Summary
Title: Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge To Persons Of Faith
Author: George S. McGovern, Bob Dole, Donald E. Messer
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
ISBN: 0800637828
Pro:
• Raises important ethical and political issues
Con:
• A bit more repetitive than necessary
Description:
• Call to end hunger in the world
• Advances ethical, religious, and political reasons why hunger can and should be ended
• Argues that religious believers are failing to uphold their own basic principles by ignoring this
Book Review
Perhaps the most serious question facing Christians today is: What can they do in order to turn themselves around and begin acting in accordance with beliefs they profess on a regular basis, or at least every Sunday morning? Jews and Muslims can substitute their own holy days here and the question will remain the same. It’s a serious dilemma which few have attempted to tackle, but the recent book Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge To Persons of Faith from George S. McGovern, Bob Dole, and Donald E. Messer might lead to more discussion and perhaps an improved situation in the long run.
Hunger is a political problem because sufficient food exists in the world to feed everyone. It’s also an ethical problem, though, because that food isn’t getting to all of the people who need it. For many religious people, though, feeding the hungry strikes them as an ethical option:
- “Few deny the religious mandates to end hunger, but we take refuge in the fact that people disagree about the causes of hunger and the necessary strategies for ending it. We act like ending hunger is an ethical option rather than a moral obligation. We deceive ourselves by making up excuses why we cannot do more.
- We rationalize that “it is the responsibility of the government to act,” or that “the poor deserve being hungry because they have so many children,” or that “since the problem is so large, there is little, if anything, I can do.” We excuse ourselves by praying for the hungry, even as we regularly eat excessively and consume far more than any of us really need. We seem totally ensnared by our chosen cultural standards of living and cannot escape the prisons of our affluence, the chains of obesity, and the handcuffs of self-indulgence. No wonder the early theologians described gluttony as well as sloth among the seven deadly sins. Literally, it brings death to those who have no food and prompts death for the most spiritual soul.”
This book is written by two politicians and one professor of practical theology who examine the issue from different but complimentary perspectives. McGovern is a Democrat and Dole is a Republican, so they offer different political arguments; but in the end, they agree on the goal of feeding people.
Perhaps they agree on too much, in a way, because an awful lot gets repeated by each author. Given the fact that this text was designed to help teach people the seriousness of world hunger, there is some value in repeating certain things, but I wonder if maybe a bit too much is repeated and if the book could have benefited from tighter editing of the essays. Each would stand alone just fine, but in bringing them together some attention needs to be paid to how well they interact.
The audience for this book is religious congregations. Each section has questions at the end to help reinforce the lessons taught and to encourage people to become more active. There are also lists of books for further reading on the issues. Encouraging activism on behalf of world hunger is, after all, the purpose of the books and I can imagine churches buying batches of this book to pass out to members. I don’t know if this will cause people to change their habits, but it’s possible.
