The Anti-Manichaeist

I had the blessing of when I was in Sweden meeting the Christian author, Ruth Valerio. She is an English-woman, a convert from Judaism(albeit from a somewhat secularized family) and has written a book, L is for Lifestyle. The book offers some practical ways Christians can hold to the statement made in 1980 by the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization and the World Evangelical Fellowship (now called the World Evangelical Alliance) called ‘An Evangelical Commitment to Simple Lifestyle’.

Valerio’s books are well written. She’s a very good communicator and very charismatic. Her husband runs the FAIRTRADE Non Government Organization(NGO) and sometimes her solutions to issues is for people to buy more fairtrade products, even if the prices are higher. But I don’t mind that too much. One thing that did come out from our conversation was that while she was definitely an enthusiast for Christian NGOs, she was less committed to seeking to reform in our int’l governance or decision-making bodies. I made some reading suggestions and suggested that she look into the topic of UN Reform.

But I thought her writing is worth sharing about, particular in her ideas of how churches can get local stores to stock FAIRTRADE alternatives for so many common foods.
dlw