Business for the Glory of God: The Bible's Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business By: Dr. Wayne Grudem

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Recommended: Identify any ethical issues involved in the enron case

Dr. Wayne Grudem is a New Testament scholar turned theologian, author, and Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary, Arizona ("Wayne Grudem," ). In lieu of many of his great accomplishes, Dr. Grudem has also written numerous books and articles. Among those books, he is the author of Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, which advocates a Calvinistic soteriology, the verbal plenary inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, the body-soul dichotomy in the nature of man, and the complementarian view of gender equality ("Wayne Grudem," ). In 2003, Dr. Grudem released a book titled “Business for the Glory of God: The Bible's Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business”. Within this work, Dr. Grudem tackles intricate and arguable matters, in which he unravels what the Bible teaches regarding the moral goodness of business.

Applying the idea of moral goodness with business, however, is often a contradictory concept in lieu of the malicious and often scandalous behavior that businesses are notoriously publicized with. Enron, an energy company based out of Houston, Texas, is perhaps the most popular of scandals of the century thus far. Their name is synonymous with corporate fraud and corruption after the allegations of accounting fraud hit the headlines in 2001. The scandal was also considered a landmark case in the field of business fraud and brought into question the accounting practices of many corporations throughout the US (Raslan, 2009). Under this shroud of deceptive business practices and activities, applying the idea of moral goodness with business is a difficult sell to readers.

Nevertheless, in the Business for the Glory of God: The Bible's Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business, Dr. ...

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...rguments towards deceptive business practices and activities, any admirable argument to go against any of Grudem’s nine concepts is difficult-to-nearly impossible. In fact, I agreed with all the concepts, and found the concepts of ownership, money, and profit to be the most convincing and most intriguing.

Dr. Grudem (2003) concludes his book with a compelling and ardent reflection on the impact of business in relation to world poverty:

"I believe the only long-term solution to world poverty is business. That is because businesses produce goods, and businesses produce jobs. And businesses continue producing goods year after year, and continue providing jobs and paying wages year after year. Therefore if we are ever going to see long-term solutions to world poverty, I believe it will come through starting and maintaining productive, profitable businesses" (p. 81)

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