This troubling book regarding Paul's interaction with the slave of a Christian implies a number of fruitful illustrations for getting across the point that God cares for the poor, for those who have been and are enslaved, and that they have an important contribution to make to the life of the church. Slavery is still a problem in the modern world. As recently as 2010 the U.S. State Department's office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons reported 1.3 million persons are enslaved. And poverty is of course the condition of slaves, just as poverty itself enslaves. The U.S.
