Business
Items related to the worlds of commerce and markets
A Reading List on Faith and Business
Mon 09 Jul 2007 by Stefan G. Lanfer
This reading list is from Stefan Lanfer’s bibliography for his 2006 MBA thesis, “Believing at Work,” which is summarized here.
Jesus Christ: Not Your Typical Company Man
Mon 07 May 2007 • Responses: 3 • by Gary Moore
On Reintegrating Business and the Christian Ethic
Investment counselor Gary Moore addresses the issue of church leaders more concerned for their institutions than helping lay Christians integrate the teachings of Jesus with their workplace occupations. By contrast, he looks at the concept of our responsibility to rightly apply our own expertise.
Room for God at Work?
Thu 05 Apr 2007 by C. William Pollard
David W. Miller, God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement, Oxford University Press, November 2006, Hardcover, 232 pages, ISBN 0195314808.
In our diverse and pluralistic society, is there room for God at work? Are there not some lessons from history or societal norms that provide good reason for separating the sacred from the secular? What is there in common between the labor of my work, the profit I seek in my business, and the God I worship on Sunday?
In his recent book, God at Work, David Miller, executive director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale, responds to these questions and more as he provides an extensive review of the development and history of the faith-at-work movement and discusses the implication of its growing acceptance and potential value for the way we do business and the way we live and relate to each other.
Success, Stress, and Purpose in Today’s Business World
Thu 29 Mar 2007 • Responses: 1 • by Ken Costa
Rediscovering the religious debate in the corporation
UBS Investment Bank Vice-Chairman Ken Costa reflects on work and meaning, hope and wisdom, and the role of faith in the corporate setting in this speech presented for The Trinity Forum at The St Stephen’s Club, London, in March. He suggests that finding meaning and purpose in life is the greatest global challenge of our time.
The Economics of Slavery
Tue 27 Feb 2007 by Peter Edman
We need the creativity of a George Washington Carver to tackle the slave economy.
One thing that strikes me as I consider the statistics of modern-day slavery that Jody Hassett Sanchez and others report—upwards of 27 million people and an economic impact of $12 billion (presumably yearly)—is that, even bracketing the horrendous moral issues for a moment, the economic return is so appalling.
Consider by comparison the case of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest corporation: It has around 106,000 employees worldwide and made a profit of $39.5 billion just in 2006. Considering their $340 billion in revenue, some analysts argue that their return on investment is actually low. I’m no analyst, but it looks to me like a person in slavery generates $444. Compare this with the $373,000 profit and $3.2 million revenue per Exxon employee. It boggles the mind.
The Duty of the Christian Business Man
Tue 24 Oct 2006 by Phillips Brooks
“Is it possible for a man to be engaged in the activities of our modern life and yet to be a Christian? Is it possible for a man to be a broker, a shopkeeper, a lawyer, a mechanic, is it possible for a man to be engaged in a business of today, and yet love his God and his fellow-man as himself?”
Editor’s Note: Dallas Willard mentioned Phillips Brooks in a footnote in his recent article, so we thought to find something by him to share with our readers. Brooks (1835–1893) was an Episcopal clergyman who ended his career as Bishop of Massachusetts. After reading this, it may become clearer why he was ranked as one of the greatest preachers of his day. This midday sermon, sadly abbreviated, is from the 1895 edition of his Addresses, available from Project Gutenberg. Its vision of the Christian life will challenge and inspire both believers and seekers. You can (and should) download a PDF version of the entire sermon here.
In the first section excerpted here, Brooks sets out something of his understanding of the Christian life as life, and in the second section he has some more direct reflections on what this means for those engaged in business.
The Business of Business
Wed 11 Oct 2006 • Responses: 6 • by Dallas Willard
Business is a profession, and professions have a moral role in society
In this exclusive article, Senior Fellow Dallas Willard discusses the purpose of being in business. He argues for a return to the view of commerce as a profession like law and medicine and discusses what this would mean in practice. So, if you are in business, what does true success look like? There is, he says, much more to business than its mere survival and profit.
Freeing the Slaves of the Market
Fri 08 Sep 2006 • Responses: 3 • by Vigen Guroian
Why (and how) we should teach literature to business students
Dr. Vigen Guroian has concluded that his college is “complicit in producing so-called educated people who are deaf to wisdom, blind to beauty, and incapable of mounting an argument for goodness and truth against evil and falsehood.” In response, he decided this spring to try an experiment with a class of business undergrads, helping them to make the distinction between a truly liberating education and mere training for work, showing them how literature can help make them—and us—more fully human. This is his story.
Do Business Programs Produce Slaves to the Market?
Mon 21 Aug 2006 • Responses: 5 • by Vigen Guroian
“Are we in many if not most of our colleges and universities training young men and women to be mules of the marketplace, deprived of a moral imagination?”
American society is business oriented and has been so for some time, with obvious benefits. The vast majority of American citizens enjoy material comforts unimagined even by the very wealthiest in former ages. While some people lament the hedonism of American life—no one expects the basic structure or influence of the American economy to change any time soon. How does education fit into this scenario?
In the not-so-distant past, we founded and built land-grant and agricultural colleges to service the needs of an agricultural economy, and some of our great state colleges and universities carry that legacy. For the past fifty years, however, and especially over the last quarter century, colleges and universities have responded to the manpower needs of America’s businesses by establishing or expanding business schools and programs. Are such programs threatening the business culture and enslaving business leaders?
Guptara Audio on Revolutionizing Business
Tue 27 Sep 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow Prabhu Guptara has a 90-minute lecture available online from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
The lecture, titled “Revolutionising Business,” is available in MP3 format from this site. He addresses three questions: Is there a biblical view of business? What would the consequences be for business issues if so, at a board level? And What might this have to do with the possibility of a radically human practise of business?
Their site has several other interesting articles and lectures that may also be worth your time to peruse.
