The Business through the Eyes of Faith: Religion and Business Practices - Book Report/Review Example

Keslyn Nguyen Assignment: Week 4 January 31, Summary: Business through the Eyes of Faith The Chapter 16 of the book “Business through the Eyes of Faith” focuses on the aspect of social contract with the involvement of religion and business practices. It is worth noting the chapter focuses on the key points about how social contract is changing through time and how it serves as a guide to ensure equity and equality among people who benefit from business (Chewning 194). The chapter also focuses on how the business world has neglected its duties due to abuses, resulting to the neglect of those who are stuck in the lower strata of the society due to unequal distribution of wealth. Religion, to a certain extent, provides moralistic principles to regulate the harsh effects that business can introduce to the society (Chewning 201). It is important to note that morals are significant to have a humane way of handling business operations. The Chapter 17 of the book, on the other hand, focuses on social responsibility as stewardship. There are four stakeholders that are given emphasis when it comes to being responsible in business: the customers, competitors, community and environment. There is a need to note that fairness, when it comes to business, must thrive to ensure that the benefit derived is mutual. Fairness is one of the things that is being emphasized in this chapter. There should be a reasonable treatment whenever business deals are done; whether it is a single entity, a group of people, or an abstract being like the environment that exists in the reality. There should be sensitivity and care for others whenever there is engagement in business. Chapter 18 presents another aspect of business: justice and the world’s wealth. The chapter focuses mainly on morality (Chewning 222). It shows that there is nothing wrong in having personal wealth as long as there is a responsible manner of ownership towards it (Chewning 225). There is also a need to share wealth that is one of the moral principles of the Bible, especially, when one is a devout practitioner of the Christian faith (Chewning 223). Democratization is also one of the aspects that has been delved into, since there is a need to implement corrective measures in the manner of handling business (Chewning 227). There is also an aspect wherein sharing the wealth throughout the world is emphasized to ensure again that there is fairness and equality in terms of economic goods (Chewning 228). The last part, Chapter 19, focuses on the biblical absolutes in the world of change. This chapter focuses mainly on the ethical aspects, the moral manner of approaching things, the need to be critical instead of being simplistic in terms of viewing teachings and the whole world and others. It is in this chapter a philosophical framework that focuses on religion is the one that is needed to make sure that thr real nature of business, of having a social relevance, is emphasized. There is an emphasis on how people must change their world view to provide a guarantee that there will be a change in the nature of business being too profit oriented. Also, it challenges an individual to change his disposition when it comes to business by taking into consideration the teachings of the scriptures that served as a guide for a morally upright living. Response: Business through the Eyes of Faith In my opinion, there is a grain of truth in the way the author has presented his thoughts about having moral guidance when it comes to business. It is certainly important for us to be humane whenever we do things that have effect on others. We have to be sensitive and responsive. However, people, in the world nowadays, especially in the corporate world, are too greedy and individualistic. They are too naïve about the plight of others who have been experiencing injustice because of the greedy practices in business. There is a need for them to stay in power. Money, for them, is power. It gives them the power to rule out everyone, command anyone and make these people whom they can control follow their desires. This kind of attitude has become too exploitative. The freedom offered by the capitalist framework of business has been abused. There have been no regulations, even if there are regulations that can improve the workings of the system. The individuals have shunned their personal moral values. For me, what seems to be ironic about the business people in the current world is that they are practicing their religious beliefs through prayer, but when it comes to real practice and upholding the relevance of business for the benefit of the majority, that would make them such hypocrites. Moral guidance and ethics is very important and its practice is one of the most important things that must be taken into account to ensure that people will experience equality. Corrective measures on the moral values are relatively important. People must know that we have a responsibility to every person in the society even if they are strangers. In the eyes of God, everyone is treated equal. Therefore, everyone must be sensitive to the hardships of others when it comes to acquisition material wealth that the business provides. Summary: Mere Christianity Book 4 The Mere Christianity Book 4 is divided into 11 parts dealing with different things about religion. The main points that are discussed are: (1) making and begetting, (2) the three-personal God, (3) time and beyond time, (4) Good infection, (5) the obstinate toy soldiers, (6) two notes, (7) let’s pretend, (8) Christianity being hard or easy, (9) counting the cost, (10) nice people or new men and (11) the new men. In totality, the book focuses on the very important things about how people have been dealing with Christianity as a religion. First is that they encounter vagueness about the idea of who God is (Lewis 75). People are not always sure of who really the God is that they are talking about. However, they always believe in the idea of the existence of God. It is important to note that there is a need to separate the manner of believing with the manner of being objective about the existence of God. Next point being delved into is the importance of theology as a discipline to make people understand the importance of religion and its value for the society. Theology is one of the disciplines that tries to explain the very idea of God: the existence, belief and identity that are explained by the dogmas that are formulated by the theologians (Lewis 75). Another point that is discussed is the different approach of people who have their own interpretations of the things that are being talked about God. There have been clashes about how people believed and perceived the teachings of the theologians about God. The more trivial thing about the text is it delves into the matter of ethics. It shows that people who come from different contexts like that of the pagans have a very different approach, perception and understanding of the Christian religion (Lewis 100). This only shows that one will have their own manner of ethical beliefs and standards, especially on how one can understand other cultures. It is important to understand that is quite a conflicting manner to judge a Muslim in a Christian perspective and vice-versa. That would only provide an avenue for hatred. One good thing in the text is in how it provides a venue for one to understand the intricacies of religion through its gatekeepers: the theologians. Lastly, one of the things mentioned is how the religion affects one perception of the world (Lewis 105). This would only show that there is a need to change one’s worldview, especially by recognizing the potentiality of the ethical and moral teaching present in religion. The need for change is important to be able to formulate solutions that can indeed improve the present condition of the world. The ethics present in it has something good to say that can give beneficial effects for any society. Response: Mere Christianity Book 4 Upon reading the text, the points discussed are indeed worth note-taking. I cannot help but agree that there are varying perception and understanding when it comes to religion. One cannot impose his own view to others about religion. People will have their own manner of perception that must be taken into account. Each of the human’s experiences varies from one another. What is common to each one of us is the belief in something and ethical choice. Each one of us has their own manner of understanding and interpreting the things present around us. Religion is one of the crucial things that are open to interpretations. Interpretation and understanding are the ones that cannot be confined to a single standard alone. Also, the belief can be put into question especially within the context of Christian religion. However, no matter how other people question the validity of religion, their faith cannot be put into question. One’s understanding is important, since it is crucial to one’s own capacity to determine the occurrence of things, especially about religion. The belief in the existence of God is not just a matter of teaching and speech, but also a matter of feeling and intuition. It can be seen that imposition would introduce conflict, especially that variations and diversity of opinion cannot be avoided. There is a personal choice that exists between believing and non-believing, about existence and non-existence of a divine entity, feeling and thinking. Case Study This case study will be focusing on the manner of how the transnational and multinational corporations have done their ways of handling business. It can be seen in the current situation of the global economy that these corporations have dominated the global market. What seems to be their ultimate ends? They are profit-oriented, have gained business expansion, economic liberalization and partnerships. However, are these aims sensitive and responsive to the social conditions that arise with their manner of doing business? When it comes to customers, have these corporations been rendering services that are good and adequate enough? Or is it just making average kind of services at a high cost? Is there really justice in this case? When it comes to the competitor, is there still fairness? Is domination by these corporations good? Presumably, they can trigger competition. However, these corporations cannot deny that they start to monopolize the global market. Is there still competition? When it comes to the community, have they been responsive to the needs? Possibly, they have because they provide services and goods. However, are there exploitations that occur, especially in the work force? If there is, is the manner of the functioning of business still ethical or already unethical? Lastly, is the environment’s condition still important? Is our existence still one with it or the environment must serve us? Are these corporations still sensitive to the harsh conditions of the society that they inflicted? Or is it that they have been apathetic and ignorant of nature? WORKS CITED Chewning, Richard C. Business Through the Eyes of Faith. Harper One Publishing. 1990. Print. Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity Book 4. pp. 75-108. PDF. Read More