Work in medias res: an ethnographic study of different logics of work in faith-based businesses

Abstract

Christian ethical treatments of work often build on a traditional rationalist path that tries to develop a critical system of work by which different work practices can be judged. This article contributes with a supplementary way of presenting ethical logics of work through a practice-theoretical ethnographic study of two faith-based businesses, one Catholic and one evangelical. I am thereby not interested in building a critical system of work, but through listening to practitioners and in dialogue with practices, I want to map out different kinds of good that exist in these practices and suggest better accounts. The analysis of the empirical material shows that even though operating somewhat differently, the two practices are characterized by reform and negotiation. With both reform and negotiation, the Christian ethic in these practices does not collapse into only negotiation, nor is it idealized by only reform; both processes are essential, and religion contributes in different ways to both.