Customer Reviews

Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: The Challenge of Fusing Christian Values with Business Life

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I highly recommend reading this book. Only, be aware that their is a lot of repetitiveness in the chapters. It was perhaps not edited as well as it could have been. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed reading this book. Just like the beginning of a mystery novel, the beginning of this book is surprising and disheartening. Yet, as you continue to read, the writers reveal their true intent. I found it very informative and encouraging.

I was actually wanting the book, "Church on Sunday, Work on Monday," and didn't realize the listing was for a study guide, instead (which I did not need). Probably my fault for not looking closely enough. I bought the actual book on Barnes & Noble (not available on Amazon). However, the study guide arrived promptly and in excellent condition.

This book delves into the highly unresearched area of business and religion. The result is that at best, this book can only help start to help develop the construct. Although the authors provide a fair assessment about a portion of the divide, it is obvious that the breadth of denominations explored is minimal so unless you are in a few specific metro areas or in the northeast, you may scratch your head a little while reading this.

Some of the points are certainly valid for describing why there is such a large separation of church and state, but overall they are lacking. I don't think there is enough substantive points for a person to actually apply much of what is contained.

There is an underlying criticism of secular spirituality while simultaneously acknowledging the success of the approach. I think their criticism of the church body for accentuating the gap with highly divisive interpretations of the Bible is fairly accurate.

Although spirituality and religion are separate terms for most people today, there is a resistance by the authors to embrace this change. There reasoning is not exactly faulty since there is a need for religion, but a bit narrow in fearing that religion is being marginalized by its brother (or sister) spirituality.

The bottom line is that religion must change or face further scrutinization and unless absolution of power is achieved, that is unlikely. Some of the protestant groups have made much greater strides in this arena and the authors did not do those denominations enough justice.

The bottom line is that the best suited audience for this text are preachers, pastors, fathers, etc., and social researchers. Business executives will not likely benefit much from this. The reason is that the church must meet people where they are, not keep themselves holed up behind a wall trying to preserve their eroding power from a constituency that is leaving them in droves.

"This is a bold book with a clear wake-up call to businesspeople and the result is a heartening and indispensable guide for anyone making critical decisions in business today."--Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart (Wiley)

The challenge of fusing Christian values with business life. I find it very difficult to deal with individual moral value systems in the business world. So, as a manager, I developed a concept of Ethics is a Business Process in which clearly stated moral values of the company are inculcated throughout the corporation; in mission and vision statements, in slogans, in training, in policies and procedures. These values cannot be based on religion and still be welcoming to our increasingly multi-ethnic workforce here in the U.S. and around the world. Rather, I believe we must keep religion out of the ethical process.

Yet we know that individuals most often include their religious up-bringing in the list of "where I get my moral values." Usually listed are family, school, and religious institute. So how do we keep things separate while honoring the basis for our moral sources? Nash and McLennan posit that from a Christian point of view, the coping mechanisms are neither active nor developing synergy between faith and business. The wake-up call they wish to pronounce in this book is limited in that they really only address Christianity's view and interaction. While this is certainly a significant view, it is not a majority view and is becoming more of a minority view in our culture. This, therefore, limits the usefulness of this book to managers in the business world unless they can make the translation from Christianity to "any religious or cultural" group.

I found the book useful in outlining the difficulties faced by business people today. But I did not find hope for an easy or even difficult solution. Instead, I became more convinced than ever that we need to make religion a personal and PRIVATE affair and make sure that our business moral values are clearly stated in secular terms so that we as employees or service providers can decide on the appropriate interaction with the corporation. Today, science informs our moral values more eloquently than many religious institutions and therefore informed individuals turn to those sources whenever possible. As a business executive, I remain unconvinced that we can bring religious language into the multi-cultural workplace without creating severe strain and discomfort for the employees. If there is a homogeneous workforce of one culture and/or one religious faith, then there is no difficulty. Luckily, that is rarely the case. I find the multi-cultural environment to be most stimulating and intellectually preferable to a homogeneous workplace. So I vote for clearly defined secular moral values in the workplace. Keep religion out.