One short sentence in the Christian Bible has become the favorite American maxim about the struggles inherent in giving. It is, of course – “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Almost every interpreter – at least among those whose writings we have studied – hastens to remind the readers that the problem lies not in the presence of money, but in the nature of the “love” we bestow on money.

For nearly fifteen years Robert Wuthnow has been exploring the cultural context within which the contemporary forms of these “loves” have taken shape. For the most part, he has focused on “materialism” as a particularly fruitful way of understanding our behavior.

“Materialism,” he writes, “is such an integral feature of American life that we cannot imagine living without it. Insofar as we are willing to discuss it at all, we are more inclined to seek solutions that permit us to have our cake and eat it too.”

This judgment can be found in an evocative essay, “A Good Life and a Good Society: the Debate over Materialism,” his introduction to Rethinking Materialism: Perspectives on the Spiritual Dimension of Economic Behavior, Ed. Robert Wuthnow (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1995), pp. 1- 21. Another resource is Chapter 6, “The Meaning of Materialism” (pp. 153 – 190) in Robert Wuthnow. God and Mammon in America (New York: Free Press, 1994). See also Chapter 10, “Rediscovering Community: The Cultural Potential of Caring Behavior and Voluntary Service,” (pp. 265 – 291) in Robert Wuthnow, Poor Richard’s Principle: Rediscovering the American Dream through the Moral Dimension of Work, Business and Money (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

A quite different kind of resource is available in Jacob Needleman. Money and the Meaning of Life (New York. Doubleday, 1991). See, in particular, Chapter 13 - 15, (pp. 152 –184) While reflecting on the saying – “the love of money is the root of all evil” – Needleman declares, “It’s not the money, it’s the love that is the problem. But the question remains: why? . . .So it is the most practical thing in the world to find conditions of living in which another kind of ‘love’ can be explored in oneself, a love that doesn’t diminish our consciousness, doesn’t devour our awareness (p. 183)."