A Revival in the Business World?

The event happened in 1984. It was a Symposium on Christianity and Business. Men like R. J. Rushdoony and Otto J. Scott were born ahead of their time. After 27 years, their message is still not popular among Christians today. The question “What the hell does my Christianity have to do with my business”? is still true today for most Christians. We are infected by escapist pietism and have withdrawn for so long our influence from the business world.

But it is not yet too late. Many are waking up. I personally see the global financial crisis a wake up call from God for Christian principles to make a comeback into the world of business.

Otto J. Scott lamented in 1984 the isolation of Christians in the US from the public arena. This is in view of the fact that even though Christians remain the majority, their ideas are considered appropriate only as a private matter whereas the opinion of the minority occupies the status and influence that shape the public life. For Scott, this is an unthinkable development with the history of the US proving that it rose into power and influence all over the world through the application of Christian principles (p.9).

Otto J. Scott quoting Dr. Owen Chadwick ascribed to Reformation the rise of the Western civilization into power. Dr. Chadwick states that the Reformation

made all secular life into a vocation of God. It refused any longer to regard  the  specially  religious  calling  of  priest  or  monk  as higher in the moral scale than the calling of cobbler or prince. Christian energy was turned away from the still and contemplative towards action. The man who would leave the world turned into the man who would change the world (p.10).

Where is that kind of energy now in the life of contemporary Christians? What happened to Christianity? Have we suffered amnesia, which caused us to forget our past? Or have we been too comfortable due to the fruit of the labors of the founding fathers that we have taken our rights for granted?

Scott calls this current passivity of Christianity as “retrogression.” This retrogression has resulted not only into the displacing of Christianity from the public sphere into the periphery but has also created what Scott calls “the world’s largest ghetto in the United States”.

It is largely believed that we are now living in a “Post-Christian Era.” But Scott during the time of his writing of his contribution to this Symposium foresaw “a great Christian revival” and claimed that probably, this will be “the greatest in our history.”

Twenty-seven years have passed but we have not yet seen such revival. Where is this revival, which has long been foretold? Are we in its midst already? Or have we retreated again into our comfortable zone? I hope Scott was right about this “greatest revival.” He saw it through the formation of “new churches, new groupings, new and younger Christian professionals, artists, technicians—and even new business organizations” (p.10).

This revival according to Scott is not confined to churches but penetrating all levels of national life, including the corporate life. The editors merged all the articles presented in 1984 Symposium into a journal with the intention of looking at the business side of this great revival.

Reference:

The Journal of Christian Reconstruction Volume 10 / Number 2, 1984, Symposium on Christianity and Business, R.J. Rushdoony & Otto J. Scott, Editors.

http://chlcdnpubs.s3.amazonaws.com/JCRv10n02-17FL.pdf