Finding Meaning in Business: Theology, Ethics, and Vocation

The twenty-first-century business world has witnessed a series of large-scale scandals and outright fraud. New legislation aims to help identify future cases of fraud and stop the trend, but is it enough? How can people of faith balance the requirements of faith with the demands of economic life within an increasingly corrupted society? Why did so many people participate or choose to ignore downright fraud in the past and how can we start the business community on a path of recovery? These essays pursue these question and many others, including the meta-ethical foundations of vocation as a necessary step for business recovery. They maintain that what is taking place in businesses today is not just the loss of will to do good, but the loss of meaning, which ultimately demands more than what traditional business ethics and corporate social responsibility can offer. Combining creative biblical interpretation, Christian moral reflection, and business expertise, this book is thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how business leaders, professionals, and students can integrate a sense of calling into their careers and into the business world as a whole.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE: BUSINESS AND CALLING Giving Meaning to Work: The Spiritual Challenge of Our Time Ingeborg Gabriel Reclaiming the Concept of Calling Hans Dirk van Hoogstraten The Entrepreneurial Vocation: Is Creating Wealth a Calling? Georges Enderle The Evolution of Business as a Christian Calling Gary L. Chamberlain PART TWO: FOSTERING A COMMUNITY OF WORK Toward a Theology of Business Denise Daniels Fusion, Fission, or Vision: One Calling, Three Metaphors John Strain and John Sherrington The Enterprise as Community of Persons: The Case of Bimbo Group Patricia Debeljuh PART THREE: FORMATION OF BUSINESS LEADERS Questions Organizational Leaders Pose to Theologians Andre Delbecq Roman Catholic and Protestant Perspectives on Business as a Calling: Managerial Leadership in the Corporate Sphere Shirley Roels and Regina Wentzel Wolfe Toward an Experience Training: A Perspective from Lonergan Maria Soledad Martinez Kasten, translated by Bartholomew C. Okonkwo Pedagogical Models and Practice Jack Ruhe and Ron Nahser Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
BARTHOLOMEW C. OKONKWO is a Nigerian analyst and prolific writer of multifarious interests covering Politics, Religion and Human relations. He is the research director, St. Bonaventure's Center for Catholic studies, Osha, Nigeria. Among his other books are the Mystery of Human Personhood and A Time to Speak: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Homosexuality.