The Dispossessed: Homeless in America

by George Grant

They have always been with us. From the glory days of ancient Rome to the high-tech decadence of modern America, from the Protestant Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, from the golden age to the space age, they have always haunted our cities and our consciences. They exist on the fringes, taking meals and shelter when and where they can. They always have. It's just that now there are more of them. As many as three million of these dispossessed souls crowd into tent cities, abandoned warehouses, vermin-infested public shelters, and skid-row back alleys today. So, what can be done? The United Nations has designated 1987 as the International Year of the Homeless to draw attention to this looming crisis and to propose some solutions - more governmental control, centralization of the economy, and the abolition of private property. George Grant has a better idea. In The Dispossessed, he asserts that the solutions to homelessness can be found in the Bible, and he describes what those solutions are in a practical, understandable, compelling style. Very simply, no one has ever written a book on homelessness and social policy like this. Grant is passionate and personal. He is thorough and forthright. He is sensitive and Scriptural. He has done for poverty and social welfare what John Whitehead has done for law and what Francis Schaeffer has done for Christian activism. And best of all, he has given us a literary feast as well. About the Dr. George Grant is the author of nearly 3 dozen books on history, politics, theology, and social issues, including the best-selling Grand Illusions, The Micah Mandate, and Bringing in the Sheaves. He is the director of King's Meadow Study Center , and instructor at Whitefield Theological Seminary, and a Teaching Fellow at Franklin Classical School.

Genres: Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Dr. George Grant is an evangelical educator recognized by a Tennessee newspaper “Review Appeal” as the one who “lives and breathes” education.

Grant is known as a reformed scholar and evangelical activist who hopes to promote sound Christian doctrine, seeking honest answers to honest questions, developing true spirituality and experiencing the beauty of human relationships.

He founded Franklin Classical School, located in Franklin, Tennessee and the King’s Meadow Study Center, which seeks to help the modern church to develop a practical cultural expression of a Christian worldview in art, music, literature, politics, social research, community development and education.

Grant has also produced numerous writings of more than 60 works on the topics relating to theology, school curriculum, arts, fiction and politics.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated with references and statistics, but it's subject matter and the solutions it offers to the perennial problem of poverty and homelessness are relevant as ever.

[Christopher Goins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth re-reading with an intent on diving into the scriptures referenced on each page. There are TONS of scripture referenced which is always a pleasure for those who are worried a pastor is speaking out of his own authority and not God’s.

Then ultimately applying what you learned through your local church should be the goal.

This book, written in the 1980s, is worth an update, statistics and all. It has some surprising stories on what led to certain people’s poverty (feminism, abortion and rent control) and not so surprising (drugs, divorce, and more). Sometimes it’s a storm of issues working to make the person poor. The person’s moral actions could be the wind, the results of that action could be the wave, and other people’s actions against the person could be tide crashing against the shoreline. This book avoids overly simplistic causes of poverty but instead recognizes “it’s more complex than that.” The sinner is dealt with firmly but societal, governmental, and cultural factors are taken into account. Individual responsibility of each person contributing to their own poverty is highlighted and maintained when appropriate.

Again, scripture is heavily referenced and heavily documented. The footnote frequency is at times one footnote per sentence.

Jesus said the poor will be with us always, as Grant points out. But Grant makes a distinction between “the poor” and the “homeless.” Will the homeless be with us always. The biblical solutions Grant lays out say that the homeless don’t always have to be with us always...but that won’t come outside of the church becoming involved in poverty relief from a Christian perspective.

That leads me to my last point...

Grant explains something to me that I never had explained to me before. He explained how poverty relief got the way it is now (as of 1986). He explains the wrongheaded church people who assisted in the secularization of poverty efforts. While beginning in the Reformation, the transformation of poverty relief from a church function to a secular government function is one we still live with today.