For the first time in my life, I’m not really sure what I’m going to be arguing in the book I’m working on..
As I’ve said before, some months ago my publisher suggested I change course for the next book. Instead of what I had been focusing on for some months (a book on the canon – how we got the 27 books of the NT – a book that I’ll do soon as well, but not first), she said they would love to have a book about: Jesus the Socialist.
As always, with virtually every suggestion I get about virtually everything (academically related or otherwise), I was dubious, not sure I really wanted to do that. But then I thought about it for a while, and realized it could be really interesting. I had dealt with Jesus’ view of wealth in my last book Love thy Stranger, but this would be a different sort of thing, more along the lines of how Jesus’ views might relate to our modern economies.
On one level that seems kinda obvious
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Mixing political statements with theological and historical statements would only seem to divide your potential audience. ” The Economy of Jesus” would be a more flexible title what could be made more attractive with some twists “The Wealth of Jesus” or “Jesus versus Poverty”, etc. I like your idea of connecting to Luke 16:9.
I suggest you avoid diving too deeply into specific economic theories as they can also be divisive and highly disputable. It seems that simply defining and differentiating between Marxism and socialism is difficult enough right now for most people to grasp.