Business, Religion, and Spirituality

A New Synthesis

Edited by Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C.

John W. Houck Notre Dame Series in Business Ethics

The new emphasis on spirituality in the workplace has been widely discussed in recent years and reported in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Fortune. Spirituality seems to be a basic human good essential for human flourishing. The contributors to this volume are all proponents of spirituality in the workplace, yet all raise important questions about this movement and what it means. What are the moral questions that should guide leaders? Is spirituality being treated as simply an instrumental good, valued for its usefulness in enhancing productivity and well-being? What are the responsibilities of business leaders? Of business schools and their faculty? Of churches? The essayists in this collection reflect on these and other pertinent questions.

The common thread linking these authors is that all have distinguished themselves in their respective fields or professions and all wish to advance spirituality in business. Contributors to Business, Religion, and Spirituality provide a sober, but positive, prognosis for this new growth in spirituality while offering direction for the future.

OLIVER F. WILLIAMS, C.S.C., is associate professor of management in the Mendoza School of Business and director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame. He also serves as the Donald Gordon Fellow and Visiting Professor in a joint appointment at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa.

“This collection connects business and the spiritual life by casting a wide net of awareness and responsibility. These writers testify that beyond the networks of workplace relationships are people touched over great distances by daily business decisions and the structures within which they take place. Drawing on multiple faith perspectives, these essays press conscience toward the intersection of personal and social responsibility. They are marked by a constructive and humble spirit that may one day inspire an understanding of vocation appropriate to a new century of global interdependence.” —David J. O’Brien, College of the Holy Cross

“ Business, Religion, and Spirituality makes an important contribution by pulling together a great deal of material and giving it a fresh twist. It raises significant questions and issues, and features essays by some of the most respected and visible scholars and practitioners in the field.” —Thomas A. Bausch, Marquette University

Contributors: Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C., Martin E. Marty, Laura L. Nash, Robert G. Kennedy, James J. McGee, André L. Delbecq, Edwin M. Epstein, Krishna S. Dhir, Jamal A. Badawi, Lawrence S. Cunningham, Ian I. Mitroff, John T. Ryan III, John Caron, Claudia McGeary, Buzz McCoy, Stephen J. Porth, David Steingard, John McCall, Gerald F. Cavanaugh, S.J., Patricia Vandenberg, C.S.C., Mary Kathryn Grant, Peter J. Giammalvo, and John A. Gallagher.

Reviews

“. . . Highly enlightening, fascinating, interesting, intriguing and challenging. After reading it, one certainly feels that one has been enriched by these thought provoking texts.” — PRAXIS: Journal for Christian Business Leadership

“. . . This is a timely and interesting book. Anyone who believes that spirituality can and should have an important place in business will find valuable arguments in support of his view as well as critiques and reasons to look for solid foundations for it. [T]he book will be helpful to any reader who is looking . . . for . . . stimulating ideas on the subject.” — Markets and Morality

“. . . A collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking essays by diverse learned authors concerning the meeting point between commercial workplace responsibility and personal spiritual values.” — Midwest Book Review