How the Church Fails Businesspeople (And What Can Be Done About It)


Book Description

Why do so many Christians struggle to relate their faith to their daily work? In this book John C. Knapp argues that the church's ambiguous teachings about vocation, money, and business have long contributed to Christians' uncertainty about discipleship in the workplace. Drawing on his own expertise in business ethics and numerous interviews with Christians in diverse occupations, Knapp offers a new theological framework for Christian life in the world of business.




Reimagining Christian Education


Book Description

This book is an arresting interdisciplinary publication on Christian education, comprising works by leading scholars, professionals and practitioners from around the globe. It focuses on the integrated approaches to Christian education that are both theoretically sound and practically beneficial, and identifies innovative pedagogical methods and tools that have been field-tested and practice-approved. It discusses topics such as exploring programmes and courses through different lenses; learning challenges and opportunities within organisational management; theology of business; Christian models of teaching in different contexts; job preparedness; developing different interpretive or meaning-making frameworks for working with social justice, people with disability, non-profit community organisations and in developing country contexts. It offers graduate students, teachers, school administrators, organisational leaders, theologians, researchers and education practitioners a fresh and inspiring reimagining of Christian education perspectives and practices and the ramifications of their application to life-long learning.




Honorable in Business


Book Description

How can one be a Christian in the world of business, not just on the weekend? How can one be honorable in business? Through the integration of the Christian worldview and business ethics, this book provides Christians with a mental framework with which to answer these important questions. Beginning with Genesis as the foundation for the Christian's worldview and the Ten Commandments as the outline for the Christian's ethical obligations, the authors develop principles upon which ethical choices can be made, even when working in a primarily non-Christian-oriented business environment. The book is designed to be helpful both to those beginning their career in business and those already employed in business who struggle with how to engage in today's business environment while maintaining their commitment to God's vision for life to be both meaningful and honorable. Topics of business ethics such as employee rights, discrimination, technology and privacy, insider trading and accounting fraud, and the special challenges of working internationally are covered. The added value this book brings to these discussions lies in its serious consideration of the Christian worldview as foundational to ethical decision-making in everyday areas of business.




Experiences in Teaching Business Ethics


Book Description

The primary purpose of this book is to stimulate dialogue and discussion about the most effective ways of teaching ethics. Contributors to the book focus on approaches and methodologies and lessons learned that are having an impact in leading students to confront with accountability and understanding the bases of their ethical thinking, the responsibilities they have to an enlarged base of stakeholders (whose needs and interests often are conflicting), and their stewardship to use their talents responsibility not only in fulfilling an enterprise's economic goals but also to recognize the impact of their actions on both individuals and larger society. The primary audiences for the book are those individuals responsible for teaching management, especially those with responsibilities for teaching business ethics. But the book is also designed for practicing managers, for these managers have among their most important responsibilities the development of people in their organizations who have the integrity, values, and competences to be effective managers of economic resources while at the same time to recognize the roles of their enterprise in shaping society.




Merchants and Ministers


Book Description

Two of the most influential forces in American history are business and religion. Merchants and Ministers weaves the two together in a history of the relationship between businesspeople and Christian clergy. From fur traders and missionaries who explored the interior of the continent to Gilded-Age corporate titans and their clerical confidants to black businessmen and their ministerial collaborators in the Civil Rights movement, Merchants and Ministers tells stories of interactions between businesspeople and clergy from the colonial period to the present. It presents a complex picture of this relationship, highlighting both conflict and cooperation between the two groups. By placing anecdotal detail in the context of general developments in commerce and Christianity, Merchants and Ministers traces the contours of American history and illuminates those contours with the personal stories of businesspeople and clergy.




We Can Make the World Economy a Sustainable Global Home


Book Description

This book by theologian-ethicist Lewis Mudge offers fresh philosophical and theological concepts, economic and political insights, and practical financial proposals to counter the causes and lasting effects of the worldwide recession that began in late 2007. The historical and global dimensions of Mudge s perspective and his open-ended suggestions keep the book s arguments highly relevant today, little affected by daily changes in a world economy still suffering from the reverberations of the credit collapse several years ago. Editorial references in footnotes provide up-to-date data and add nuances to the major issues raised by Mudge. To help foster the ecumenical dialogue Mudge calls for, We Can Make the World Economy a Sustainable Global Home includes responses from Elliott N. Dorff, John C. Knapp, and Djamel Eddine Laouisset a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim.




The Conviction to Lead


Book Description

Change the Way You Think about Leadership At the age of thirty-three, Dr. Albert Mohler became the youngest president in the 164-year history of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was the driving force behind the school's transformation into a thriving institution with an international reputation characterized by a passionate conviction for truth. In the process he became one of the most important and prominent Christian voices in contemporary culture. What will it take to transform your leadership? Effective leaders need more than administrative skills and vision. They need to be able to change the hearts and minds of those they lead. Leadership like this requires passionate beliefs that can stand up to pressure from without and within. In this updated edition Dr. Mohler has added a new introduction and conclusion based on an additional 10 years of leadership. He has also completely rewritten the chapter "The Digital Leader." The Conviction to Lead will crystallize your convictions while revolutionizing your thinking, your decision-making, your communication, and ultimately, those you lead. "Dr. Al Mohler has written a book that shakes us up and challenges our thinking. The Conviction to Lead is poised to become one of the all-time classic works on Christian leadership."--JIM DALY, President - Focus on the Family "Having rarely thought about leadership, I was hooked from the first chapter--to my complete surprise. This is a powerful book and gracefully written."--FRED BARNES, Executive Editor--The Weekly Standard




Our Secular Vocation


Book Description

The divide between the sacred and the secular life has dogged Christians for centuries. Even today, many Christians and church leaders still assume that the workplace is inferior to pastoring, Bible study, mission trips, and the like. This volume provides a different approach: it surveys the persistence of the sacred-secular divide in Christian history to develop a more robust theology of vocation while engaging with both the Old and New Testament. Charles offers a vision for numerous ways Christians are called to live faithfully in the so-called secular world.




Ex Auditu - Volume 27


Book Description

Introduction / Klyne Snodgrass A Christian View of Wealth and Possessions: An Old Testament Perspective / Hugh G. M. Williamson Response to Williamson / James K. Bruckner Poverty and Paul's Gospel / Bruce W. Longenecker Response to Longenecker / Aaron Kuecker A Patristic View of Wealth and Possessions / Helen Rhee Response to Rhee / Bradley Nassif Blessings, Curses, and the Cross / Kelly Johnson Money and Possessions: A Biblical Perspective / Jonathan J. Bonk Response to Bonk / Liz Mosbo VerHage Decorum and Deeds in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 in Light of Ephesiaca by Xenophon of Ephesus / Gary G. Hoag Response to Hoag / Lyn Nixon Wealth, Lordless Powers, and the Rule of Christ / Mark Husbands Response to Husbands / William Myatt Money and Possessions / Will Willimon




Crossing Thresholds


Book Description

We live in an age of enormous and rapid change, but how do people, organisations, even whole cultures and societies change? And where is God in such transformations? For more than a hundred years, anthropology has taught us that entering a chaotic, awesome and fraught 'threshold' - or liminal space - is fundamental to our renewal as human beings. Yet none of us goes willingly into such places. We need to be 'held' in liminal movement so that it is safe enough to change. Crossing Thresholds is the first inter-disciplinary theological treatment of the universal phenomenon of liminality. Developing practical wisdom from foundations in the work of Victor Turner, Donald Winnicott and Bruce Reed, the authors explore the place of liminality in the worship, mission and hermeneutics of the Church and reflect on its usefulness to a wide range of Christian practice. For all those who strive to think theologically about the great transitions of life, this comprehensive work offers unique insight into what it is to safely cross the threshold of chaos and embrace the future with courage.