Business for the Common Good - (Christian Worldview Integration) by Kenman L Wong & Scott B Rae (Paperback)

About the Book

Is business just a way to make money? Or can the marketplace be a venue for service to others? Scott B. Rae and Kenman L. Wong seek to explore this and other critical business issues from a uniquely Christian perspective, offering up a vision for work and service that is theologically grounded and practically oriented.

Book Synopsis

Is business just a way to make money? Or can the marketplace be a venue for service to others? Scott B. Rae and Kenman L. Wong seek to explore this and other critical business issues from a uniquely Christian perspective, offering up a vision for work and service that is theologically grounded and practically oriented.

Review Quotes

"Business for the Common Good is a must-read for all people of faith that participate in the world of business. Kenman Wong and Scott Rae skillfully tackle the many dilemmas facing business people, offering a fresh faith-perspective on topics such as business as a calling, wealth and ambition, the global economy, marketing, ethics, stewardship and corporate social responsibility. The book is extensively researched and presents a nuanced viewpoint that challenges the reader to rethink preconceived positions. The numerous actual stories and anecdotes that Rae and Wong offer will resonate with the reader and illustrate the complexity of integrating faith in business. The final chapter, with moving examples such as Broetje Orchards, will inspire the reader to embrace a vision for business as a transformational service for the common good. If you read only one book on faith integration and business, Business for the Common Good should be it."

"Christians in secular businesses and students heading in that direction will be better equipped to glorify God by taking to heart this book's portrayal of business as transformational service for the common good. Christians new to thinking theologically about business will receive a cogent primer on first principles while those who have been pondering faith and business for some time will learn from chapters that tackle more complicated subjects such as marketing and environmental sustainability. I am especially pleased to see the authors? biblical support for ideas that challenge conventional evangelical Christian thinking about business--from the idea that business has positive and not just negative effects on spiritual formation to the idea that the need for transformation is both personal and institutional."

"Couched in non-technical everyday language and written with reference to fictional life-stories of choices, problems and pleasures encountered by people in business, this book makes for an easy and enjoyable read. It can therefore be recommended to any reader interested in the question of what business can do for the common good."

"I have just finished reading Wong and Rae's Business for the Common Good and I heartily recommend it. The book is both well-written and well-researched. It features a welcome mix of contemporary research and practice, and biblical ideas that have been helpfully grounded in their historical socioeconomic context. I especially applaud the thoughtful format of the book, as each chapter starts with a real-world problem that engages readers and then respectfully provides differing perspectives on the issue. In this way each chapter compels readers to reflect deeply on how to integrate faith and work. I think the book would be especially well-suited to stimulate meaningful discussion in small group and classroom settings."

"Is business a legitimate arena in which Christians might work out their calling? Wong and Rae answer that question clearly, neither simplifying the message of Scripture nor avoiding the messy complexities of the business world. This is a book without answers or checklists. Rather, it asks readers to own the questions at the heart of business, to develop guidelines for action, to create boundaries within which individual and corporate transformation and service can flourish. This is a book to be read by students pondering a call to serve, by pastors tempted to dismiss business as institutionalized greed, and by business men and women seeking to follow Jesus. Business for the Common Good is informative, challenging and hopeful."

"It is a useful, informative and well-written book for those who are concerned to integrate their Christian faith with their work, particularly in secular businesses and multinational companies. . . . This book is well worth reading."

"Kenman Wong and Scott Rae have again joined forces to compile a veritable treasure-trove for anyone wishing to make fruitful connections between business and Christianity. They present compellingarguments for a fresh vision of business as transformational service for the common good. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the shape of a calling, marketing and emerging directions in business."

"Kenman Wong and Scott Rae have followed up their best-in-class business ethics textbook, Beyond Integrity, with a superb, comprehensive reflection on work and business within a biblical Christian worldview. They stand on the shoulders of their colleagues and predecessors and take the discussion to a new level. A wonderful guide for business practitioners as well as their academic and pastoral colleagues."

"Nothing in this book prevents it enriching the lives of Hindus such as myself--or, as far as I can see, those of Buddhists, Muslims, agnostics or atheists! If you want to understand business from a spiritual, ethical or indeed simply humane point of view, this is a great book with which to get a perspective on today's issues, challenges and opportunities."

"The authors of Business for the Common Good have masterfully challenged the reader to rethink the 'calling' of business in order to achieve divine purposes in the world through transformational service. They skillfully explain the need for biblically-based ideals and frameworks to provide an inspiring vision for business. In today's global business economy, the reader is brought to the realization that there are two distinct bottom lines: economic and social. A must-read!"

About the Author

Scott B. Rae (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is professor of Christian ethics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in La Mirada, California. He is the author of Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics and (with J. P. Moreland) Body and Soul: Human Nature and the Crisis in Ethics.Together Rae and Wong have edited Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics.

Kenman L. Wong (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is professor of business ethics at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of Medicine and the Marketplace: The Moral Dimensions of Managed Care.