Only when we realize a right relationship to money entails a right relationship to God, ourselves, and others can we experience the well-being for which we long. Money then becomes a tool to achieve our desires and do good in the world. Money, in the biblical tradition is the raw material God uses to teach us to trust, to love, to serve one another, and to restore God's creation.


Do we help others with our money or do we honor them? Is there a difference?

How we handle our money and what we think about money is a reflection on our emotional disciplines.

There are seven ways we can handle our money that is biblical. With the help of Old Testaments giants Abraham/hospitality; Isaac/discipline; Jacob/beauty; Joseph/connection; Moses/endurance; Aaron/humility; David/leadership. Each of these by example of strength and weakness can help us discover how to relate to our resources that give the Lord glory and keep us from our resources owning us.

The text starts with you taking a test of money type and also shows the shadow of your money type. Where you might get in trouble in how you handle or relate to money. This is the part that I found most interesting and I found true. I did have hard time with the "broad brush" of money types and the biblical characters. Money with experience and background makes how we relate to money very complex and not so easy to put a type to it. Fear and love is the driving force behind how we relate to money and is at the root of our money problems.

All in all, I think some would benefit from this read and others might want to pass.

A Special Thank You to Zondervan and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

The book was very dry and the material has been discussed in many other books.

This book is a very interesting take on how people relate to money beyond the spender/saver or analytical/free spirit dichotomies. I really liked how Biblical the descriptions were, how each Old Testament patriarch reflected a certain characteristic of God and how those characteristics play out in our own lives today. I found out that I’m strongly an Abraham, one who uses money for hospitality and gifts. It was intriguing to read the various aspects of this quality along with the drawbacks.

If you’d like to understand how you relate to money better or if you’d like to understand how your spouse or children relate to money better, then I highly recommend this book. It’s not preachy, nor does it present impossible solutions. Rather, it’s practical, applicable, and even transformative in helping us understand how to use the tool of money in our own lives and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

I gratefully received this book as a free eARC from the author, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I am neither a Christian nor a religious person, however I recognize that this book provides us with a valuable model that presents a conciliatory perspective between our perception of material reality and our spiritual inner reality. We have all developed a relationship with money according to our personality, experiences, life decisions, cultural paradigms and education, which we mainly model of our parents. Our mentality is permeated with limiting beliefs, for example there are many popular sayings and negative beliefs surrounding that hold the inability to lead a spiritual life with a life of material wealth, or that money makes us bad people. Even economists have few concepts to explain abundance, there are no equations that describe it and ground their economic theory on scarcity.
I recommend this book for all people who suffer from some conflict with money, in conjunction with limiting religious or spiritual beliefs, which restrict their ability to live a fuller and responsible life. We are all responsible for the valuable resources that the planet has of this beautiful paradise, the current economic system is destroying the biodiversity, seriously affecting future generations. And I believe that each of us can collaborate to reverse this damage, transform our culture on money, and build a new paradigm at the level of the incarnated spirits that we are. Whenever our choices are based on values and virtues will be in the good of all, we will act by maximizing our capabilities, we will live deliberately with a high purpose, build relationships based on trust and truth, inspire and lead others.
In this book the pastor and financial management educator Tommy Brown explains that it all begins in the Garden of Eden, and the way we relate to money has a greater intentionality and impact on our lives. The divine intention has been to restore the image of God and express his love and care for the world, and through the life of seven biblical characters remind us what it is to collaborate with this restoration. This idea holds that the way these men handled their resources affected their relationship with God, in this way each reflects a virtuous aspect of the image of God as: hospitality, discipline, beauty, connection, endurance, humility, leadership. The interesting thing is that each money type has a shadow side, they are expressions of failures that affect how we manage the resources and that we can use them as a growth opportunity to develop the virtues. In this way we align With how God designed us, therefore it is possible to honor him by making a good use of money, profoundly impact the world and live more holistically. It also invites us to use the information to consider seeing this sacred aspect of God in other people and their money types, accept their unique expression and allowing different ways of relating to money and being able to work together.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book

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Different theories about money exist and the more you read books about money, the better educated you are to make an informed decision about how you interact with money.

Tommy writes about money and financial well-being based on the Biblical/ Jewish characters of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David.

He provides an assessment of 35 statements for the reader to discover their money type. The he proceeds in following chapters to define what each money type is. I found out I was the Abraham Money type (which is focused on hospitality).

I also learned about my shadow side - self sufficiency. This is basically when one finds it difficult receiving generosity from others. Tommy cautions that this may morph into a superiority mindset.

Rating: 3/5

Favourite quote: “Your financial leadership is about more than your own life, and whether or not we catch your vision at the onset, we need you to keep pressing on. Embrace your desire to create new futures with money.”

Moses Type, Lighten Up!

In THE SEVEN MONEY TYPES author Tommy Brown identifies seven Biblical figures—each with a certain strength. Here’s the point: If you can understand your “money type,” you will better understand why you approach money in a certain way, and why others don’t.

There is a separate chapter for each Old Testament figure.
Abraham—Hospitality
Isaac— Discipline
Jacob—Beauty
Joseph—Connection
Moses—Endurance
Aaron—Humility
David—Leadership

Each of the O.T. figures illustrate a certain attribute of God’s influence. So, “Abraham offers God’s hospitality. Isaac demonstrates God’s discipline. Jacob reflects God’s beauty. Joseph depicts God’s connection. Moses manifests God’s endurance. Aaron embodies God’s humility. David influences with God’s leadership.”

I first took the quiz to see which basket I fit in. The quiz is called, “Discover Your Money Type: The Seven Money Types Assessment.” There are 35 easy questions.

Well, it turns out I am a “Moses” type with David a close second. Not surprisingly, as an engineer-type, I discovered that I really liked strong budgeting and control: “A Moses type’s life reeks of order, and those who need order are drawn to Moses types to glean their wisdom.”

Yea!

On the other hand, we Moses types have a tendency to be overly critical to others. Ouch! The author calls these negative aspects the “shadow side.” Each famous Biblical figure had “deep flaws that flowed from the shadow side of their lives.”

So all in all, I found THE SEVEN MONEY TYPES a useful, easy read. The seven money types remind me a lot of personality types. It doesn’t seem critical to appreciating the book to actually believe there are literally these seven types. The book is filled with useful stories about real-life folks who have a certain money type. Each story relates a tale of strengths and struggles. I found these anecdotes useful and encouraging. The appendix contains “Prompts for Group Discussion.”

Advance Review copy courtesy of the publisher.