Pope Francis has referred to business as a “noble vocation.” For those familiar with his critique of the excesses of capitalism, this may seem surprising, but this tension points to a common yet flawed notion of what business is. People tend to equate business with money, and money with greed.
Even Christians who practice business can fall into this mode of thought. Many who feel called to marriage pursue business, following a line of thinking that goes something like, “Marriage means babies, babies are notoriously expensive, so that means I need money. Business means money, so I should do business.”
This logic, while oriented toward the good, falls flat because it indulges in the same flawed popular conception and is subject to the same excesses. What starts as an endeavor to support a fruitful marriage can easily become overly focused on money for money’s sake, and its pursuit can eventually come at the expense of the family. However, if business is a “noble vocation,” then there is something wrong with equating business, money, and greed. In a vocation, God calls us only into greater goodness.
If business is not simply the greedy accumulation of wealth, then what is it?
Broadly speaking, business concerns the practical allocation of scarce resources. This is the unifying factor of all business disciplines: operations concerns the efficient use of resources, finance is the allocation of money over time, economics provides a theoretical groundwork for allocation, marketing encourages potential customers to allocate their resources in specific ways, and accounting keeps careful track of various allocations and their effects.
From a Christian perspective, we can think of business as the stewardship of resources. How is this distinct from the secular understanding detailed above? In short, a Christian businessperson can’t afford to be Mammon’s hired gun. For a Christian, there is much more to business than profit. Human dignity and the common good must always be kept in view, along with a commitment to virtuous behavior on the part of the businessperson.
For example, Christian marketing professionals cannot attempt to sell “by whatever means necessary.” Instead, they must avoid manipulative tactics and consider the wider social impact of their sales. Likewise, Christian bankers must avoid predatory lending, especially if such lending further disadvantages those who are already disadvantaged.
Christianity places its members in a wider web of meaning that influences every aspect of life. To be clear, in many areas, this web of meaning brings us closer to members of other faith traditions and people of good will, more generally. However, in some cases, Christianity will place us at tension with others.
If we consider the stewardship of resources as a vocation, we face the complex question of “Stewardship for whom?” Employees should be loyal to their employers, especially when making allocation decisions. Businesspeople should be loyal to their stake-holders. But these genuine loyalties are not absolute. Only loyalty to God is absolute: “Seek first the Kingdom of God…”
Practicing business as a Christian may be costly. Living out Christian stewardship may require saying “no” when it would be professionally expedient to say “yes.” It may even exclude certain job opportunities from consideration. But saying “yes” to God’s call is always fruitful in this life and the next.
Now the question is: If am called to business as a vocation, how do I say “yes” and live out that vocation?
Answering this question requires two tracks: personal growth in virtue and study of the social effects of business decisions. On the personal side, study of the traditional heavenly virtues (faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) can guide moral growth as a businessperson. The social impact of these virtues can be considered in light of Catholic Social Teaching.
The subsequent entries in this column will cover each of the heavenly virtues in dialogue with Catholic Social Teaching in a business context. In this effort, I will rely largely on St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings for the virtues and on recent Popes for the Catholic Social Teaching.
Business is a noble vocation. As with any vocation, prayer, study, and discernment are required to ensure that we are always working towards the greater glory of God.
Brian is a dual-degree graduate student studying theology and business.
He went to BC for undergrad and studied theology and business.
For The Torch, he writes on theology and business.
In his free time, he reads about theology and business.
- Temperance: On Guard Against Greed - November 27, 2019
- Justice: Business, and Human Flourishing - October 30, 2019
- Business As a Noble Vocation - September 27, 2019