Review: Ethics and Economic Life: A Voluminous Reader

January-February 1996

On Moral Business is the title of this 979-page paperback that brings together essays and commentary on economic life from biblical times to the present. The chief editor is Max L. Stackhouse, professor of social ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary; with assistance from Dennis P. McCann (DePaul University), Shirley J. Roels (Calvin College), and Preston N. Williams (Harvard Divinity School).

Part I contains classical resources from the Bible, ancient philosophers, and both medieval and Reformation traditions Part II covers modem debates over socialism and capitalism. It also includes documents from around the world as well as recent ecclesiastical statements. Part Ill deals with contemporary developments relating to the corporation, business ethics, the global economy, and more.

Contributors number close to one hundred, including a half dozen or more associates of the Center for Public Justice. One purpose of the book is to let readers—particularly those in academic and church settings—discover the rich heritage of reflection they should be drawing on at this turning point in world history.

Most surprising to many readers may be Stackhouse's conviction, clearly stated in his helpful introductory essay, that biblical revelation still exerts a powerful influence over business and economic life. We still live in the Christian era, he argues. "The Bible, the insights that arose from the formation of theology out of the encounter of biblical views with philosophy, the heritage of Hebraic, Catholic, and Protestant reflection—these are as directly pertinent to our world as is the thinking of modernity. We do not live in a post-Christian—or only a post-Enlightenment, postmodem—world, but in a world rooted in the reality we know in Christ" (p. 34).

However much Christians may disagree about the relevance of Christ to business and economic life today, this book offers many of the texts we need in order to deepen our understanding of these important questions.

—The Editor