Press Release

Faithful Finances 101 From the Poverty of Fear and Greed to the Riches of Spiritual Investing Gary Moore Introduction by Sir John Templeton For Immediate Release Contact: Sharon Kelly Tel. (484) 531-8380 Email: publicity@templetonpress.org Saturday, January 01, 2005

"Many financial gurus are ignorant of spiritual matters. Many spiritual leaders are ignorant of financial matters. In a rare blend, Gary Moore brings together proven financial expertise with mature spiritual insights. This book is a must read for those who care about managing their finances faithfully."

-David W. Miller, Ph.D.,
Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Yale Divinity School

"The book is hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and intellectually challenging, offering a Christian view of macroeconomics rather than a mere how-to guide for personal finance."-Publishers Weekly

Gary Moore, former senior vice president of investments at Paine Webber before founding his own investment firm as "counsel to ethical and spiritual investors," draws on fifty years of studying the Bible, politics, and economics. This book is for those who want to be faithful in their finances—to use one hundred percent of their time, talent and treasure "for the glory of God as well as for the benefit of others and themselves, and not just give ten percent of their incomes to the church."

In Faithful Finances 101 (Templeton Foundation Press, $11.95), Moore cautions that much of the financial advice emanating from some influential evangelical authors and speakers is based on scare tactics and distortions of Biblical teachings. Moore, on the other hand, is committed to steering clear of three extremes often found in religious economics: he does not fearfully predict a poor third millennium as that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy if believed by enough people; he will not guarantee that in order to grow richer, people need only to refer to selected passages in the Bible; and he does not insist that anyone "don sackcloth and ashes in order to be a faithful steward." He calls for "a dose of moderating humility" with a "wholesale shift beginning with the recognition that all we have ultimately belongs to God…[and] having faith that if we're doing what we are supposed to do today, God will take care of the future."

Moore helps us to focus on the difficult art of creating wealth without destroying the soul in the process. He directs readers to passages in both the Jewish and Christian scriptures to paint the holistic spirit of the Bible. "It is the loving spirit of the Bible—and not the meaning of specific verses addressed to an ancient people—that frees us for the more abundant life in our modern world," he explains. "Discerning between the promises of God and the imaginings of humans is one of the richest gifts of the Bible and the spiritual life."

The Book of Genesis, for example, focuses on creation. While the Western church today typically quotes passages about wealth re-distribution (through tithing, giving, estate planning, taxation, Third World debt forgiveness, etc.), stewardship in the biblical spirit and ethic is far more about how we co-create all wealth and manage all those assets, rather than how we share a small portion of our incomes. One of the great paradoxes of the Judeo-Christian faith, Moore points out, is that true wealth, or wealth both earned and used in a spiritual and ethical way, is "an indirect by-product, or gift from God, rather than the direct goal of a spiritual life."

Neither the Jewish nor Christian scriptures offer a guarantee of financial wealth, states Moore. "To believe and teach that it does is to turn the ancient scriptures into New Age entertainment, a Disneyland where everyone is healthy and wealthy." The Bible is actually about how to love God and neighbor as self. And this, Moore says, happens to be "the best wealth management strategy [he's] learned in twenty-five years on Wall Street." For the truly abundant life, "invest your time, talent and treasure with all your heart;" accept the graceful love of God and have that grace flow toward your neighbors; and. . .

Be careful to treat only the teachings of God, not those of people, even religious people, as gospel. Seek the counsel of wise persons, including religious persons. But treat it as counsel, not gospel.

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