Loaded

Money and the Spirituality of Enough

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 30 Apr 2016 | Archive Date 12 May 2016

Description

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
– Matthew 6:19 – 21

In a culture sickened by materialism, gluttony and greed of all kinds, the Gospel's call to live simply and to share abundantly is more pressing than ever. For many of us, voluntary poverty is an ideal. But to be voluntarily poor—as opposed to the pendulum swings of overspending, underearning and pathological self-deprivation that can dictate our lives—we have to be rich first: in trust and love, if not in money.

In Loaded: Money and the Spirituality of Enough, lawyer-turned-writer Heather King shares her own recovery around money as well as the stories of others who have worked to reverse self-defeating patterns and move on to a healthy, mindful relationship with money. In an approach that's very much informed by Jesus's many words on the subject, she offers simple, proactive and transformative steps you can take to heed the Gospel's call in your own life. The language of Loaded will be familiar to those in recovery for addictions of various kinds, and easily accessible to those who aren't. Wherever you fall on the spectrum between freedom and bondage around money, these stories and tools will help. And the underlying principles—clarity, honesty, the confluence of will and grace—apply in every area of our lives.

Unlike so many money books, Loaded is not about how to make more and consume more. It's about how to detach from the idea that our identity could possibly lie in how much or how little money we have.

It's about discovering that money is a means of love and service. And it's about following the deepest desires of your heart—and discovering that the real economy is, “As you give, so shall you receive.”

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781616369590
PRICE $14.99 (USD)

Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

First off this book is not at all what I was expecting. I thought I went in without any pre-conceived notions but then I started reading. I discovered and realized some things about myself while reading this book which I definitely wasn't expecting.

While this book discusses and addresses money wounds and unhealthy money habits it has also helped me address a few other wounds and unhealthy habits I have in other areas of my life. The exercises, case studies and other tools throughout the book are beneficial and not to be skipped. And I have found they can be tweaked to other areas of my life as well.

The chapters were short but not empty or lacking though I did wish a few of them had gone a little deeper.

There are seven main sections:- The Truth:The Law of Love, The Lie:The Law of Fear, Coming Awake, Forensics, Healing, Dating our Dreams, Leap.

This book doesn't tell you how to get out of debt or how to make more money but helps you heal and move forward towards those things.

Was this review helpful?

I've read many books on money, particularly money and Christianity. Heather King's Loaded: Money and the Spirituality of Enough is the most unusual one I've read. Her target audience is people who have chosen voluntary poverty or asceticism. King's perspective is that Christians shouldn't feel compelled to underearn. She says Loaded is about "how to detach from the idea that our identity could possibly lie in how much or how little money we make or have."

King says she wants to "explore how we might spend as much of our days as possible doing what we love." When we "follow the deepest desires of our heart. . . . the money will come. And we'll want to share it." I appreciate that sentiment, but I didn't feel like that is really what the book accomplished. The main message I took away from Loaded is to be okay with having enough and spending what you have on what you need.

King and some of the individuals she profiles in Loaded come from a perspective of voluntary poverty, where they underearned and struggled with guilt if they spent money. She talks about going through twelve step programs to find freedom in earning money and using it. Don't get me wrong, King is all for living simply and is definitely not in favor of the excesses of American consumer culture. But neither is she in favor of choosing poverty as an end rather than a means to an end. She concludes, "We help poor people not by compulsively staying poor ourselves, but by sharing our material and emotional riches with them."

King knows her audience, people like her who have been involved in the Catholic Worker movement, or who have otherwise lived lives of voluntary poverty. That is a pretty small audience. Most Christians in mainstream America come from an opposite place. But for her audience her writing is relatable and, at times, moving. Whether we have a little or a lot, live in a slum or a suburb, King reminds us to do what you love and be generous with what you have.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: