Christ Among the Classes The Rich, the Poor, and the Mission of the Church

Almost everyone I know and every social group I belong to could benefit from a careful reading of this challenging little volume. In an age (that means every age, perhaps especially our age) when genuine concern for the poor so naturally mutates into harsh judgment or simple neglect; when even "Christian" political leaders avert their eyes or simply ignore the complicated "other"; when many churches seem to see as their mission the creation of insular communities, schools, institutions and facilities designed to keep the poor out of sight and out of mind; this timely book needs to be read and discussed. If repentance for the systemic evils of our self-serving "empty way of life inherited from our forefathers" is even possible, it might begin with this modest but hard-hitting book.

Simple, lucid and clear. You may not agree with Tizon's perspectives; but as you read each chapter, I can guarantee deeper reflection and quest for God's kingdom come, on earth as it is heaven. As one, more materially endowed, living among a people and a continent of deep impoverishment and socioeconomic inequalities, Al Tizon's Christ Among the Classes has encouraged and challenged me towards my quest for a more just social order, in the name of Christ.

This book provides the reader with a much-needed reminder to the essence of God's mission. By presenting practical guidelines, Al passionately argues that the church is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in advocating for the poor. His passionate appeal to the church in the West "to remember the poor" has implications to the rapidly growing church in the Global South too. His perspectives give insights to the church in a context of great material poverty and flourishing of Prosperity Gospel which associates poverty with divine disfavor thereby twisting the gospel. Al's book, therefore, transmits a message of warning and hope.

I lived among scavengers in a garbage dump in the heart of the city of Manila for more than thirty years because I realized, as Al Tizon writes, classism is an affront to the God of justice. His book goes right to the heart of the matter: if the wealthy do not repent, the human race will soon perish from the face of the earth. The rich have to more towards compassion and solidarity as the book suggests, otherwise, in the face of the pandemic, the brutal invasion of Ukraine, and the devastation that will be wrought by climate change, we might have no world at all in a very short while.

There's a great amount of talk about justice in the larger Church. This is good and ought to be affirmed. Yet, this can also be a challenge because the topic of justice can simply be reduced to an event or a conference. In Al Tizon's latest book, Christ Among the Classes, Tizon invites us to a deeper probe and examination of the root and consequences of classism - a subject often neglected in the pursuit of justice. In this book, he offers one of the most helpful definitions of classism and how this fundamentally impacts the "the poor" - and the imbalance or lack of mutuality in relationships between the haves and have nots. Be warned, this is not a feel good, fuzzy book. It's challenging, prophetic, and disruptive and yet, calls the reader - and the Church - to deeper self examination of classism, but all while calling us to follow and embody Christ. This is a challenging book but make no mistake about it, this is a must read.