Assignment: Key Philosophers in Ethical Decision-making Paper Write a 800-1000 word paper that discusses an ethical dilemma you have experienced. In order for something to be an ethical dilemma, it must involve the choice of between two or more options, all of which involve difficulty, risk, or some other potential harm to one’s career, family, self, financial livelihood, etc. In your paper address the following: • Describe the ethical dilemma you have experienced. • Review the basic positions of the following philosophers: Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill…Which of these philosophers can you apply to your dilemma, and why? • Discuss the role of management in the ethical dilemma you faced. • Finish by writing about how you resolved the ethical dilemma. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. BUSINESS ETHICS IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE A Comprehensive Introduction Michael E. Cafferky Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. www.IVPress.com/academic Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. For my family. I am so proud of you. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Outline of the Book General Introduction Part I The Fundamentals Chapter 1 Why Ethics in Business Is Important Chapter 2 Fundamental Tensions in the Environment of Business Chapter 3 Biblical Themes for Business Ethics—Part 1 Chapter 4 Biblical Themes for Business Ethics—Part 2 Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Part II Contemporary Approaches Chapter 5 Egoism Chapter 6 Relativism Chapter 7 Common Sense Chapter 8 Social Contract Chapter 9 Utilitarianism Chapter 10 Universalism Chapter 11 Agency Chapter 12 Justice and Rights Chapter 13 Virtues and Character Part III Contemporary Issues Chapter 14 Ethical Issues in Consumer Behavior Chapter 15 Ethical Issues in Management Chapter 16 Ethical Issues in Accounting and Finance Chapter 17 Ethical Issues in Marketing Chapter 18 Ethical Issues in Global Business Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Part IV Widening the Perspective Chapter 19 Corporate Responsibility Chapter 20 Evaluating the Morality of Political-Economic Systems Chapter 21 Moral Muteness and Pressure to Compromise Part V Appendixes and Case Studies Appendix A: Key Questions from the Biblical Themes Appendix B: Scriptural Basis for the Biblical Themes Appendix C: Biblical Themes Summary Tables Appendix D: Ten Principles for Flourishing Appendix E: Summary of Ethical Models in Comparison Appendix F: The Purpose of Business Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Appendix G: Ethical and Social Issue Debate Topics Appendix H: Prosperity in the Bible: Q & A Bible Study Case Studies Notes Subject Index Praise for Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective About the Author More Titles from InterVarsity Press Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Copyright Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Preface Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Ps 84:10-11) As an undergraduate student, I found that the course in Christian ethics was the most difficult and least interesting of all required subjects that I completed. In retrospect, if I had been given a choice, I probably would not have enrolled in the course. At the time I lacked the vision to see how practical such a course can be. Some of the theories were confusing. I had no idea how to reconcile the contradictions or resolve the paradoxes that seemed to plague the discussions of complicated ethical issues. The cases discussed (abortion, euthanasia, lying to protect your family from an evil home invader) seemed to be remote from the world I expected to enter after graduation. No one that I knew ever had an abortion. As far as I knew, it just was not done in our small community. Growing up in Clarkston, Washington, a small town in Asotin County, I had never heard of anyone who had to defend his or her home against an invader. Now, many years later, having had the benefit of twenty-five years of experience in leadership in the marketplace in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and a dozen years teaching management, strategy, organization theory and business ethics, I find the subject to be one of the most interesting of all that I encounter. Given the scriptural perspective, it has become for me the most compelling. More than any other course in the business school curriculum, it is business ethics that offers the potential to challenge us to the core of who we are. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. In my other courses in management theory and practice I find more and more that these essentially involve teaching ethics through a different lens. Above all else, for good or for ill, managers are the ethical leaders in their organ­izations and society as a whole. An outgrowth of my continued study following the publication of Management: A Faith-Based Perspective, this text, Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective, attempts to let scriptural thinking represent itself in the conversations about business ethics. It is designed for faith-based colleges and universities that want to offer a business ethics course from a biblical perspective and in doing so engage in a guided conversation about right and wrong in the marketplace. 1 The book is built on the premise that, while the Bible is the absolute objective authority on ethical matters, it is the members of the faith community who must interpret the Bible through dialogue together under changing historical, social and technological conditions. Traditionally religious leaders and scholars have taken the lead in this conversation. Other community leaders participate from the point of view of government organizations, nonprofit agencies and for-profit firms. Accordingly, this book is intended to contribute to the faith community conversation on business ethics. Its contribution lies primarily in two areas: 1. An exposition of a dozen biblical story themes that guide thinking and action in the world of business. These themes form the structure of the faith community’s conversation from a biblical perspective. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. 2. An application of the biblical ethics process which involves the community as much as it does the individual. Most business ethics and social responsibility textbooks approach their subjects from the perspective of Western philosophy, law, economics or management. These books either ignore or gloss over religious values and teachings. Most books on ethics appear hesitant to mention specific religions or the Bible. Yet, religion is considered one of the most important cultural influences in Western society. Even if people do not have in-depth knowledge of what the Bible says, religion remains important for social behaviors. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. From the perspective of the Christian college and university, leaders and students desire to experience transformed lives. Studying religion and attending religious services play an important part in this. But who says that the only settings in which personal transformation can occur are located in the college chapel, church or the religion classroom? Isn’t it possible that the study of business and business ethics can also contribute to this? If faith comes by hearing the word of Christ, 2 isn’t it possible that the study of business can present opportunities to hear the Word and thereby experience faith for the marketplace? Should the problem of biblical illiteracy be given to religion faculty, pastors and priests to correct? Framed in more blunt terms, on what basis should the Christian business classroom abdicate its role (some would say responsibility) in teaching the biblical foundations for business? This book offers an understanding of such a deep foundation. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Features of This Book After all is said about theological foundations for business, ultimately it is what we do in the marketplace that matters, not just what we think about or how we feel. Thus, this book is not merely a book about theology or theory. It is a book that considers moral action guided by scriptural assumptions and scriptural thinking. The section “Down to the Nitty-Gritty” in the various chapters encourages students to engage in community dialogue as part of ethical actions. The collection of interwoven Scripture themes that form the intellectual engine of the book distinguishes it from other substitutes. The opening scenarios of chapters and the end-of-book cases combine with the end-of-chapter exercises and discussion vignettes to total more than eighty different business situations that can be evaluated individually and in small groups using the Bible story themes as guides. Because of its focus on biblical themes, something that most other books and articles do not employ, this book makes liberal use of passages from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Accordingly, this book does not consider the Old Testament irrelevant. The contrast that some Christians prefer to make between the two Testaments of the Bible is not made in this book. For example, the Old Testament is not merely about law Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. and the New Testament is not merely about grace. The Old Testament says as much about God’s grace as does the New Testament. The New Testament speaks more about the law of God than some people realize. We see that the authors of the New Testament books quote extensively from Old Testament writings. Jesus was familiar with the Old Testament. He quoted from it, regarded his own work in terms of its message and considered it God’s Word. The New Testament way of thinking builds substantially on Old Testament ideas. Thus, the Old Testament is necessary when trying to understand the message about Jesus given in the New Testament. Accordingly, in this endeavor we see a wonderful unity in diversity among Scripture writers. Most other books merely introduce the various contemporary approaches to business ethics. Little space is devoted to evaluating the pros and cons of these approaches. Little if any space is devoted to critical thinking about these approaches especially as they may or may not align with scriptural thinking. Accordingly, this book will use the biblical themes as a lens through which to evaluate contemporary ethical approaches. Other books on business ethics devote little if any space to the issues of the ethics of buying and consuming products, the community setting for the ethics process, the fundamental tensions in the ethics process and in the environment of business, and the economic implications of the Ten Commandments. Accordingly, this book will advance the conversation about ethics in the market by addressing these issues. This book presents scores of ethical situations to consider in light of the biblical themes and contemporary ethical models. It is designed to introduce you, the reader, to the main elements of biblical story thinking so that you can participate in the community dialogue about these and other situations. Some of the work is done for you to show how the biblical story thinking is applied to some situations. Other situations presented do not provide the solution for you. The process of deciding what is right or wrong in the marketplace we call the ethics process. Ultimately, this is a community process as much as it is a cognitive process of individual reflection that leads to decisions and actions. The style guide for this project is the Chicago Manual of Style. This will be of interest to some readers who have particular expectations for spelling of words related to religious belief. For example, words that refer directly to Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. God and Jesus are always capitalized, but pronouns that refer to God or Jesus (he, him) are not. This is consistent with the convention used by most English translations of the Bible. The words Bible and Scripture are always capitalized, but the words biblical and scriptural are not. When passages of the Bible are quoted, the New American Standard Version is used except where otherwise noted. Part I The Fundamentals (chaps. 1–4) provides an introduction to the big issues at stake. This section presents the heart of the intellectual and faith-based engine of the book. The benefits of an ethical approach to business are presented. Four levels of application are introduced: individual, organizational, industry/profession and the larger economic system. The nature of the ethical, social and legal environment of business is explored in terms of fundamental tensions present there. Spread over two chapters, the biblical themes are introduced as the biblically ideal patterns of marketplace thinking and action. Part II Contemporary Approaches (chaps. 5–13) evaluates common approaches to ethical decision making by evaluating each in terms of the pros and cons and then through the lens of biblical story themes. Some secular approaches have deep Judeo-Christian roots (e.g., justice and rights); others are prima facie at odds with scriptural thinking (e.g., egoism, relativism). The desire in this section is to be fair to Scripture and to contemporary thinking. This requires integrity to acknowledge where Scripture aligns with some elements of the contemporary thinking that is otherwise clearly at odds with the Bible. The following contemporary ethical approaches are evaluated in the light of scriptural themes: egoism Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. relativism common sense social contract utilitarianism universalism agency Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. justice and rights virtues and character Part III Contemporary Issues (chaps. 14–18) focuses on the application of ethics to the traditional business disciplines at the individual, organizational and industry/professional levels. Accordingly, this section presents several contemporary ethical issues that can be found in various settings of the marketplace: consumer ethics seen from the perspectives of the individual, the organization, the industry and the economic system management accounting and finance marketing Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. global business As with the previous section the big issues are considered in the light of the biblical story themes. Part IV Widening the Perspective (chaps. 19–21) concludes the book by exploring through the lens of biblical story themes the application of ethical decision making and accountability in the larger context of the environment of business, including the physical environment and political-economic systems. In this section the book addresses the topic of corporate responsibility. The morality of the larger economic system also is evaluated. The final chapter challenges readers to work intentionally toward developing a stronger, biblical-theme-based moral imagination for use in responding to pressure-packed situations. Part V Appendixes and Case Studies contains additional material that readers may find useful. This part presents several appendixes and seventeen case studies designed for discussion, interesting debate topics that represent some of the directions that community conversations about business ethics take, an outline of the ten principles for a flourishing marketplace (the Ten Commandments), the underlying purpose of business as seen through the lens of biblical story themes, a short Bible reference Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. section that contains support for each of the biblical story themes employed in the book and biblical story theme summary tables that can be used for study and review, and a Q & A Bible study on the topic of prosperity. Collateral Resources I wrote several practical teaching resources as collateral materials for instructors to use in preparation and delivery in Christian colleges and universities. These include the following: instructor’s manual containing suggestions for in-class activities and assignments designed to add interest to class periods, supplemental information on various topics covered here and a sample course syllabus chapter outlines that can be used in traditional lecture formats that contain additional Scripture passages and more in-class discussion questions test item files containing multiple-choice questions and essay questions useful for assessments Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. PowerPoint slide sets (one per chapter) Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible had I not been given an opportunity to interact with undergraduate students in the course “Ethical, Social and Legal Environment of Business” in the topics course “Capitalism and Its Critics” and in the MBA course “Integrating Faith and Business.” The questions that students posed to me spurred my interest to search the Scriptures. Additionally, the doctoral degree courses in business ethics under the leadership of Dr. Sharon Johnson and Dr. Mike Weise at Anderson University Falls School of Business encouraged me to pursue biblical answers to my questions. Dr. Weise gave me valuable guidance early in the process of writing this book. For years I had been studying several of the biblical themes explored in this book. But the “ah-ha!” moment occurred in 2012 in Bloemfontein, South Africa, while I waited my turn to speak at a conference on biblical foundations of academic disciplines. It was then that it became clear to me which biblical story themes apply to business. I appreciate the support from the book development and editorial teams at InterVarsity Press and the peer reviewers who provided many helpful suggestions for how to make this book a better product and the peer reviewers in the Christian Business Faculty Association who have made suggestions for improving the papers I submitted for publication or conference presentation. Tackling a project like this is not easy given the teaching requirements at a small, private university with religious heritage. This requires patience. Moreover, the pain of the opportunity costs incurred from making the commitment to this project I felt on a regular basis. Accordingly, I appreciated when colleagues at Southern Adventist University, both inside and outside the School of Business and Management, encouraged me as I progressed along. As in previous publishing projects, my wife, Marlene, generously supported this project so that I could stay focused on the work. As a result, Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. she had to endure the sacrifices common to writers’ spouses. I appreciated her enthusiasm as each milestone was completed. Thank you! Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Outline of the Book General Introduction Contemporary Business Ethics Process and Content The Perspective of This Book Biblical Perspective on Faith Ethics and the Heart The Personal Perspective The Community (Social Group) Perspective Down to the Nitty-Gritty The Current Crisis The Value of Biblical Story Themes How the Themes Were Selected Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Part I The Fundamentals Chapter 1 Why Ethics in Business Is Important Is Honesty Always the Best Policy? Why More Interest in Business Ethics Now? Benefits of Ethical Business Activities Costs of Unethical Business Activities Why Study Business Ethics? Why Ethical Problems Occur in Business Basic Concepts Four Levels of Application Down to the Nitty-Gritty Chapter 2 Fundamental Tensions in the Environment of Business The Environment of Business The Nature of Paradoxical Tensions Economic Goals Versus Other Goals Individual Needs Versus the Needs of Others Short Term Versus Long Term Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Duty to Others Versus Consequences Universal Principles Versus Particular Situations What Adds to Complexity Down to the Nitty-Gritty The Bible on Fundamental Tensions Chapter 3 Biblical Themes for Business Ethics—Part 1 Powerful Story Themes Why So Many Themes? Cosmic Conflict Creation Holiness Covenant Relationships Down to the Nitty-Gritty Chapter 4 Biblical Themes for Business Ethics—Part 2 Shalom Sabbath Justice Righteousness Truth Wisdom Loving Kindness Redemption Down to the Nitty-Gritty Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Part II Contemporary Approaches Chapter 5 Egoism Definitions and Distinctions Egoism: “Look Out for Yourself Only” Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 6 Relativism Challenges to Traditional Ideas Definitions and Distinctions Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Four Levels of Relativism Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 7 Common Sense Gut Instinct Intuition Practical Judgment Generally Accepted Moral Principles (GAMP) Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 8 Social Contract Definition of Terms Historical Roots of the Social Contract Application to the Business Environment Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Chapter 9 Utilitarianism Historical Roots of Utilitarianism Definitions and Distinctions The Utilitarian Analysis Process Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 10 Universalism Immanuel Kant’s Religious Beliefs Immanuel Kant’s Teaching on Ethics The Three Rational Tests of Morality Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Chapter 11 Agency Historical Background of the Agency Concept Contemporary Concept of Agency: Duties For Whom Does the Agent Work? The Moral Foundation for Agency (Three Views) Agency Problem and Agency Cost Stewardship Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 12 Justice and Rights The Nature of Justice Types of Justice The Nature of Rights Positive Rights and Negative Rights Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Chapter 13 Virtues and Character Virtue Ethics Communal Influences on Virtues A Curious Double Paradox Aristotle on Virtues Character Evaluation: Pros and Cons Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Part III Contemporary Issues Chapter 14 Ethical Issues in Consumer Behavior The Consumer Society Consumer Purchasing Ethics Ethical Ideology Types Neutralization Tactics Business-to-Business (B2B) Purchasing Ethics Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Consumption Behavior at the Industry and Economic System Level The Influence of Religion Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 15 Ethical Issues in Management Overview of Ethical Issues in Management Employment at Will Rights: Before Hiring and After Hiring Employment Discrimination and Reverse Discrimination Employee Rights of Privacy Bullying Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Chapter 16 Ethical Issues in Accounting and Finance The Essence of Fraud Cheating in Financial Management and Investing Characteristics of Fraudsters Catching and Punishing White-Collar Criminals Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 17 Ethical Issues in Marketing Marketing as a Social Process Price Promotion Product Distribution Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 18 Ethical Issues in Global Business Challenges of Globalization Corruption Gift Giving and Bribery International Ethical Standards and Oversight Down to the Nitty-Gritty Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Part IV Widening the Perspective Chapter 19 Corporate Responsibility How Corporate Responsibility Became Popular The Business Case for Corporate Responsibility What Have We Learned? Arguments in Favor of a Broad View Arguments Opposed to a Broad View Sustainable Development Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 20 Evaluating the Morality of Political-Economic Systems Characteristics of an Economic System Free-Market Capitalism: Strengths and Weaknesses The Christian Critique and Response Down to the Nitty-Gritty Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Chapter 21 Moral Muteness and Pressure to Compromise Managing Moral Muteness Dealing with Pressure and Coercion Is Compromise Inevitable? Differences of Opinion Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Part V Appendixes and Case Studies Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Appendix A: Key Questions from the Biblical Themes Appendix B: Scriptural Basis for the Biblical Themes Appendix C: Biblical Themes Summary Tables Appendix D: Ten Principles for Flourishing Appendix E: Summary of Ethical Models in Comparison Appendix F: The Purpose of Business Through the Lens of Biblical Themes Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Appendix G: Ethical and Social Issue Debate Topics Appendix H: Prosperity in the Bible: Q & A Bible Study Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Case Studies Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. General Introduction Fig. I.1. The biblical story themes. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Scripture Passage How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. (Ps 1:1-3) 1 Chapter Overview In this chapter we introduce the concept of biblical story themes that are guides to ethical thinking and action in the marketplace. In particular, we will contrast the contemporary view on the ethics process with a biblical perspective consider the biblical idea of the heart and how this is related to making decisions regarding right and wrong introduce the biblical model of the ethics process as seen from the point of view of the person consider the biblical model of the ethics process from the point of view of the community begin practicing the intrapersonal process and the interpersonal process introduce the value of biblical themes and how they were selected Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Main Topics Contemporary Business Ethics Process and Content The Perspective of This Book Biblical Perspective on Faith Ethics and the Heart The Personal Perspective The Community (Social Group) Perspective Down to the Nitty-Gritty The Current Crisis Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. The Value of Biblical Story Themes How the Themes Were Selected Key Terms biblical ethics process, community perspective, faith, heart, interpersonal, intrapersonal, personal perspective, story themes Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Opening Scenarios In this book we will consider scores of scenarios from the world of business. These will provide us with many opportunities to think and talk about business from a biblical perspective. Some situations in business are relatively simple. We know what is right and wrong. Other situations are more complicated. Let’s start with two short scenarios that illustrate this point. Scenario A. A group of persons skilled in the creation and use of technology install secret video cameras at automatic teller machines (ATMs) and gasoline fuel pumps for the purpose of recording account information and PINs that customers use to access funds in their bank accounts. 2 They combine this with the technology to create fake bank cards which are then used to take money from the bank accounts of unsuspecting bank customers. Is what these sophisticated operators are doing wrong? Scenario B. You move into a new apartment. The first night you are there you open your laptop computer and, wonder of wonders, your computer detects an unsecured WiFi available nearby. The WiFi is called JasonC. The signal strength is medium in your living room. But if you sit in a chair facing the wall between the stove and the refrigerator, the WiFi signal strength goes up. The next morning on your way out to work you meet one of the other tenants in the apartment building. He introduces himself to you as Jason C. You immediately think about the name of the unsecured WiFi you found last night. You decide not to say anything about Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. the WiFi signal to Jason right now. Is it wrong to use Jason’s unsecured WiFi signal to access the Internet without permission? What to do in Scenario A is what we might call straightforward. Most people will say that it is clearly and utterly wrong to use someone else’s bank account information. Furthermore, it is wrong to create fake bank cards and use these to steal from other people’s bank accounts. What to do in Scenario B is not quite as simple to determine compared with Scenario A. It is a little more complicated, though you might have an initial feeling about what is right or wrong. First is the issue of what is being stolen, if anything. Has Jason lost anything of value as a result of your use of his WiFi connection? Has the Internet provider lost anything of value (lost revenue)? Then there is the issue of who has the responsibility to protect access to the Internet. If Jason or the Internet service provider does not secure his Internet connection, does this give you permission to jump on his router and surf the web without permission? Is this an issue of invasion of privacy or theft, or both or neither? If you jump on his WiFi connection but do not hack into Jason’s system, are you invading his privacy? Does it matter whether you live with Jason sharing a room in his apartment or live next door to Jason in a different apartment? Would it matter if you are merely logging on to check email once in a while versus using Jason’s connection to run an e-business out of your apartment? What is the central issue? Is this an ethics issue, or is it merely a question of neighborhood courtesy? While you contemplate the questions relating to Scenario B, consider this: Deciding what to do in these two scenarios depends on your perspective. Thus, it is with the issue of perspective that we start this book. Contemporary Business Ethics Process and Content With some exceptions the contemporary business ethics process is often seen through intra­personal, rational or cognitive dimensions. 3 The process begins when a person encounters a situation in which an ethical choice must be made or when ethical issues are present that require a social response. The person first tries to understand the moral standards that can be used to Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. think through the issues. Moral standards are viewed as personal and person-specific. To resolve the fact that there are personal differences in the moral standards, the person will employ the following process steps: Recognize the moral impact. Consequentialism or perceptions of social expectations form the basis for the analysis at this and later stages of the process. At this point the person considers the benefits and harms, the rights and the wrongs that result from a particular action. The expected reactions of others may be considered. State the moral problem in such a way that it persuades others to see the ethical issues in the same way. This step is often implied, but how and when the attempt to persuade is seldom discussed. Determine the economic outcomes balancing the net good outcomes with the net bad outcomes in order to achieve the optimum result. Here the utilitarian posture, which we will explore later, is hard to miss. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Consider the legal requirements. Laws are formal and specific expressions of social expectations. In addition, society expects its citizens to obey the law. At this step the legal requirements are rationally analyzed. Evaluate the ethical duties. At this point the person will consider some of the content that has traditionally formed the smorgasbord of duties from which to choose as the situation seems to indicate. Included in this list may be religious beliefs which are placed alongside virtues, utilitarianism, the duty to use reason and avoid contradictions, justice and rights. As with the other steps in the process, this is dominated by rational, cognitive activity accomplished by the person. A few observations can be made about this. First, popular contemporary approaches, for most business ethics thinkers, are dominated by the rational, cognitive activity of the person. The social context is not wholly ignored; however, it tends to be de-emphasized in favor of the individual, cognitive activity. At times, this cognitive activity engages others through dialogue or debate and in so doing becomes somewhat political. It is cognitive in that Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. the analysis and decision making occurs primarily in the mind of each person. It becomes political when, as each person follows the analytical steps, he or she realizes that differences of opinion exist. Each attempts to persuade the others of the validity of his or her point of view. This persuasion is seen as primarily a meeting of rational minds but each, at least potentially, that comes from a different starting point. From such dialogue a way through the differences is then negotiated. It is with this typical contemporary individual, cognitive approach that this book is in contrast. Second, not all contemporary approaches are this cut and dried as portrayed here in the steps of the process. Some contemporary approaches emphasize virtues. Others, such as egoism, emphasize what the person desires to achieve placing this above other concerns. Others, such as relativism and the social contract, emphasize social expectations. Even when the various approaches are considered, the rational, cognitive dimensions tend to dominate. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. The Perspective of This Book The goal of the book is to help you understand a biblical perspective so that you can make an informed decision as to what degree this perspective is plausible, defensible and practical in the contemporary market. A related goal is to provide a setting in which you can think carefully about your preferred ethical approach and in the process make a commitment of the heart to an approach which you believe to be best. Another goal is to provide a framework that you can begin practicing now. This is not just a book about theory. It helps you take the first steps of practice in a social setting. Some of the ethical issues that companies and their managers face are relatively straightforward. What is right or wrong may seem obvious. With few exceptions the ethical approaches described in the book will all lead to the same conclusion: Do not lie, cheat or steal! However, as you will see, some of the ethical dilemmas that businesses face are more complicated. It is with these more complicated problems and dilemmas where the ethical perspective you believe is best will be tested. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Some ethical decision-making approaches are easier than others. Some focus on a limited set of issues because the definition of what constitutes justice or rights is simple. As we will see, for example, egoism tends to focus on the interests of the person. Utilitarianism attempts to counteract the shortcomings of egoism by placing all relevant stakeholders in the same status with respect to morals. We use the term process to refer to the intrapersonal (within the person) and interpersonal (between persons) activities which lead to a decision for action or the action itself. A process can be thought of as a sequence of action steps that a person takes to accomplish a task. When faced with an ethical choice, the task is to decide and act on the question, What is the right thing to do in this situation? You will be given, through reasoning and discussions with others, a chance to test these approaches on more complicated ethical questions. You should know that a biblical perspective is not necessarily simple. It may be one of the more comprehensive approaches to ethics. It is capable of being applied to a wide variety of situations. Because of this, in some situations the biblical theme approach may require more work than so-called secular, contemporary approaches. Accordingly this is a book that will guide you in developing critical thinking about the various ethical approaches and how to apply them. Given the theme of this book, some readers may take exception to this suggestion. If you are a Christian and your idea of faith leads you to say something like, “If God said it, I believe it; that’s good enough for me,” then a suggestion of developing critical thinking to evaluate the biblical approach to ethics may be offensive. The premise of the book should not be forgotten here: A biblical perspective is offered as the comprehensive, authoritative standard of ethics yet one that has the potential to be applied to a wide variety of marketplace situations. That being said, the natural response of any reader is to think about the plausibility of such a claim. In the process, you will not avoid thinking about the plausibility of your own preferred approach to deciding right and wrong in business. You may find that some of the ideas you have previously held are not biblical. What will you do when you encounter this? An additional premise is that both Christians and non-Christians take ethical actions and make decisions that can be considered ethical. Christians do not have a monopoly on all things right and wrong. There are some Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. points of alignment between the biblical perspective and some so-called secular approaches to ethics used by non-Christians. Accordingly, this book does not advocate that all non-Christian ways of thinking and acting in the market are wrong. Another premise of this book is that faith does not do away with the need for the Christian to think. Instead, faith informs reason; it is the foundation for reason. Faith should not destroy cognitive function. Said another way, biblical faith does not do away with the need to ask questions and think carefully especially about issues of faith. On the contrary, biblical faith may spark the Christian to ask more questions that need consideration. The recommendation to contrast a biblical perspective with contemporary secular approaches was addressed in the Bible itself. The Bible writers were aware that the primary readers (or hearers) of the Bible story were living, buying, selling, working and playing among people who did not accept biblical ideals. Collectively, they present the Bible story itself as an authoritative and plausible alternative to competing worldviews of the days when the various books were written or the narratives recorded took place. More than 230 times the Bible makes explicit reference to “other gods.” The God presented in the Bible story is implicitly compared with the philosophies that embrace the idea of many divine beings. The Scripture passage at the beginning of this chapter is just one illustration among others throughout the Bible (in both Old and New Testaments) where the ways of God are compared with the various ways of people who do not follow God. But nowhere in the Bible are we told to not think about what God says. Indeed, the entire biblical record is designed for just the opposite! It is as though the Bible writers as a group are saying to us, Here is the story about God and his ways. Now consider this long and carefully with your whole being before you reject it in favor of something else! Furthermore, don’t just think about it. Open your whole heart and being to the possibility of embracing the God who is the Author of this way. This is not just about using pure reason alone. Talk about it to other people. So, on the one hand, it is about a enjoying a relationship, but relationships involve the whole person in action with others, not just the powers of logic hidden in one person’s mind. On the other hand, relationships do not short-circuit rational thinking. Using your whole being with all of its capabilities and faculties, Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. body, mind, spirit, emotions, social awareness, perceptions and economic awareness, learn to accept the gift of faithfulness in a relationship with God and with others in the marketplace even when it is not always crystal clear what should be done. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Biblical Perspective on Faith The biblical perspective on business ethics sheds light on the meaning of faith itself. Just as the apostle James wrote to the early Christian church, faith that is not evident in action is not only useless; it is dead! 4 This suggests that belief that is not brought in to action is not truly faith. Biblical faith is not mere belief or mental assent to the proposition that God exists or belief in the truthfulness of what the Bible says when it talks about God or belief in Jesus as your personal Savior. This is a part but not the whole. Biblical faith is more! Biblical faith is not a feeling of certainty that you have correct beliefs. Thus, biblical faith is not a mere sense of psychological certainty which you use to remove all questions, even the difficult ones. Rather, biblical faith involves living a life that is committed to a relationship with God and his way of living even when we do not feel especially close to him and especially when we still have questions. You may encounter a few ambiguous ethical and social situations for which the one “correct answer” is not plain to see. But this does not remove our responsibility to do our best, with the help of the community around us, to make decisions that are faithful. Like the biblical story themes explored in this book, faith is actionoriented, not just psychological or emotional affection. It involves committed faithfulness of your whole being in a social context. In addition, true faith is not just an individualistic way of personal thinking; it is commitment lived in community where the great biblical story themes are shown in action. Accordingly, faith is not merely what you say; it is what you do with others that shows in action what you say. This level of commitment is not something that humans can produce of their own will. What an amazing gift of God faithfulness is. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Faith: faithfulness in action All Christians are called to be witnesses of God. However, there are times and places in the business world where it may be inappropriate to openly talk about religious faith. In such situations every Christian can still speak on behalf of the character of God, drawing attention to the amazing principles of a flourishing life. When you promote these principles, advocate on behalf of them in your organization and integrate them into your own habits, you are telling about Jesus Christ just as surely as when you mention his name. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. When you promote these principles, advocate on behalf of them in your organization and integrate them into your own habits, you are telling about Jesus Christ just as surely as when you mention his name. To start the task of critical thinking about the biblical story perspective, let us consider the biblical portrayal of an important process. As you read, reflect and talk with others about the issues raised in this book you may find yourself coming back to this again and again. In fact, it is the biblical portrayal of the process which is one of the central contributions of this book to the field of business ethics. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Ethics and the Heart Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. That the scriptural approach to business ethics involves more than the use of pure reason alone is addressed in the Bible. The biblical process of making decisions regarding ethics, social justice and social responsibility is rooted in the concept of the heart and its care by a person and by a community of like-minded faithful people. The heart is the seat of decision making, judgment and moral commitments. It is in the heart that a person deals with personal and perceptual biases, battles the tendency toward self-deception, considers how to relate to other people, evaluates the behavior of others in the community and considers what is right and wrong and provides the courage to act on what the person believes to be right. The heart, representing the whole person, is the center of the ethical process seen from the perspective of one person in community. The ancient Hebrew idea of the heart means the “inner person” signifying, in part, that all of life’s experiences in their totality are embraced by, controlled by and enjoyed in the heart. It is as if a real, whole person and this person’s awareness of the entire community resides in the heart directing, evaluating, deciding, acting and responding to the person’s actions as well as the actions of others. Ethical action by one person springs from a heart that is transformed under the power of God and in dialogue with a faith community of persons who are open to being transformed as a community. Notice how the following Scripture emphasizes the whole person in a social context: Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Deut 6:4-7; see also Ex 18:20; Deut 5:33) 5 This idea that the whole person engages in a response to God and to the community was also expressed by Jesus Christ: Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. And He said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Mt 22:37; see Mk 12:30-33; Lk 10:27) Certainly an intrapersonal, cognitive or introspective dimension is important. Humans have an amazing capacity to discern, judge, evaluate, reason, critique, compare and contrast. But the biblical metaphor of the heart communicates that the whole person is involved with ethical decisions and action. The heart is the spring of action. Further, the heart is located in the person, but it takes into consideration the hearts of other persons in the community. With the whole heart each person is responsible for taking a leadership posture with respect to right and wrong. The whole person is involved in interpreting the statements of God’s will. The whole person bears the responsibility for action. The biblical perspective is that the faithful follower of God will keep the heart. Keeping the heart means allowing God to write on the heart the principles of his character designed for us to imitate for our own wellbeing: Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. (Prov 4:23; see also Prov 4:4; 28:26; Deut 4:9) Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (Ps 1:1-2) The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. (Ps 19:7-8) Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip. (Ps 37:31) Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. (Ps 119:11) I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. (Ps 119:32) Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors. (Ps 119:24; see also Prov 2:1-12) These concepts from the Old Testament are consistent with what is found in the New Testament. Jesus taught that it is out of the heart actions in social context come (Mt 12:35; 15:19; Mk 7:21). It is the heart on which God will write his Law to transform us (Heb 10:16). The Bible story portrays the wise person as one who is diligent in keeping his or her heart because it cannot always be trusted if left merely to human devising. In contrast, in the Bible fools are foolish because they trust their own hearts as they are, they do not care for the heart using the principles of God’s commandments and they do not get counsel from Scripture or from other trusted community leaders who are on the pathway to following God’s principles for well-being. The biblical metaphor of the heart refers to the location of several elements of human experience: fundamental beliefs Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. cognitive reasoning judgments and evaluations decisions virtues will memory of personal experiences with other people Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. perceptions of others in the community personal biases awareness of interpersonal relationships commitments to God and to others intuitions conscience human spirit emotions 6 Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. The Personal Perspective In biblical perspective, while it is the person’s responsibility to watch over the heart diligently, ultimately the faithful heart and all it contains for good comes from and is developed by God. It is worth repeating: Not only is the initial acceptance of God, in Jesus Christ, part of the gift of faith. The transformation of the heart toward the actions of faithfulness also is a gift! Accordingly, the person who desires to keep his or her heart commits this choice of allowing God to work on the heart to transform it. This is the ongoing work of faith (faithfulness). It is God who puts his law in the heart; 7 it is God who enlarges the moral capacity of the heart such that, to use scriptural imagery, the person walks and even runs along the way outlined by God. Keeping the heart is also achieved through a process of continual reflection on God’s Word while living life in community. The foundation for this lies in three areas. First, the explicit biblical directions for action should be followed when the issues are clear. These explicit directions must be allowed into the heart. Second, biblical narratives provide us with examples of lessons that can be drawn for our actions. These stories illustrate the principles in action and the social impact of certain themes. Third, biblical story themes embody both the explicit biblical guidance and the lessons from narratives. These themes carry the essential messages of Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. the narratives and the explicit teachings. It is these biblical story themes that are in focus in this book. When difficult situations are encountered, listening to others in the community who are also following God becomes an important part of keeping the heart. 8 These wise persons promote a flourishing life in the community by providing counsel that has passed through their reflection of the themes from God’s Word. This brings them joy and provides you with wisdom. “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel” (Prov 1:5). 9 “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy” (Prov 12:20). Action begins in the heart. Thus, ultimately it is out of the heart, bathed in God’s Word and tested through dialogue with trusted wise persons, that ethical actions flow. 10 But action involves other dimensions of the person, too. This biblical ethics process can be illustrated by figure I.2, which portrays the ethics process as seen from the point of view of a person. As we will see, a biblical perspective on ethics includes the personal (individual) perspective. But it also goes beyond this to embrace a process undertaken in the entire community. Fig. I.2. The biblical ethics process from a personal perspective. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. The Community (Social Group) Perspective While personal responsibility is part of the context of the biblical narratives, pure individualism is not. 11 Ethical decisions and actions are individual, but this does not mean that the personal perspective is the only viewpoint of Scripture. In spite of this, some Christians approach the ethics process as if it is primarily an individual matter. ETHICS thinking and doing Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. “the heart” and “the walk” While the heart is the metaphor which focuses on the personal perspective, it is the metaphor of walking or “the way” or journey which conveys the community perspective of the ethics process. 12 Walking involves more than thinking. It requires action in a community. It means going out among other people, communing with them, engaging them in conversations about life and life activities. It also means taking actions in their presence (after thoughtful consideration) which show who you are and what you stand for. When combined with the personal perspective, as a process ethics becomes both thinking and doing in a community. In this way the action side of ethics is not rash, thoughtless action. Rather, it is action based on thoughtful awareness of how other persons in community see the matter. The following ideas show that the process of discerning right from wrong in the marketplace cannot be purely an individual matter in complicated situations. First, all ethics involves behavior in a social context. If in a social context, at merely a glance we are compelled to ask, how can the ethics process be purely a personal matter? In truth, it cannot. Second, the person contemplating a certain action has a biased point of view representing a particular interest based in personal needs and personal Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. experiences. Other persons (we can call them stakeholders) may have different points of view representing different interests and life experiences. Whenever two sets of stakeholders have competing interests, we get an ethical problem. Finding a way through this problem requires a conversation among the stakeholders who have different interests. An example of competing interests can be found in some buyer-seller relationships, employer-employee relationships and company-society relationships. Third, the rightness or wrongness of certain marketplace actions is not immediately apparent. Some marketplace actions have both desirable and undesirable consequences. Some decisions may require the decision maker to choose between the better of two good things or the lesser of two bad things. The most complicated ethical dilemmas may require both types of choices. Assuming that more than the decision maker is affected by the action, other people may have an opinion about the decision. Fourth, shaping public policy (laws and regulations) based on ethical principles to minimize the risks of unethical behavior requires a conversation among lawmakers and interest groups who represent the various points of view on the ethical issues at stake. Shaping international regulations, laws and policies will require a much more complicated, lengthy discussion. INTERPERSONAL AND INTRAPERSONAL Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Interpersonal: a process that occurs in the context of one or more relationships between persons through conversations Intrapersonal: a process that occurs inside a person’s thinking or self; cognitive, rational, emotional Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Finally, history reveals that group conversations do take place about ethical matters. Although Christians point to the same biblical record as the foundation for their belief and practice, we can see that down through history Christian thinkers who wish to be faithful to that biblical record have had different points of view or points of emphasis when compared with thinkers who lived at different times and places. One might even see the roughly two thousand years of Christian dialogue on ethical matters as being a very slow conversation about difficult ethical matters. Wisdom for ethics is not limited to what a person in isolation from the community is able to learn. It is a person-in-community process and a collective community process of getting and using wisdom. 13 Through conversations about social behaviors faith community members develop a shared belief regarding the origin of ethical principles (i.e., God). This is the community’s way of voicing a belief in existence of absolute, objective standards of conduct. Further, it is the community’s way of positioning this absolute standard outside the persons and the community as a whole while being managed in the community through the participation of persons. In terms of the thesis of this book, it is the collection of biblical story themes which form the content of community dialogue on ethical matters. These themes are the architecture of the narratives which are formed when community members act (see fig. I.3). Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Fig. I.3. The biblical ethics process from a community perspective. Community members accept the Ten Commandments as the fundamental ethical principles that must be followed. But some actions, at least on the surface, need a thorough exploration of how biblical principles should be applied. This requires members of the community to have conversations founded on the same starting point: the principles that foster a life-giving relationship with God and with each other. This is a community process of testing ideas, reflection, debate, decision making, observing results and further reflection. Thus, ethics is as much a community, interpersonal relational process as it is a cognitive, intrapersonal cognitive process. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Deut 6:7) We see examples of the interpersonal process at work in Scripture. Abraham and Lot have a conversation about what to do regarding the conflict that had arisen over scarce resources for their animals. This was an important economic issue. Through this conversation Abraham takes a leadership position by recommending that a geographic division be made between the two families. 14 The experience of the exodus, in part, removes Israel from a situation in which their community conversations about ethics were not allowed to a place where it is allowed and encouraged. 15 The people took full advantage of this newfound freedom to talk. 16 In these stories we learn that all persons Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. affected by a situation can become parties to the conversation that takes place regarding what is right and wrong. The verse from Deuteronomy 6:7 highlighted above refers to the interpersonal dimension. Ethical principles are to be a matter of social conversation not only within the family but also in society as people went about their business walking “by the way.” Moses instituted an organizational restructuring so that leaders among the people who were considered wise in the ways of God would share in the process of giving advice and mediating between disputing parties. “You shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens” (Ex 18:21). Moses warned the people against discontinuing communal dialogue. “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes” (Deut 12:8). Later, under the judges, Israel learned the hard lesson what happens when people stop taking counsel. 17 Still later Solomon warned, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel” (Prov 12:15). Other Bible writers emphasize the importance of counselors. Solomon mentions the importance of seeking counsel from wise people. 18 The king is responsible for advocating on behalf of the poor and anyone who cannot speak for himself or herself. 19 When the civil rulers do not participate in this community conversation about the poor, prophets rise up to rebuke them. The prophet Isaiah foretells the time when God would restore the flourishing life to his people. The presence of counselors was an important step in the process: “Then I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning; after that you will be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city” (Is 1:26). Isaiah identified the coming Messiah as a counselor who would come among the people. 20 In contrast to the wise counselors available to help the person who wishes to be faithful to God, the Bible describes the presence of wicked counselors who advise foolish courses of action. 21 Isaiah comments that when the people are taken into captivity, God would remove from them the counselors. 22 Removing the very thing that is needed in complicated ethical decisions is indeed a drastic punishment! Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. From a practical point of view, simple ethical questions are answered directly by the law of God: Don’t kill. Don’t steal. Don’t tell lies. Don’t cheat. 23 The more complicated ethical dilemmas need more thorough exploration of how biblical principles should be applied. A more thorough exploration means that it is more likely that community persons are brought into the conversation. 24 In turn, this means that someone will need to take the lead or share the lead in the conversations. It is in community where decisions are made about the difficult problems, not that every difficult problem needs to be shouted from the town square. Instead, a small group of persons can gather in private around the one tasked with making a difficult decision. The story that emerges from such conversations, and the resulting actions, become evidence of how important is community (even the small-group variety). Furthermore, this story that emerges becomes an important social foundation for the obligations that are shared. Walking in the community having conversations involves testing ideas, reflection, debate, decision making, observing results and further reflection. 25 It involves putting relationships on the line when injustices occur. It is the relationships themselves that are at stake when ethical issues arise. To nurture and protect the relationship, someone must lead in the conversation. The prophets and Jesus Christ all discerned the validity of what others in the community were putting forward as guidance based on their understanding of God’s law. They were not silent; instead, they participated in the community dialogue regarding right and wrong actions. 26 Thus, there is no mechanical process by which we carry with us an outline or list which we apply in a decision-tree fashion for the complex issues. Such dialogue forms an ongoing broader conversation in and around the community regarding shared concerns. 27 It involves judges at the city gates, 28 the king on the throne, 29 prophets speaking out and parents teaching their children. 30 The process is suited for all social settings in an environment that is continually changing in terms of technology, politics, science, commerce, religion, philosophy, art, music, literature, and every other human endeavor or expression. The process is a form of communion, not only with each other but also ultimately with God. Our walk is not only Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. a journey among humans; it is also a walk that takes place in the presence of God as a person holds on to another person as they walk together. 31 Ultimately ethics is not just what we think. It is about what we do in a social setting. Accordingly, when we face a complex ethical dilemma and in sorting it out we engage others in the conversation, this becomes the first thing to do in the process. It can be the action step which provides us the wisdom, political support and perhaps courage needed for the other actions which follow. In some cases, this simple action of starting a conversation with others may be the most important action one can take in the ethics process. It is the action step which makes possible the telling of stories which, in turn, communicate character and make possible the transformation of character in others. To summarize what we have observed thus far, the biblical perspective on deciding what is right and wrong in the marketplace is both an intrapersonal process of our heart and an interpersonal process during our walk in a social context. To the extent to which persons engage in conversations about right and wrong, the communal process occurs at the same time as the personal process. The communal process involves community leaders. In Bible times these were judges, counselors, prophets, teachers, civil leaders, priests and heads of households. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Initiating a conversation with others about a complex ethical issue is the first action step in ethics. In the personal process simple ethical questions can be answered directly by the basic principles in the Bible. Community leaders participate in conversation with different points of view and when the issues are complicated. To simulate this first action step, the section “Down to the Nitty-Gritty” is offered for the purpose of practicing the process. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Down to the Nitty-Gritty This section of the book will reappear in all but the last chapter. It is modeled after the two interrelated aspects of the ethics process described above. This is where you are given a chance to practice. To spark intrapersonal reflection and the interpersonal community conversation, a few questions will be asked in this feature relating to the practical dimensions of the chapter topic. Here is the first example (see table I.1). The Current Crisis There is a crisis of business ethics among contemporary businesses and their managers. In spite of calls for reform at all levels including changing what is taught in business schools, it does not appear that the trend will change any time soon. In any given week, we hear stories about people who do unethical things in business. These appear in the local and national news media. Just read the Wall Street Journal or any business weekly magazine and you will see examples. Table I.1. The ethics process: intrapersonal and interpersonal. Keeping Your Heart: An Intrapersonal Process Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. What commitment have you made in your heart to be faithful to God? How do you feel about the two-part process (intrapersonal and interpersonal) when deciding what is right and wrong? Think about Scenario A at the beginning of the Walking in the Community: An Interpersonal Process Has your circle of friends made the same commitment in their hearts to be faithful to God? If not, on what basis do you continue to associate with them? Can you be friends with someone who does not share your level of commitment to God? When was the last time you and other people got involved in a conversation about something that was right or wrong? What was the topic? Who took a leadership role in the conversation? Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. chapter. What makes the actions of the ATM thieves wrong? Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Think about Scenario B at the beginning of the chapter: Is it wrong to use Jason’s unsecured WiFi signal to access the Internet without his permission? If so, why? What, if anything, was the outcome of the conversation? Think about Scenario A at the beginning of the chapter. In what way, if at all, would it benefit you to talk with someone else about what is right or wrong in this case? Think about Scenario B at the beginning of the chapter. With whom might you talk about this to more clearly know what is the right thing to do? Get in a group now and discuss this scenario. What is the outcome of that conversation? It has become such a problem that calls for renewed focus on business ethics and business reforms have come from many sectors of society including leaders in business. The calls have become more intense, and for good reason. People in business, customers, media, government, indeed most groups of people in society have experienced an erosion of trust in business primarily because of the scandals, the gross wrongdoing and the blatant disregard for standards of right and wrong. Employees see these things from the inside of their organizations and are disheartened and discouraged. Business school graduates enter a marketplace in which sensitivities toward ethical scandals have never been higher. Yet, this same marketplace is riddled with persons and organizations that will stretch the ethical boundaries to the edges of what society is willing to tolerate. Young business professionals entering the workforce may be encouraged to take a relativist or egoist approach all in the name of supporting laudable organizational or personal goals. Just as there is a crisis in business ethics, so too there is a crisis among Christians regarding what is right and wrong. Some Christians, seemingly without thinking, have embraced secular approaches to business ethics. In some cases, they have embraced approaches to ethics that are opposed to the biblical foundation of Christian faith and practice. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Carefully evaluating the commonly accepted secular ways of thinking will give readers a chance to recognize in themselves some of the same patterns of thinking. In this process, the flaws of secular approaches can be evaluated and readers can come to clarify what they believe and why. This brings us to the engine of this book: The biblical story themes. These are called story themes in this book because they are integral not only to specific stories and teachings of the Bible but also to the overall big story of the Bible, the story about God and what a relationship with God is all about. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. The Value of Biblical Story Themes Scripture story themes are valuable for several reasons. Scriptural themes offer the reader an unusual way to saturate the heart with scriptural thinking. The more we connect Scripture with business thinking and practice (it is assumed), the more we will think and act biblically when we are in the marketplace, the more the Holy Spirit can bring to our memory what we have learned, 32 the more alive our conscience will be to do the right thing, the stronger our defense against doing the wrong thing, 33 the stronger our moral imagination will become, the more capable we will be to counteract our inherent perceptual and judgment biases that lead us unwittingly into unethical practices and the better able we will be to encourage others. 34 Story themes interrelate, interweave and sometimes overlap each other. At other times they interpret each other. In these ways, they become a complex canvas on which the Bible paints the essential message of God for our times. Biblical themes promote the movement of learning from schooling into the arena of character education where hearts, minds and whole lives can be transformed. 35 The distinction between schooling and education is an important one. Schooling is the setting in which you learn information such as principles of accounting, economic theory or estimating the investment risks of particular opportunities. Education is the process of having the whole life transformed from the inside out by the renewing, creative power Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. of God. Education is the process whereby the image of God is restored in us for service on this earth and for service in the life to come. 36 Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Education is the process whereby the image of God is restored in us for service on this earth and for service in the life to come. Biblical themes are valuable for unlocking some difficult, and often misunderstood, passages of Scripture. Without the rich, deep perspective that these themes offer, a superficial reading of Scripture results in the development of bad theology and bad policies. Scriptural themes are so pervasive throughout the Bible that they help us avoid cherry picking verses here and there to suit our private goals. In short, these themes help us maintain the authority of Scripture. It has been said that you become like the person whom you admire most. As we spend time admiring the beautiful elements of God’s character (expressed in story themes), we become changed. By continually focusing on these themes, especially as revealed in the life of Jesus Christ, we become changed, transformed into his image. 37 Scripture themes continually keep before the mind the character of God in Christ as seen in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. 38 By continually beholding the character of God, the community comes to know God and as a result becomes changed. 39 Evangelical Christians sometimes refer to this as Christ “living in their hearts.” For some this becomes a powerful mystical experience as they sense the close presence of God in their life. They see how their behavior has changed, and they are energized by the realization that the power of God is at work. 40 This becomes the basis of witnessing. Others who do not experience the intense mystical presence of God can still come to relate to the idea of an indwelling Christ. These come to understand that the primary characteristics of Christ, and those of God the Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Father, are starting to take root in their own habits of action. For both types of persons, it is the biblical themes that they start to relate to. Biblical themes reveal the character of God. 41 The inter­­play of one theme against another shows the aesthetic beauty of God’s plan for a flourishing life. Take even one theme away and you are left with a diminished conception of God. Accordingly, the elements of God’s character (comprising of the themes) become the basis of our witness in action and witness in words. Regardless of your religious experience (or lack thereof), you will likely see alignment between some of the biblical story themes and the themes that all humans are interested in. Conversations in the community regarding ethical matters tend to cluster around certain themes present in the community (e.g., justice, rights, loyalty, faithfulness), some of which are the same as the biblical themes. If just one or two biblical themes are used in the ethics process, the danger is that the more complicated ethical issues will be short-changed. Discussants will oversimplify or miss certain questions. If the full range of biblical themes is employed in discussion of the complicated ethical issues, more of Scripture is available to guide ethical behavior. One thing should become apparent after reading the whole book: Biblical themes form a cluster of perspectives that are very broad in their application. They may be the broadest set of principles compared with any other single system of ethics. Compressing the twelve themes into just two or three would result in loss of understanding. In our desire for efficiency, we would quickly sacrifice richness and ethical effectiveness. The biblical themes that represent God’s character and the believer’s conduct are rich in texture. They are interrelated and interdependent but not identical. Because of this, they are difficult to separate. In addition to these reasons why the themes are important we see an additional rationale. The prospect of becoming familiar with biblical story and its major themes offers the opportunity to saturate the heart with Scripture in a way that reading a few verses here and there cannot do alone. This is considered in several Bible passages: These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Deut 6:6-7) You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. (Deut 11:18) How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (Ps 1:1-2) Saturating the heart with Scripture is particularly relevant to work in the world of business as shown in these passages from one of the most famous portions of Scripture, Psalm 119: Business is where our feet walk every day: “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). Business requires wisdom from counselors: “Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors” (Ps 119:24). Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. The business environment offers temptations for false dealing: “Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your law” (Ps 119:29). Business offers temptations for selfish gain: “Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to dishonest gain” (Ps 119:36). Business results in cash flow: “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Ps 119:72). Business is a competitive environment that requires wisdom: “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine” (Ps 119:98). Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Business requires understanding: “From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Ps 119:104). Business is an agent of shalom (peace): “Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble” (Ps 119:165). THE MORE WE CONNECT SCRIPTURE WITH BUSINESS . .. the more we will think biblically when we are in the marketplace. the more the Holy Spirit can bring to our memory what we have learned. the more alive our conscience will be to do the right thing. the stronger our defense will be against doing the wrong thing. the stronger our moral imagination will become. the more capable we will be to counteract perceptual and judgment biases. Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. the more capable we will be to encourage others. Biblical themes reveal that the Bible respects the material and economic dimension of life experience. These themes are integral to life in the marketplaces of the world. Indeed, these themes are relevant to all social relationships. Themes explored in this text are applicable to both buyers and sellers. The themes are grounded in the writings of Moses but are carried forward from there to more than three-quarters of the books of the Bible. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. These themes are employed from Genesis through Revelation. They are identified by two important kings in the Psalms and the Proverbs. They are present in the apocalyptic literature as well as in historical narratives and poetry in the Bible. Following the lead of the prophet Moses, the later prophets use these themes as the bases for their messages. Still later, the identity and work of Jesus are based on these themes. More than five hundred times these themes appear in the Bible in groups. Here are just a few notable examples: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving kindness and truth go before You. (Ps 89:14) But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (1 Cor 1:30) Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (Eph 6:14-15) And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. King of the nations!” (Rev 15:3) We should be cautious about claiming that we know everything about God once we become familiar with these themes. Scripture tells us that the full information about God is not perfectly knowable. 42 This awareness should lead us to humility. What we know of God through Scripture is true, but our knowledge may not be complete. Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. How the Themes Were Selected Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. Scholars have catalogued scores of Scripture themes. But which themes are relevant to business ethics? Three criteria seemed important when identifying the relevant Bible themes. First, themes identified are those that the Bible itself associates with our conduct. It is our conduct in all spheres of life (including the marketplace) that is considered. Thus, these themes apply equally to family relationships, leisure pursuits and our work in the faith community. Second, themes associated with the character of God were selected since some of the biggest questions in the Bible relate to his character: Who is God, and what is he like? Is God’s way of relating and living the best way to promote a flourishing life in community when compared with other ways? It is the character of God that is in focus in Scripture and that we are encouraged to imitate. 43 When God’s image is restored in human beings, it is his character that becomes the key moral dimension. Third, the themes are associated directly with Jesus Christ and his work. Jesus, the central figure in the biblical story and the author and finisher of our faith, is the clearest expression of what the character of God is like in human experience. 44 If we are to emulate God, we will find the guidance we need in the life and teachings of Jesus. The biblical support for these themes can be found in appendix B and in the notes for chapters three and four. The intersection of these three criteria can be illustrated by the following diagram (see fig. I.4). 45 Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. Fig. I.4. Biblical theme selection criteria. When these selection criteria were applied, the following themes emerge: cosmic conflict creation covenant relationships holiness shalom sabbath justice Copyright © 2015. InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. righteousness truth wisdom loving kindness redemption Cafferky, Michael E.. Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective : A Comprehensive Introduction, InterVarsity Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/betheluniversity-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4091380. Created from betheluniversity-ebooks on 2025-01-03 06:00:15. In chapter three we will consider the question of why so many themes. For now consider that the biblical story themes are appropriate to consider for specific business ethical dilemmas, so-called dirty tricks, legal issues, social responsibility issues and related case studies. These themes provide the framework to consider practical ethical challenges that organizations face in a global environment. In biblical thinking, business is not separate from the rest of life. Life is an integrated whole experience involving all social relationships, religious faith, economic endeavors, international relations and physical and mental health. Introduction Review Questions 1. What is the particular perspective that this book takes? 2. In Scripture, what is the relationship between ethics and the metaphor of the heart? 3. What does the metaphor of “walking by the way” signify in Scripture? 4. Describe the biblical ethics process from the personal perspective. 5. What is the biblical ethics process seen from the community perspective? 6. What is the current crisis in business ethic...
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