Analyzing and Responding to Different Christian Views of the Corporation

Abstract

The development of a Christian perspective on the modern corporation is a timely and necessary endeavor. There is much to be gained by articulating the legitimate purposes, goals, and activities of corporations from this perspective. A thoughtful Christian "theology of the corporation" can go far in giving general ethical guidelines to policy makers, business practitioners, investors, and those who deal primarily with business entities as consumers. Forming more specific aspects of such a perspective is, however, a difficult task. This is especially the case given the fact that the Christian Scriptures do not speak directly about modern corporations, which are often owned by distant and widely dispersed shareholders.1 In the absence of direct guidance, Christians are then primarily left with the task of deducing more general paradigmatic level guidelines. One group whose voices (often divergent) could play a significant role in the construction of such paradigms is Christian corporate executives of secular corporations. In order to avoid detached "ivory tower" reflection, the perspectives of these executives could be seen as a necessary complement to the work of theologians and biblical scholars. As members of the laity whose "lived experience" involves negotiating the terrain of a fallen world that is often riddled with factual ambiguity and competing moral interests,