Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-174) and indexes.

Distributing Earth's benefits and burdens -- Defining terms -- Using the free market as distributor -- Adam Smith (1723-1790) -- The legal presuppositions of capitalism -- Psychological presuppositions of capitalism -- Mainstream economics -- The free market and distributive justice -- Why the poor won't necessarily gain from the free market's distribution -- More free exchange need not result in more well-being -- The strategy of rational satisfaction of an individual's preferences will not necessarily yield the greatest good -- The free market takes initial endowments as givens -- Even markets functioning in a pareto optimal manner will not necessarily provide basic sustenance -- The economic concept of value is not responsive to the claim to basic sustenance -- The incomparability of needs and preferences -- Conclusion -- What the Bible says about poverty -- Creation -- The Exodus and distribution of land -- Covenant law -- Advocacy for the poor -- Jubilee -- The poor are always with you -- The need to work -- Shalom -- Equality -- Bridges -- Conclusion -- Moving from the Bible to the present -- Contemporary theologies -- Basic needs -- Rights and responsibilities -- Conclusion -- Distributing benefits and burdens according to "spheres" -- Distributive justice and contemporary theory -- Abraham Kuyper -- Michael Walzer -- David Miller's appropriation of Walzer -- Summary and synthesis of Kuyper, Walzer, and Miller -- What we can really accomplish -- Promising economic directions -- Objections -- Poverty and development.