Reviewed Book: Levan, Christopher. The Dancing Steward: Exploring Christian Stewardship Lifestyles. Toronto: United Church Pub House, 1993

Wehrfritz-Hanson, Julianna

English

Scholars Commons

The Dancing Steward: Exploring Christian Stewardship Lifestyles

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 21Issue 2 Aspects of Ecumenity Article 2111-1-1995The Dancing Steward: Exploring ChristianStewardship LifestylesJulianna Wehrfritz-HansonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationWehrfritz-Hanson, Julianna (1995) "The Dancing Steward: Exploring Christian Stewardship Lifestyles," Consensus: Vol. 21 : Iss. 2 ,Article 21.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol21/iss2/21Book Reviews 135research using the appendix that takes up nearly half the book. Take, forinstance, Ellingsen’s observation that church social statements . . are de-termined more by denominational and confessional identification than bythe context of a church body’s theological or ethical perspective”.If the author’s analysis is correct, then this book may potentially ap-peal to another group of readers. Besides the church historians and thoseconcerned with the social gospel, this book may appeal to those who careabout how future Christians will identify their similarities and differences,and in so doing shape the nature of their communities.If you want a handy summary of your denomination’s social statementsover the past three decades, this book is for you. If you want to gain aglobal perspective on how church bodies have responded to certain socialissues, this book will help. If you want a better grasp of the theologicalpositions that inform and determine responses to social concerns, then thisbook can help you unravel that mystery too. If you fall into one of thesegroups, then you won’t mind the fact that it reads more like a dictionarythan a novel, and it may well become a valued reference tool.Lowell NusseyChrist the King Lutheran Church,Whitby, OntarioThe Dancing Steward, Exploring Christian Steward-ship LifestylesChristopher LevanToronto: United Church Publishing House, 1993The Dancing Steward seems an odd name for a book that is particularlydirected to white, affluent. North-American men, although there is muchfood for thought even to those who do not fit this description.Levan writes with an easy to read style in which anecdotes are inter-spersed with significant theological insights and biblical stories. The end ofthe chapters have sections for “Experiential Learning” and “Questions forDiscussion” that have been designed not only for individual reflection butalso in such a way that they may be employed as part of a group process.Christopher Levan begins the book by painting a picture of celebrationsthat are a reflection of North-American prosperity and indulgence whichhave in some way trapped us so that we are unable to respond to themarginalized. The basic motivation for Levan writing the book is statedas, “Are you searching for an answer to the predicament of your affluence?After you’ve approached the third homeless person in as many blocks, doyou ask ‘What must I do?’ It is in answer to that question that I havewritten this book” (p. 5).136 ConsensusHis answer to this situation is to propose an ethic of relinquishmentwhereby we, the prosperous and powerful, let go or give up some of thesethings for the sake of the poor. Levan asserts that his ethic of relinquish-ment is basic to Christian Stewardship and is “in fact the primary issuefacing affluent North American Christians. It is the very essence of ourfaith journey. I consider it the start of our theology of liberation” (p. 7).This book is designed around three workshops. The first one providesthe biblical basis, focusing upon how the consumer society has affected oursense of identity, which in turn makes it difficult to relinquish our pos-sessiveness. In the second workshop “solidarity with the marginalized”is presented as a way to enable the “letting go” to happen. Both of theseworkshops have a dialogue within them between a couple of leaves on a tree,one of which refuses to “let go” in the autumn. These express poignantlysome of the interpersonal dynamics and points of view connected with pos-sessiveness, but at the same time these conversations are humorous andentertaining. These sections could easily be used to facilitate discussionson a subject that some would find difficult or perhaps even offensive.Even while Levan is promoting an “ethic of relinquishment” he rec-ognizes an inherent danger in the relationship between the powerful andthe powerless in that those who have the power expect self-sacrifice fromthe poor and dependent. Therefore, this theology is directed toward theaffluent and not as a message to further oppress the “have-nots”. Levanaddresses the issue of dualism and its distortions as well as the danger of“blind abdication” pursued in an effort to “let-go”. What is needed is to“relinquish our possessive spirit, but in so doing we are not relieved of ourresponsibility to care for creation” (p. 87). The life of the dancing stewardis not one lived in isolation but in solidarity, particularly with the dispos-sessed and those who labour with and for them, and in seeking greaterjustice within the systems of society.The third workshop is entitled “The Mystery of Expectancy”. Levanmaintains that life lived in solidarity with the marginalized isn’t sufficientby itself; rather it requires a sense of expectancy as well. This sense ofexpectancy is linked to the belief that we will be given enough throughGod’s provision which calls for us to live out a trust in God’s care for usso that we might be free to grow and to live in solidarity with others.Toward the end of the book Levan includes a “vision list” to aid inconsidering possibilities for action ip one’s own life. But before doing thathe warns that, “the point of the whole exercise of relinquishment and soli-darity is empowerment of the dispossessed and not the enhancement of ourown status or virtue” (p. 152).Levan proposes that Christian Stewardship is like a dance that circlesand changes as we move to the rhythm of discipleship, changing, adjust-ing, and growing while leaving behind that which would interfere with theinvitation to follow Christ out into the world.I found this book stimulating and insightful. Christopher Levan as-tutely analyses the acquisitive lifestyle and its effect upon the identity ofBook Reviews 137the powerful in North America. He aptly addresses how Christian Stew-ardship is a needed call to discipleship, especially in our society. I highlyrecommend this book.Julianna Wehrfritz-HansonShepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church,Calgary, AlbertaChristian Ethics: A Historical IntroductionJ. Philip WogamanLouisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993xi + 340 pp. $19.99 U.S.A Senior Minister of Foundry United Methodist Church and Professorof Ch^stian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.,J. Philip Wogaman has been an important voice in Protestant ethics. Anauthor of books on Christian moral judgment and economic ethics, Woga-man now turns his attention to the legacy of Christian ethics, a legacy thatis neither monolithic nor altogether positive. The conviction driving thiswork is compelling: . if Christians are to accept the responsibilities oftheir own era, they need to know something of the mistakes as well as theinsights and triumphs of Christian witness in previous generations” (p. ix).Six tensions frame Wogaman’s discussion of this ambiguous history. Inthe biblical legacy of Christian ethics as well as in its modern context,Wogaman finds tensions between revelation and reason, materialism andthe life of the spirit, universalism and group identity, grace and law, love andforce, status and equality. That Christians have made no better headwayin resolving these tensions might discourage the reader interested in happyendings. But Wogaman offers these six tensions not as conflicts demandingresolution but rather as enduring compass markings in the rugged terrainof Christian discipleship.Relying on primary texts, Wogaman traces the history of these ten-sions throughout the history of Christianity: early Christianity throughSt. Augustine, medieval Christianity, Reformation and Enlightenment,eighteenth- and nineteenth-century rationalism and evangelicalism, and thetwentieth century. Nor is Wogaman’s primary focus Protestant ethics.Chapters on Catholic humanism and reformation in the sixteenth centuryand on papal social encyclicals, Vatican II, liberation theology, and ecu-menical social ethics in the twentieth century enrich his text. Wogamanattends to contemporary questions throughout: war and peace, the statusof women and slaves, the question of poverty, thus gleaning the wisdom ofcenturies past for present generations of Christians.Wogaman’s survey of the broad scope of Christian ethics is an impres-sive and important addition to the libraries of any student of the faith, lay.

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