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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.

English edition available through Forward Movement, Amazon, Kindle and Apple Books. Spanish edition available here. 

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Free Guide for Discussion Groups

Written for both individual and group use, The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today can be read cover to cover or thematically. Each chapter includes discussion questions and a suggested practical next step. While not an exhaustive list, we've put together ideas for four-week discussion groups: Click here to view and download.

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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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Welcome!

My name is Miguel Escobar and I am an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Long Island, currently serving a two-year curacy at San Andrés Episcopal Church in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. My work centers on the intersection of faith, justice, and economics, including through research and presentations on Christianity’s complicated relationship with money, wealth, and poverty. I write and think about these issues from my location in a parish setting, and more specifically as someone committed to Spanish-language, Latino ministry.   As a writer, I focus on how Christianity has wrestled with questions of money from its earliest days to the present. My first book, The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today , traces how the early Church’s stance on wealth shifted over the first five centuries, going from a position of sharp critique to eventual accommodation, and reflects on what was gained and lost in that transition. I’m currently working on a second book that explores the...
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