).

Criticizing our comfortable consumerism, Sider argues that truly following the One who lives among the poor requires nothing less than renouncing affluence. Schneider, by contrast, argues that God is glorified by affluence and consumption when rightly practiced. These diverging ethics are derived from diverging theological frameworks. To Schneider, the narratives of creation and exodus enshrine a vision of material delight for all humanity that is qualified but not changed by the fact of poverty. To Sider, the deep fallenness of the world more substantively changes the ways we may faithfully produce and consume. Regardless of which way one leans, steering a middle course between hedonism and asceticism clearly means working out the Biblical dialectic of enjoyment and renunciation.

We will be dealing with these and related issues at the Upstate NY InterVarsity Grad/Faculty conference on April 5th. We are privileged to be hosting Dr. Christopher Barrett, Cornell professor of Applied Economics and Management, and recent president of the Association of Christian Economists. As suggested by the conference title, "The Economics of Poverty and the Poverty of Economics," Barrett believes that the discipline of economics is very helpful but not sufficient for carrying out the imperatives of the Gospel. More information and on-line registration is available at http://www.chestertonhouse.org.

As I have wondered about the mystery of our materiality, it occurs to me that God discloses to us the most spiritual matter in all creation by means of economic analogy. "Redemption" is not the stuff of sentimental praise choruses, but of the dirty world of slave trading. Finally, as I have prayed for the ongoing provision of Chesterton House and other campus ministries, I am reminded that our needs are themselves a means toward the greater end of being in prayer. Economic dependence is a visceral reminder to stiff-necked people of their spiritual dependence.

I do hope that you will join us on April 5th. I hope you will also consider supporting the ministry in the coming year. You will find more about our annual fund campaign below, along with information on upcoming events, resources on economics and war, and a closing note about a "living legend."

Chesterton House has done all its programming to date on a budget of about $25,000 per year. Which is to say that we have done a lot with very little. In order to take the ministry "to the next level," including a full-time director and an increased level of programming, we are now seeking to raise $100,000 in annual support. Whereas almost all of our support to date has come from Cornell faculty members, which has been an encouraging vote of confidence in the ministry, we are now reaching out to alumni and others to invest in Christian thinking at Cornell. We are currently taking pledges for year-end gifts toward this goal. We invite you to prayerfully consider joining this effort. Gifts and pledges may be sent to Chesterton House, 604 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca, NY 14850. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Ken Elzinga, UVA economist, writes that "this has been a congenial season for good books connecting economics and the Christian faith." He describes William C. Wood's Getting a Grip On Your Money (IVP, 2002) as "a plain and simple Christian guide to maintaining home economics and personal finances"; John Stapleford's Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves: Applying Christian Ethics in Economics (IVP, 2002) as "a framework for discussing Christian ethics applied to economic organization"; and Samuel Gregg's Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded (U. Press of America, 2001) as bringing "the economic way of thinking to those whose thinking is informed by theological training." Other recent publications include Craig Blomberg, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions (IVP, 1999), Amy Sherman's The Soul of Development (Oxford, 1997), Wesley Willmer's God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul (NavPress, 2002), and Ken Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy's The Generosity Factor (Zondervan, 2002). If that's not enough, the hundreds of titles listed in The Marketplace Annotated Bibliography: A Christian Guide to Books on Work, Business, and Vocation (IVP, 2002) ought to keep you busy for a while. The Association of Christian Economists can be found at http://www.gordon.edu/ace.

There is so much to say. For present purposes I forward, without comment, three links. Sojourners (http://www.sojo.net) is opposed to war in principle; the Center for Public Justice (http://www.cpjustice.org/capitalcom) embraces the just war tradition and includes articles arguing both for and against the use of preemptive force; and ethicist Jean Bethke Elshtain (http://www.boston.com/news/packages/iraq/globe_stories/100602_justwar.htm) argues that just war criteria have been met.

Among the several sources of inspiration for the Chesterton House ministry is Cornell Professor Richard Baer. An article in the current issue of Christianity Today begins, "Among the Christian alumni of Cornell University, Richard Baer is something of a living legend." Andy Crouch, Cornell '89, offers insightful musings on his recent Chesterton House-sponsored trip to Cornell. Although the article is not yet posted electronically, it will soon be available at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ctmag/features/columns/crouch.html. See also Andy's article "We're Rich," on the above-mentioned dilemma of how to be a Christian in an affluent society.