Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money

Well researched and pleasantly presented .... 2010-01-27

Reviewer: Charles E. Gardner

I found the book well researched, full of usefuk data and information, and an easy read. Sections are summarized such that if you do not want to wade through all of the statistical details and data, you can scan the numbers and cut to the chase (conclusions and observations). High marks from this reviewer ......

Lot of information about an important topic 2009-11-25

Reviewer: Hoc Stercus

In my locality faith communities and fraternal organizations like the Elks are struggling in the areas of finances and membership numbers. This particular book trys to help those who care understand why this situation exists. On the basis of considerable research and analysis the authors try to give relevant information and insights, as well as valuable suggestions for ways to meet the challenges of the day. For those who are looking for approaches to making their Church organizations and other civic bodies more viable, this book can be a valuable resource.

An oddly dispassionate guilt trip with little practical to offer 2009-11-19

Reviewer: C. Price

The book is full of statistics and survey data regarding giving, broken down in various ways. But no matter how it is broken down, the authors are convinced that Christians come up short in their giving. The book comes across as not being able to decide its own genre. On one hand, with all the charts and statistics and high end terminology, the book comes across as an academic treatment on giving. On the other hand, the book has a certain scolding judgmental tone not typically associated with academic treatments. Most Christians do not give enough in the authors' opinion (admittedly with some input from denominational teachings on the issue) and if only those Christians would give more money, the Church could do all sorts of good -- in the authors' opinions -- social programs and funding. On the gripping hand, the author's own research shows that Christians are far more giving than their secular counterparts and that religious membership and teaching has a very positive effect on charitable endeavors.

So the book ends up being a kind of dispassionate guilt trip that few people will labor through and which will be of little help to pastors attempting to develop teachings on giving or trying to encourage their churches to be more charitable.

Looks Are Deceptive: Not an Indictment of Christians, But an Honest Study of Stinginess 2009-07-22

Reviewer: John Nolley II

This book isn't what you might think--it most certainly is NOT a polemic against Christianity or a slam on religious people in America, which from the title alone is a mistake the prospective reader would be well-excused for making. Instead, Passing the Plate is a well-researched study of the (un)charitable behaviors of American Christians which provides both several potential reasons for the relative lack of giving as well as suggestions for how our religious leaders might address and remedy the problem. And to stave off the inevitable accusations from casually-offended Christian readers: the study's own authors can hardly be accused of having an anti-Christian agenda given their backgrounds!

Admittedly, the book does make at times for rather dry reading; it is, after all, the summation of serious academic research, and not a title intended for popular light reading. But that, too, is one of Passing the Plate's strengths: the rigor of the research performed and the level of detail at which the authors investigate the potential hypotheses for the recalcitrance of American Christians toward meeting basic levels of charitable giving.

What I found most valuable was the analyses of root causes of Christian stinginess and potential solutions offered; our religious leaders would do well to pay close attention. And while as a non-Christian I might find some glee in the irony of Christian stinginess, the goal of expanding charity amongst the majority of Americans is quite laudable, though to be honest, some of the potential causes identified by the authors (such as distrust of church leadership) are going to be high mountains to climb, indeed.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book isn't a study of the theological and scriptural motivations for giving, either, but to be honest, those concerns are bound up in the other causes suggested (such as reluctance to address money in church, lack of knowledge of and instruction in those scriptural foundations, and distrust of church leadership).

In short, the book isn't what you might expect: it's not an indictment of Christian non-giving; it's not a scriptural guide. It's a summary of academic research into why (many) American Christians don't give as much as they ought to be expected.

Yow - this is DENSE with survey/research data 2009-05-22

Reviewer: David J. Huber

It's a slow read because of the amount of data presented, but wow is it informative! Densely packed in a way that will make the number-and-table-phobic anxious, but offers a fairly definitive picture of the state of giving in the United States.

Worth reading for any church leader - actually, it's not just "worth reading", I think it should be considered essential.

So much has changed in the last generation in terms of the Boomers and pre-Boomers attitudes versus the post-Boomers' attitudes in organizational identification and institutional giving. This book demarcates and shows that divide and change very well, and offers a LOT of stuff for current church leaders (and, I'd say, any non-profit) to read and digest.

My only complaint with the book is that it sometimes uses surveys and data from long ago. Some are decades long studies that went, for example, from 1985-2005, which is wonderful - that's still pretty current. But some studies that are reported and used here are ones done in the 80s that ended back then. I really think that the data from those studies is no longer relevant and would have been better left out of the book. But, on the other hand, some of those studies that are included were asking questions that have not been asked in recent years, so the data is somewhat relevant because of that.

Beyond that, though, this book really has its thumbs on the pulse of current day America in relation to giving to the church, and should be read by anyone dealing with stewardship and giving.

Quite excellent.