The best finance books for biblically conservative Christians

This is the top-selling financial book of all time. I have read it and recommended it to others. The book has mass appeal because it’s not strictly Christian. Get-rich-quick schemes are avoided in place of a simple, and straightforward approach. The program, Financial Peace University, has been used in churches and secular organizations. The major focus is the elimination of debt. The accompanying radio show, podcasts, and supplemental material also have this focus.

The Total Money Makeover has appealed to unbelievers because it lacks biblical support and it is not boldly Christian. Some people are turned off by Mr. Ramsey’s wealth and want a more conservative flavor. While many of the principles in the book (such as avoiding debt and saving money) are in Scripture, the verses are not presented; therefore, the credibility of the book is built on Mr. Ramsey’s credibility, versus the credibility of God’s Word. The author’s opinion versus God’s.

Larry Burkett founded Crown Financial Ministries, had an accompanying radio show, and wrote many wonderful financial books. His program has been used by many individuals and churches, and is the closest rival to Dave Ramsey’s program.

How to Manage Your Money resembles my own book in that it deals with people’s attitudes toward money and is biblically based. The book itself, as the title touts, is as much (or more) of a Bible study than it is a how-to book. 

I am thankful for Mr. Burkett and all of his contributions to God’s kingdom, but with his passing his books and program no longer have the same appeal or platform they had before.

God and Money is primarily a guide to giving, but secondarily it is a testimony of how the authors were attending Harvard and became convicted about their extravagant lifestyles and the need to give more. The book largely discusses the different approaches to act on this burden. 

While God and Money focuses on giving, they followed up with True Riches which uses a “putting off and putting on” type of approach: pride to gratitude, coveting to content, anxiety to trust, indifference to love are the chapter topics. At around 100 pages, the book is limited in scope and repeats some of the material (such as the testimonies and approaches) from the previous book.

The biggest drawback for these authors is they haven’t built platforms. Neither have author profiles on sites, such as Goodreads and BookBub. Only one has an Amazon profile. The website, God and Money, is limited with no blog or listed speaking engagements since 2016.

Ms. Pegue is a speaker and television host on TBN. She made a splash in 2005 with her book, 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue, which she then capitalized on by publishing a 30 Day Series. Taming Your Finances was second in the series.

Although some of Ms. Pegues’s other books are outwardly Christian, this one is not.

Ms. Pegue has no children, which will compromise her credibility with readers who have children. With eight children, no debt, and two paid-off mortgages on a single-income pastor’s salary, I believe I’ll have the credibility they desire. 

Ms. Pegue was the CFO of West Angeles Church of God in Christ when it took on a $35 million loan to construct their building, which was the largest loan ever given to a religious institution.

The book is also fairly short at only 140 pages.

Mr. Alcorn’s book provides an eternal view of our temporary wealth and possessions. The primary focus, spread over the course of the book, can be boiled down to one point: the heavenly perspective we should have will help us be good earthly stewards.

In Mr. Alcorn’s own words, the book is “thoroughly researched…a biblical comprehensive view,” and it should be at over 500 pages! He strives to cover every conceivable topic related to money, such as investing, retirement, gambling, inheritances, giving, and the list goes on. 

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? As one review who provided a one-star review said, “In the interests of full disclosure I have only read halfway through this book.” Mark Twain famously said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.”