When the Going Gets Tough: A Spirituality for Hard Times

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster, British Columbia.

From the time of Christ, there has been in the minds of most of his
followers a very strong connection between faithful discipleship and
material poverty. “Blessed are the poor ...” has impressed countless
generations. Discovering what poverty means in our postindustrial
society and how it relates to our spiritual health is the focus of this
book.

The meat of Wickham’s thinking is in the last half of the book; the
first half is basically the setting of the historical and theological
stage. He points out that the language we use to discuss “Christian
poverty” comes from the agricultural stage of human economic activity.
In today’s economy, Christian poverty should no longer be seen as
deliberate physical destitution, as it was in former times, but instead
should be viewed as the intellectual and spiritual orientation of giving
primacy in one’s life to spiritual realities over material realities.
In practical terms, this means seeking and developing a “downward
mobility” in the material aspects of one’s life for the sake of
spiritual growth and the seeking of justice for all people.

The strength of this volume is that Wickham leads the reader into a new
way of understanding Christian poverty, one that makes sense to people
in our current economic system. However, this is diluted by the brevity
of the book, which does not allow the author to develop his beyond an
initial sketch. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile read for persons of
faith who are seeking to grow in the life of discipleship.