I consider myself blessed today to have found a paper about “theology of business.” This is the first academic paper I read after being engaged in financial literacy, personal development, and entrepreneurship for less than two years now. The title of the paper is Towards a Statement on the Biblical Purposes of Business. It was a result of collaborative efforts of the faculty of an evangelical Christian university’s business school. They wrote this paper seven years ago.
The questions answered in the paper are as follows (p.2):
- How should Christians, particularly the laity who work in business-oriented vocations, thoughtfully and faithfully approach their work?
- Is there a particular approach that should be adopted for Christians involved with business?
- Should commercial activity be engaged exclusively through hostile “prophetic” means, enthusiastically embraced, or something in between?
It is great to read that the writers have recognized that there is such a need for a theology of business. In their attempt to present such a theology, they utilized three popular biblical themes to inform Christian practices in business. These three biblical themes are:
- The doctrine of creation
- The doctrine of the fall and
- The doctrine of redemption.
I just passed through the first two sections of the paper. I find the section on redemption very helpful and enlightening. This is not the kind of topic or theology that one can easily find in existing seminaries I know. I am impressed finding out that the authors of the paper agree about the importance of the place of redemption in their attempt of formulating a theology of business. And at the same time, I find it funny.
What does theology have to do with business? And what does business have to do with theology? It appears that these two fields are irreconcilable. Theology is all about God. And business is all about profit.
I hope to read more papers like this in the coming days. I personally believe that the labor of the authors have long been overdue. Their voice needs to be heard hoping that it will create a change among believers how we view Christian life in the marketplace.
Returning to the content of the paper, I find three parts in the paper very helpful:
- The use of Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture
- The section on the way redemption informs believers’ understanding and practices in business
- Implications and the invitation to continuous discussion
The Use of Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture
From Niebuhr’s book, 5 possible business models emerged. These are:
- Christ against business
- Christ of business
- Christ above business
- Christ and business in paradox
- Christ transforming business
The authors provided a chart in page 13 for readers to have an overview of these 5 models.
The first two models are considered untenable. The authors affirm that experience confirms the other three remaining models but I think they are proposing the last model – Christ transforming business.
How Redemption Informs Christians the Way to Understand Business
Redemption informs our understanding of business in seven ways:
- Continuation of God’s purpose for business, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
- The nature of our work has been changed in terms of correction, restoration, and addition.
- Faithfulness in implementing the purpose of God in business will experience on occasion “struggle, pain and loss.” This is the cross part. And this cross part of Christian obedience requires a definition of success (p. 14).
- Faithfulness in implementing kingdom values will also result into success. Here I remember one Christian blogger who states that following Christian principles in the marketplace really makes business sense.
- “Christians in business are participants by the Spirit in the redemptive work of God…A calling into business is intrinsically a holy calling.”
- “Christians can conduct business with the assurance that their work has eternal significance.” I understand this as a work that cooperates with God in kingdom building here on earth.
- “Christians can conduct business with complete confidence that in the end God’s purposes for creation will be completely fulfilled.”
- Question about profit
- Questions about stewardship, ownership, and sustainability
- Question about the workability of redemptive approach to business and
- Question about the need for institutional change
Credit to Business as Mission and Jeff Van Duzer, Randal S. Franz, Gary L. Karns, Tim Dearborn, Denise Daniels and Kenman L. Wong.
Christian Entrepreneur 