Douglas LeBlancRezensionen

Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/10/2023

Douglas Leblanc does a nice overview of tithing as a Christian tradition by interviewing people from a large swath of Christian traditions (and one Jewish Rabbi). These are people who tithe, have seen God provide and testify to the transformative effect that tithing has had on them spiritually and materially.

Tithing is not only a matter of obeying God. It is also a conscious way to resist the self-worship that accompanies greed and stinginess.

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NCLA Review - “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty,” and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” – Malachi 3:10 (NIV) Using this text as his premise and stating that this is the only place where God invites his followers to test him, LeBlanc interviewed a cross-section of believers to discover why they tithe. He included a conservative evangelical, an Episcopal priest, a progressive activist, a pacifist, a Roman Catholic monsignor, a black church pastor, an Eastern Orthodox author, and a Seventh-day Adventist, who had converted from Judaism. The reader will discover that the effects on these people have been life changing. This book belongs in every church library and on every pastor’s bookshelf. Rating: 4 —AMB

Tithing: Test Me In This by Douglas Leblanc is a one volume in a series of books called The Ancient Practices Series by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Each of the volumes in the series covers a historic practice of the Christian Church. I own several of the books in the series and each speaks on the spiritual practice and how it best can be practiced and implemented in the modern contemporary church. They authors vary from different denominational backgrounds and traditions with an ecumenical theme to their presentation of their material on the subject matter.

In this book Tithing: Test Me In This, Journalist Douglas Leblanc approaches the subject of tithing by interviewing 11 people from various backgrounds but united on the belief that tithing is a Christian practice through which God invites us to participate in to fulfill His purposes in the world.

Leblanc writes about tithing not as act of legalism but as an act of grace that is a first step to a life of pure generosity. Each chapter written in essay form begins with a brief bio of the person being interviewed, then explains why they began tithing and how it has impacted their life. The profiled interviews in each chapter are comprised of an Orthodox rabbi, Episcopalian, Eastern Orthodox priest, liberals and conservatives, evangelicals and Catholics.

It was helpful to hear several different reasons for tithing. Some gave because it was their tradition, others for social justice reasons and others to be faithful to a clear demand of Scripture. All the stories are inspirational in their own right and encourage the readers to examine their priorities and values. However this is not a manual on tithing or its theology. The book does provide a study guide for each chapter.

My disappointment though in the book was that is all the chapters were is one testimony after another on personal philosophy on tithing. I was really seeking a book that would provide solid exegesis on different texts of scripture and more of the historical theology on the discipline of tithing. With no primary source material or exposition in this book to enhance the quality of this particular book it becomes a good read, just not a great one.

It was with great interest that I chose Tithing as my next book to review in Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program. There is no small controversy in the circles I work in as to the role tithing plays in the life of a believer.

The title of the book leaves no mystery as to it's subject. The subtitle--"test me in this"--lets us know right up front that the author thinks tithing is for today. Rather than a detailed biblical exposition, however, LeBlanc opts to go the "personal testimony" route. Thus the book is divided into eleven chapters (and an epilogue), each featuring a different person or group of people telling about how they were blessed by the practice of tithing.

As I opened the book, the first thing that caught my eye was that the forward was by Phyllis Tickle, madre superior of the Emergent Church. Then my attention was drawn to the fact that Tithing is part of a series called The Ancient Practices. Other authors for the series include Brian McLaren and Scot McKnight. At this point I had very low expectations for the book.

With all of that, it was better than I supposed. LeBlanc includes stories like that of Randy Alcorn, who can only make minimum wage because he was sued by an abortion clinic, and anything he makes above that would go to fund abortions. A couple of the interviewees even expressed my own position on tithing.

Yet there is one huge elephant in the room. Several of the people LeBlanc cites as examples are either from extremely liberal wings of the church, or out-and-out unbelievers. So...who does the Orthodox Jewish Rabbi tithe to? Am I to believe that God is going to bless money given to a false religion?

Tithing is interesting inasmuch as it presents different viewpoints on the subject. But the underlying message--that a person can please God through tithing regardless of whether Christ's atoning work on the cross has been applied to him--is patently false.

www.comingstobrazil.com

Tithing - Test Me in This is a book in the Ancient Practices series. The book is intended to take a look at the biblical practice of tithing. This book is a collection of short stories about people who tithe. I was expecting an in depth look at the tithing practices of different Christian denominations and world religions. Unfortunately, the book really has little to do with tithing at all. It is basically stories of people the author has an interest in, who happen to tithe. Many of the stories give no more than a passing glance at the practice of tithing. Some of the stories were somewhat entertaining, while most were uninteresting unless you have an interest in liberal social Christianity stories. Most of the people covered in the book come from liberal denominations, and have a very liberal agenda. If you are looking for a book that takes a serious look at the practice of tithing, this is not the book for you. This book is definitely not one that I would recommend.

Tithing is the story of 11 different people or couples who find that ancient practice to be an important part of their spiritual lives. The strength of this book lies in the diversity of its subjects. You’ll find everyone from fundamentalists to liberals between these covers, which only lends strength to the book’s main point: tithing is an important practice today. One of the chapters even centers on the tithing practices of a Jewish Rabbi. Since this book series emphasizes the seven practices that Christianity picked up from Judaism, his perspective is particularly valuable.

LeBlanc’s prose is effortless—it takes no time at all to dissolve into the situations you’re reading about. In fact,each chapter reads like a well written magazine article. I just wished there was more to tie them together. A survey of the scriptures that speak of tithing, stewardship, and generosity would have been a nice addition. Hearing how the saints throughout history practiced would have been helpful as well.

Unfortunately, the message became repetitive after a while. You can only hear so much, “I was poor, but God convicted me to tithe, and now I’m better,” before you crave something a little more substantial. Does this message work, worldwide? How does the persecuted church, or the third-world church practice tithing?

This book is a good motivational tool to start people on their tithing journey.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as a member of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

I recently joined a program at booksneeze.com, which is run by Thomas Nelson Publishers, that allows you to receive and review books before they are officially released in the hopes of getting out the word of certain books. This is my first foray in this venture, and it is a book on quite the interesting topic: tithing.

Certainly tithing is one of those disciplines that is not given much attention or is given too much attention/focus. I was extremely curious to hear someone elaborate on this idea more and provide a legitimate biblical foundation for it as opposed to a rough gleaning of surface-level reading of Scripture and using that to mandate the general 10% that is suggested/"required." Unfortunately(initially), this is not what LeBlanc intended in writing this book, and he spells that out very clearly in his introduction. Instead, he sought out different folks that he had encountered throughout his life who seemed to emulate the true spirit of what tithing and generosity defined for him. Initially, it seemed as if he was almost skirting the issue and passing the responsibility, but from these stories of people from fairly similar perspectives we are essentially given an implicit definition of what tithing is through their common threads.

My main critique of his work is that in showing these different stories, he seems to indicate that because these people were faithful(beyond standards of normal giving) they were likewise blessed in ways beyond the standard by God. I can only imagine someone who has been a faithful tither their entire life reading this and wondering when their supposed payback would be. Our intent in giving to God and his body should not be done in the hopes of gaining "interest" in these investments, but is a part of a life lived in covenant with the most faithful God.

With that said, however, it is also crucial to speak to the positive on this book because overall it was a positive experience. There are familiar names in this book(Frederica Mathewes-Green, Ron and Arbutus Sider, and Randy Alcorn) and also names of people that might otherwise go unnoticed generally(at least in this Earth's current state). Most stories seek to dispel the notion that tithing is done in legalism(seen to be the general excuse for those who refuse to tithe), but rather something that is natural and done without thinking. Two major ideas in this book that are imperative in this whole conversation are that the idea of using our resources goes beyond money and the idea of claim and ownership that is common to our western understanding of money.

LeBlanc spends large amounts of time with each person interviewed trying to get a better understanding of what tithing all our resources looks like. He is clear that we are responsible to share not only our money with our community, but also are gifts, time, and energy. In doing this, he is reshaping the way we think of doing with "our time" and "our money" and rather what we are doing with what God has given us and is truly the owner and originator of. Through these remarkable stories, we find these people that have done much in the way of initiating God's kingdom he has entrusted to us rather than simply waiting for Him to do it upon His return. For a book on tithing, there is an equal share of space given to the other work these people have done as they have committed to the faithful life and ALL aspects that go with it.

Overall, I give this book three out of five stars. If you enjoy and learn more from stories, this is probably the book for you. It is short(152 pages) and very readable. I was really seeking for a book that was going to do some solid exegesis on the different texts to see the import of the main verses used in conjunction with tithing amongst their context.

This book is fairly well-written. It's obvious that LeBlanc is a journalist, as his prose is precise and clean. However, it lacks something that even good non-fiction writing can have -- It has no real heart behind it. Sure, the words flow well and it's easy to read this book, but there's just no feeling behind any of it. A lot of times, it seems as if LeBlanc is just relating his interview subjects' life stories instead of giving the reader any real sense of who these people are. That sense of the person -- What's felt and believed and held up as important -- is something I think should be really clear and present when dealing with a fairly polarizing topic such as religious tithing.

While all LeBlanc's interview subjects got the point across easily -- Tithing is good and good things will happen to you if you tithe, according to Scripture -- it felt as if there was a little too much of the same. No one disagreed with the tithing mandate in Scripture. Sure, the conflict among the religious community was occasionally alluded to, but LeBlanc did not seek out interview subjects who don't tithe to find out why. I felt that, because of this lack of conflict, it was a really one-sided and repetitive book. By about the third story, I was kind of bored, but I plowed through anyway. If he had found someone who doesn't tithe for whatever reason, or who doesn't believe that the Old Testament version of tithing (Which is basically what LeBlanc was dealing with here) should be adhered to anymore, I think it would have made the book more interesting.

Also, I thought LeBlanc chose his subjects a little too carefully. They were all either clergy of various denominations (There's even a rabbi in here) or they ran specific religious charities. Common sense would dictate that people who have made religious work their livelihood would ascribe to the tithing mandate. I think this book would have been much more interesting and well-rounded if LeBlanc had sought out the common churchgoer and asked for his or her opinion.

I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone. This is a book for someone who is really interested in religious topics and wants to learn more about the specific practice of tithing.