Business as a Calling - by Michael And Jana Novak (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Why do we work so hard at our jobs, day after day? Why is a job well done important to us? We know there is more to a career than money and prestige, but what exactly do we mean by "fulfillment"? These are old but important questions. They belong with some newly discovered ones: Why are people in business more religious than the population as a whole? What do people of business know, and what do they do, that anchors their faith? In this ground-breaking and inspiring book, Michael Novak ties together these crucial questions by explaining the meaning of work as a vocation. Work should be more than just a job -- it should be a calling.
This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way, and readers will instantly recognize themselves in its pages. A larger proportion than ever before of the world's Christians, Jews, and other peoples of faith are spending their working lives in business. Business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations, fraught with moral possibilities both of great good and of great evil. Novak takes on agonizing problems, such as downsizing, the tradeoffs that must sometimes be faced between profits and human rights, and the pitfalls of philanthropy. He also examines the daily questions of how an honest day's work contributes to the good of many people, both close at hand and far away. Our work connects us with one another. It also makes possible the universal advance out of poverty, and it is an essential prerequisite of democracy and the institutions of civil society.
This book is a spiritual feast, for everyone who wants to examine how to make a life through making a living.

Review Quotes

Dan Quayle A career in business can be entirely consistent with high standards and serious moral purpose, if only the right path is followed. Michael Novak, one of America's wise men, reveals what that path might be. This book is exceptional and timely.

Irving Kristol This is easily the best book ever written on business as a vocation from a religious point of view. It is both thoughtful, and practical, a rare combination.

Os Guinnes Senior Fellow, the Trinity Forum Rich, wise, and illuminating, Novak's essay simultaneously rehumanizes capitalism and remoralizes business -- an immense and timely contribution to our much-needed Western renaissance.

Richard L. Lawson President and CEO, National Mining Association Michael Novak has penned a masterpiece. "Business as a Calling" is a must-read for everyone interested in capitalism, American style. From student to CEO; employee to major stockholder; government bureaucrat to politician -- all will find something to enjoy and profit from.

William E. Simon Former Secretary of the Treasury Michael Novak is our finest -- and wisest -- writer on the intricate interplay between religion and economics in American life. His new book, "Business as a Calling, " breaks new ground by understanding business as a vocation with its own spiritual requirements. His book deepens our understanding of the religious dimensions of business life, and it also makes us aware once more of the pervasive influence of spiritual issues in a society which, on the surface, seems obsessed with material things. Michael Novak, as always, teaches us to think about old subjects in new and creative ways.

About the Author

Michael Novak is a theologian and former U.S. ambassador who currently holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He is the 1994 winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, and the author of over twenty-five books on philosophy, theology, politics, economics, and culture, including The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife.