Whole Life Offering Book Excerpt 3 of 6: The Severing of Christianity and Philanthropy Distorts Both

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Today, even in its broadest usage, philanthropy is used to describe action originating not among gods but among human beings. The most well-known expression of philanthropy is not direct contact, warm relationship, or unwavering, unwarranted beneficence but rather the giving of money—typically in large quantities, and through intermediaries like foundations and nonprofit organizations.

Further, philanthropy is a word rarely associated with Christianity, either by Christians or non-Christians. That there are Christian philanthropists is of course widely acknowledged; that philanthropy is the essence or the core of Christianity is a statement that is simply never made. The philosophical ground has not been so much ceded as abandoned: for Christian and non-Christian alike, philanthropy demarcates turf distinctly human, not divine.

This is more than a curious etymological development. It is an invitation to examine whether the severing of the two concepts—Christianity and philanthropy—has impoverished and perhaps even distorted both.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, The Whole Life Offering: Christianity as Philanthropy, scheduled for release in January 2011.)

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Whole Life Offering Book Excerpt 2 of 6: Philanthropy is a New Testament Term

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Pastor Foley

The term “philanthropy” is not only the ancient description of the exploits of a Greek god. It is also how the Bible itself explicitly chooses to name the Christian God’s relationship to humanity, in Titus 3:4 (KJV): “But after that the kindness and philanthropy of God our Savior toward man appeared.”

Regrettably, the term “philanthropy” is quite literally lost in translation, as it is typically rendered only as “love” in most versions.

That is unfortunate because it prevents us from understanding the specific kind of love, which has been extended—namely, “phil-anthropy”, or friendship love toward human beings—a comprehensive attitude and pattern of direct contact, warm relationship, and unfailing and unwarranted beneficence on the part of the divine toward human beings. “Love” simply struggles to be able to carry that freight.

A new word had to be created to do so—“phil-anthropy”–and Paul, the apostle and first great Christian theologian, pressed it into service in his letter to Titus to convey news he considered extraordinary about the divine.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, The Whole Life Offering: Christianity as Philanthropy, scheduled for release in January 2011.)

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Whole Life Offering Book Excerpt 1 of 6: The Divine Origins of Philanthropy

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Were Christianity to select a single word to describe the breadth and depth of the relationship between God and human beings, it could do worse than “philanthropic”.

In fact, not only is Christ still called Philanthropos—“The Philanthropist”—in the liturgy of the Orthodox Church, but the term actually owes its 5th century B.C.E. Greek origins to a god.

Prometheus is imprisoned by Zeus, the king of the gods, for “philanthropy”—specifically, his deep, personal friendship with human beings. Cries the bound Prometheus, “Look at me, the unlucky god who is chained up for exaggerated affection for the mortal beings”.

The term “philanthropy” originates, thus, not with reference to human acts of beneficence toward humanity but rather with a god’s love of human beings who, it is worth noting, are depicted as incapable of reciprocating anything of value in return.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, The Whole Life Offering: Christianity as Philanthropy, scheduled for release in January 2011.)

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