Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, And Your Street

This reading group guide for Rediscovering Values includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Jim Wallis. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

Part treatise, part blueprint for personal and economic recovery and sustainability, and part meditation on America’s shifting moral center, Rediscovering Values features New York Times bestselling author and public theologian Jim Wallis at his best. 

With the invisible hand of the market reaching a God-like status during the economic boom of the past decade, many Americans have been misdirecting their faith and have allowed greed and financial prospects to guide them. But, maintains Wallis, it is in times of crises where opportunities for change arise.  Rather than letting the events of the Great Recession defeat us, Wallis urges Americans to recalibrate their lives, creating a moral compass for the new economy.  The old maxims that got us into this mess were greed is good, it’s all about me and I want it now.  It’s time to replace those misguided principles with some of our oldest and best values--enough is enough, we’re in this together, and a mindset that considers how our decisions will affect the next seven generations.    Remembering these lessons will not only help us keep afloat during the Great Recession, but will keep us from falling victim to the traps that led us here in the first place.  Wallis calls for a conversion to take place--an economic and spiritual conversion that extends from Wall Street, to Main Street, to Your Street.

 

Questions for Discussion

1.  One of the most poignant moments of the book occurs early on as Wallis describes his experience reciting Gandhi’s Seven Deadly Social Sins to a room full of world business leaders (p. 6). Discuss these seven pillars of wisdom. How can they be applied to economics? Did the violation of any of these social contracts lead directly or indirectly to the Great Recession?

2.   Wallis uses several biblical passages to illustrate that many of our current financial and moral dilemmas are as old as history.  Most notably, the narrative of the Money Changers (p. 18), the parable of the Golden Calf (p.26)  and the parable of the Good Samaritan (p. 55). Which of these passages of scripture spoke to you the most?  Which do you think is most directly applicable to the Great Recession?

3.   Debt is a tool, Wallis argues, that can help achieve goals and dreams but can also be seductive and destructive.  What lessons can we learn from the Great Recession about how debt is used and abused?

4.   “New Old Values” (p. 84) is an important concept to grasp while trying to avoid falling back into the same old pre-recession habits.  What “New Old Values” can you remember from your childhood? Are there any “New Old Values” that you think will prove vital to our nation’s economic recovery?

 5.    One of the telltale signs of a coming economic downturn, Wallis notes, is a period of opulent spending and conspicuous consumption that precedes a crash.  Is it more difficult to keep a moral compass during times of great economic growth or during the financial struggles of a recession?

6. Wallis draws several parallels between the Great Depression and the Great Recession. The Great Depression left an indelible mark on the generation who experienced it. What values do we generally associate with Americans who lived through this difficult time? Are those values still applicable today?

7.  With the unemployment rate rising and the lingering effects of our recession becoming even more visible, Wallis observes that the poor are now our neighbors and friends, not just an unseen subsection of the population. Is it immoral for us to ignore poverty in America until it directly affects us?

8.  “The Great Lie” in chapter six is that wealth is God’s reward for spiritual righteousness, and that the poor are being punished for their moral depravity. Do you agree that this is simply a myth? Why or why not?

9. God’s economy, Wallis says, is ruled by the principle “there is enough, if we share it” (p. 38), yet the gap between rich and poor in the world continues to widen.  Are people with a lot of money morally obligated to share their wealth?

10. Do you think that government initiatives to temper extreme disparities are an un-American approach to our economic disparities? Wallis argues that the gap between rich and poor will continuously widen if there is no interventions for the common good. Do you agree?

11. Wallis is careful to distinguish between blind rage and effective anger. Rage is a reaction, whereas effective anger comes with a vision (p. 92). Are there other emotions and feelings that can be harnessed and put to good use as we recover from the recession?

12.  Wallis chooses to use the word “conversion” to describe the change that America needs. What does conversion mean when applied to personal behavior, the economy, and the whole of society? (p. 135).  Do you think an overhaul of values in American society can be an inter-faith effort, or will crisis drive us further apart?

13.  After reading this book, what values do you think are the most important to rediscover? What should be the values on Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street?



Enhance Your Book Club

1.  Pick up a copy of Sojourners, the magazine founded by Jim Wallis. This Washington D.C.-based periodical is full of stories that expand upon current events touched upon in this book.  You can easily enhance your discussions on topics such as health care and the emerging green economy by revisiting these hot-button issues every month. 

2.  How do you stack up to the world’s richest? You’d be surprised. Go to the Global Rich List recommended on page 82 of the book to get some perspective on America’s incredible standard of living (www.globalrichlist.com). Put your annual salary to the test: a modest $25,000 a year would put you in the top 10 percent of the world’s richest people!

3.  As Wallis notes “While you can read this book on your own, you can’t live it on your own” (p. 13).  Put your own thoughts and ideas into action by joining the discussion online at www.rediscoveringvalues.org. The fight against poverty and economic and social justice in America and worldwide cannot be won alone.

4.  In the book, Wallis points out that before Adam Smith wrote his famous treaty on economics, he wrote about ethics and morality.  In fact, it seems that morality and economics are inextricably linked.  Ayn Rand, a strong proponent of free market ideology, argued that selfishness is a virtue while Wallis argues that it is a vice.  Do you think you can separate economics and morality?  Is selfishness a virtue or is it a vice? 

5. Everyone has had their own personal experiences with the Great Recession. Take turns sharing a story that encapsulates what you think makes this time in American history unique.  Are you optimistic that we will come out of this a better nation, or are we bound to repeat the mistakes of the past?


A Conversation with Jim Wallis

1. Did you always envision writing a book centered on economics, or was the project a response to our current financial climate and the new challenges America faces as a result?

I actually had about five other book ideas and not a single one of them had this kind of focus on economics.  I began to tell the story about the World Economic Forum, which I write about in the introduction, and I would get an overwhelming response.  After one talk that included “Sunday School with Jon Stewart” and the story of the five loaves and two fish, my special assistant and communication manager, Tim King, told me, “Jim, there is a book in that sermon!”  He would sit in the crowd while I preached, and he would describe the looks of hope on people’s faces when they heard about the idea of “God’s Economy” and using the crisis as an opportunity to relearn old lessons.  We started working on an outline and researching soon after that.

 

2.  You pinpoint the green revolution and the movement toward clean energy as a key to our economic and moral recovery. Do you think that the moral benefits of pursuing clean energy are sufficient to stave off any short-term financial disincentives?  Do you envision that moral profits and losses will ever play a bigger role than financial profits and losses in our decision making?

As evidenced at the World Economic Forum, more and more business leaders are beginning to think in terms of more than just a financial bottom line.  They are also thinking about community impact and environmental stability as bottom lines, and they are learning that you can both do good and do well.  It’s true that a movement towards a green economy might make the cost of filling up your car go up a bit, but that also means more jobs for people in our country to make sure we have alternative energy resources.  Investing in public transportation might mean a good chunk of change, but it also means that more kids living in the city can leave their inhalers at home because the air they are breathing is cleaner.  Putting money into weatherizing your home and getting energy efficient appliances means an investment now with savings for years to come.  If your mindset stays “I want it now,” then a green revolution makes little sense; but if you care about your kids and have a seventh-generation mindset, then you have both a moral and an economic imperative.

 

3.  You have stated publicly many times that you believe religion does not have a monopoly on morality, and yet you are a very prominent Christian leader.  Is it difficult to bridge the gap between faiths while simultaneously maintaining a strong Christian belief yourself?

I work hard to bridge the gaps between people of other faiths exactly because of how strongly I hold my own Christian beliefs. Working with people who believe differently than I do in no way makes me give up any of the unique truth claims that I hold as a follower of Christ.  Globally, I have over one billion Muslim neighbors; I can either be an agent of peace, as Jesus told his disciples to be, or I can be an agent for conflict and violence.  I choose peace.  Some of my nearest and dearest friends--friends whom I would trust with my life--claim no particular faith at all. But when it comes to things like concern for the poor, hope for peace, and preservation of the environment, I sometimes find I have more things in common with them than with some Christians I know. 

 

4. With so much corruption in the financial sector coming to light during the recession, it is impossible to dismiss the notion that wealth corrupts.  With this in mind, would you advise young men and women to steer away from careers in finance or challenge them to transform the industry while keeping both feet firmly grounded?