A Defense of Biblical Ethics in Business
Open accessAbstract
The application of biblical ethics in mainstream American business has long been displaced by more modern theories of ethics, such as utilitarianism and contractarianism. As the Enlightenment period introduced a greater focus on rationalism and individualism, business people began to find biblical ethics to be an unworkable approach to contemporary business problems. In this article, the authors will argue that biblical ethics is a viable tool to be used in resolving ethical issues in modern business settings. The authors will first provide a high-level overview of the history of biblical ethics as a model for businesses and consider why it fell into disuse. They will then examine the modern alternatives of utilitarianism and contractarianism and provide examples in which those theories failed to protect businesses from unethical behavior. The authors will then demonstrate the presence of these ethical alternatives within the Bible and defend biblical ethics as providing a more complete and reliable ethical source in the modern business setting. They will finally contend that the perceived complexity in applying biblical ethics to business problems is actually an opportunity for Christian business people to grow in sanctification.
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- Authors
- Locke, L. G., Shelton, T., & Smith, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Mary Hardin–Baylor (US)
- ORCID
- Locke, Larry G.
- Venue
- Journal of Biblical Integration in Business
- Published
- 2021-11-18
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1527-0602 (ISSN-L)
- 2577-2171
- OpenAlex
- W3214400108
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 16
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- The journal of biblical integration in business. (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Institutional Repository of LCC International University (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Demography › Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
- Keywords
- biblical ethics, business ethics, utilitarianism, contractarianism, Christian business, sanctification, history of business ethics, Enlightenment rationalism, individualism
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