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Modernism, Christianity, and Business
Ethics: A Worldview Perspective
David Kim
Dan Fisher
David McCalman
ABSTRACT. Despite growing interest in examining the
role of religion in business ethics, there is little consensus
concerning the basis or standards of ‘‘good’’ or ethical
behavior and the reasons behind them. This limits our
ability to enhance ethical behavior in the workplace. We
address this issue by examining worldviews as it relates to
ethics research and practice. Our worldview forms the
context within which we organize and build our under-
standing of reality. Given that much of our academic
work as well as business practice operate from a modern
worldview, we examine how modernism shapes our
beliefs and approaches to ethics in business and academia.
We identify important limitations of modernism in
addressing moral issues and religion. We then introduce
the Christian worldview as an alternative approach to
examining ethical issues in business
KEY WORDS: Christianity, business ethics,
modernism, religion, worldview
Introduction
In the midst of ongoing corporate ethics violations,
there has been great interest in discussing moral issues
related to business including the corporate social
responsibility debate and the introduction of business
ethics in management programs (Conroy and Emer-
son, 2004; McWilliams and Siegel, 2001; Shannon and
Berl, 1997). One intriguing outcome of this discussion
has been attempts to integrate spirituality and religion
into business practice as a means to address the seem-
ingly intractable ethical problems that plague con-
temporary organizations (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2007;
Singhapakdi et al., 2000). We say this is intriguing,
because for hundreds of years, religion and spirituality
have been literally exorcised from modern forms of
institutional organization. But does a blending of spir-
ituality with commerce, a religious worldview with a
modern one, offer a way to rethink our approach to
business ethics? We explore this question in detail. In
particular, we consider the Christian worldview as an
alternative to the dominant modernist paradigm as a
useful ethical perspective in the realm of business.
Different faiths including Christianity, Judaism,
and Islam have much to say about business practice
either directly or by implication. Arising from
Judaism, Christianity values one’s work as fulfillment
of spiritual life. In a similar vein, Islamic teaching
promotes economic activity as a means to social
justice and spiritual enhancement (Brammer et al.,
2007; Epstein, 2002; Weaver and Agle, 2002). The
positive link between one’s beliefs and higher ethical
attitudes in the workplace is well documented (e.g.,
Conroy and Emerson, 2004; Longenecker et al.,
2004). More recent research has examined work-
place spirituality (e.g., Gotsis and Kortezi, 2007;
Pava, 2003) and discussed the merits of integrating
religion with corporate practice (Calkins, 2000;
Epstein, 2002). In 2004, Business & Professional Ethics
Journal devoted an entire issue to living the Christian
life in the corporate world (see Chase, 2004). In
practice, many business leaders have been explicit in
basing their business decisions on their religious
convictions. For instance, Truett Cathey, founder
and chief executive of Chick-fil-A, decided to close
the restaurant chain on Sundays in honor of the
Sabbath (Weaver and Agle, 2002).
Despite extensive work in this area, there is little
consensus concerning the basis or standards of
‘‘good’’ or ethical behavior and the reasons behind
them. Ethical standards are often implicitly assumed,
or religious values such as those found in the golden
rule or what is common across religions are strongly
Journal of Business Ethics ÓSpringer 2009
DOI 10.1007/s10551-009-0031-2
favored as a normative foundation for business ethics
(Brammer et al., 2007). However, others have per-
suasively argued that attempts to establish universal
standards of right versus wrong are futile given that
each person has his/her own moral philosophy (e.g.,
Forsyth 1992), such that religion can be, but does
not have to be, the source of ethical standard. This
current approach to religion and business ethics
constrains our attempts to enhance ethical behavior
in the workplace. To date, there has been little or no
evidence that corporate ethics has improved overall.
We address this issue by examining worldviews as it
relates to ethics research and practice. The term
worldview is a translation of the German word
Weltanschauung, or a way of looking at the world
(Pearcey, 2004). Our worldview forms the context
within which we organize and build our under-
standing of reality. It is the presuppositions we have
about the nature of reality, knowledge, morality, and
life’s meaning and purpose. Everyone has convictions
about how reality functions and how s/he should live.
Everyone decides what is real and important, or un-
real and unimportant. Our beliefs and values are
imbedded in our worldview (Sire, 1997; Walsh and
Middleton, 1984). Collective worldviews change
over time. What was once considered to be eminently
true and right is no longer the case. Conduct and
behavior once widely held as unacceptable or even
perverse is now tolerated or has become the norm
(Daniels et al., 2000; Pearcey, 2004).
A worldview shapes our culture and expresses
itself in all social institutions including the arts,
religion, education, media, and business. In the
academic arena, the researcher’s worldview has
enormous implications in that it affects the way
studies are designed and how conclusions are drawn.
In business practice, it dictates the way we resolve
ethical issues and make decisions at work. Much of
our academic literature is framed from a modern and
postmodern worldview. According to the modern
worldview (modernism), reality, knowledge, and
morality are founded in science, human reasoning,
and objective evidence. Faith in God along with
other beliefs and values are entirely personal and
subjective and, therefore, has no place in the realm
of objective truth (Pearcey, 2004). With the post-
modern worldview (postmodernism), the nature of
reality, knowledge, and morality is self-defined
and self-referential. Postmodernism questions
whether we can know anything with certainty
(Daniels et al., 2000). Depending on one’s world-
view, knowing what is (or should be) true versus
false or ethical versus unethical will differ substan-
tially.
Therefore, we ask the question: has the triumph
of modernism in so many areas, including ethics,
marginalized other useful worldviews that may offer
insight and guidance for businesses and researchers?
To answer, we first explore how modernism shapes
our beliefs and approaches to ethics in business and
academia. We describe the basic tenets of modern-
ism and their impact on religion and business ethics
and practice. In this analysis, we develop the reasons
from a modernist vantage point for excluding spiri-
tuality and religion from the domain of business.
Second, this inquiry enables us to call to attention
important limitations that result from the modern
worldview. These are the ethical blind spots of
modernism that cause problems. Based on these
shortcomings, we introduce alternative worldviews
into the ethical conversation, and in particular,
Christianity. We use Christianity as an illustration
because it is still the major religion in the West and
serves as an ethical framework for many in their
personal lives. Historically, Christianity was the main
target for exclusion by modernist thinkers. And yet
there is a growing stream of corporate practice and
academic research that is fruitfully exploring and
implementing the Christian ethic (e.g., Calkins,
2000; Epstein, 2002). In the next section, we look at
how modernism triumphed over religion and
rewrote the basis for business ethics, an approach that
dominates to this day.
Opposing worldviews: modernism
and Christianity
Christianity arose out of the unique worldview, as
well as the ethical practices of Judaism. As in the
case of Islam later, Christianity acknowledged the
authority of Hebrew Scriptures (Latourette, 1975;
Schaff, 1994; Tierney and Painter, 1983). The
Christian worldview was dominant in Europe prior
to the Enlightenment. This view holds that there are
valid, non-empirical sources of knowledge about the
nature of reality. Specifically, there is a God who
existed before the world existed, and he is the
David Kim et al.
ultimate origin of everything else. The basis of this
worldview is found in scriptures and the culture that
was born from the early church (Daniels et al., 2000;
Pearcey, 2004).
Modernism represents the post-Enlightenment
philosophy of empiricism and human reason. In
opposition to the preceding Judeo-Christian and
Islamic worldviews, modernism held that only
physical matter exists. Nothing exists outside the
material world, which itself can be known and
understood through the physical senses in conjunc-
tion with the scientific method. This view denies
the transcendent, or supernatural, dimension and
excludes all non-empirical ways of knowing. In
other words, modernism rejects the possibility that
there is more to the world than what we can directly
access with our senses, or that there is a dimension of
reality underlying what we can see that provides a
source of meaning, purpose, and coherence beyond
the physical events that we observe. The focus is
restricted to cause and effect relationships in a closed
system (Daniels et al., 2000; Yaman, 2003).
Modernism has its origins in the Enlightenment,
the age of reason, scientific discovery, and human
autonomy (Veith, 1994). The emerging sciences
during the Enlightenment were founded on the
Biblical view that nature is the good and orderly work
of a personal God and in the classical view that abso-
lute rational laws govern nature. Early scientists such
as Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Copernicus (1475–
1543), Galileo (1564–1642), and Kepler (1571–1630)
among others shared the Christian view that God had
created the universe, and that man, by use of his rea-
son, could discover the mysteries of the universe
(Schaeffer 1968).
1
By the 1700s science progressed so rapidly that it
seemed as if science could explain everything. The
rise of modern science during this period was truly
impressive. It was characterized by a rapid growth in
knowledge in many different areas including medi-
cine, biology, anatomy, electricity, mechanics, and
astronomy. Scientists developed knowledge by build-
ing on the works of others and relied heavily on logic,
observation, and experimentation (Hunt, 1991).
Some saw no limits to the power of human reason
operating upon the data of the senses.
As modernism continued to gather momentum
into the nineteenth century, reference to God was
essentially eliminated. Charles Darwin argued that
God was not even necessary to explain the creation.
In describing the ‘‘origin of species’’ in terms of the
closed natural system of cause and effect, Darwin
removed the need for any kind of creator. Nature
became completely self-contained. Science could
now explain everything. Modernists believed the
growth of newly discovered facts based on human
reasoning, and the scientific method would yield a
unified answer for all knowledge and life (Veith,
1994).
Modern thinking led to the development of social
sciences such as sociology and psychology. Meth-
odologies designed to study nature were applied to
human beings. Sociology examined human institu-
tions while psychology sought to explain the inner
life of human beings, all in terms of a closed natural
system accessible by empirical scientific methods
(Veith, 1994).
Later, the development of business disciplines
such as management and marketing would owe
much to the methodologies, theories, and world-
views of sociology and psychology researchers.
With modernism, Christianity was no longer
compatible with truth (answers for all knowledge
and life). Truth resided in the scientific community,
in a closed natural system of cause and effect. Over
time, references to Christianity were removed from
the public arena such as schools and government.
Religion was simply a matter of personal choice and,
thus, did not belong in public institutions such as the
state, academia, and large corporations which are
considered to be objective, scientific, and value-free.
Through science and reason there is universal
truth or truth that is binding on everyone. Religion
would have no claim to objective knowledge
(Pearcey, 2004).
Modernism, morality, and business ethics
Throughout most of Western history, moral issues
were very much tied to Christianity. But as mod-
ernism became increasingly dominant, ethical ques-
tions were addressed without referencing God or
his word. The emergence of Utilitarianism offered
a different approach to moral issues. Utilitarians
decided moral issues not by appealing to transcen-
dent absolutes but by studying the effect of an action
upon the system. Stealing was wrong, not because
Modernism, Christianity, and Business Ethics
the Ten Commandments say so, but because stealing
interfered with the economic functioning of society.
Practicality became the sole moral criterion. If it
worked, it must be good (Veith, 1994). The influ-
ential pragmatist philosophers William James (1907)
and John Dewey (1920,1922) explicitly argued for
functionality as the measurement both of ethics and
indeed of truth itself. Schiller (1912) equated truth
with ‘‘good,’’ asserting that truth is determined by
those actions which have good consequences.
Furthermore, intellectuals of the Enlightenment
argued that since God was no longer needed to explain
creation, he was no longer needed to determine moral
laws. Reason would replace God to establish morality.
Ethics would be discussed increasingly in philosoph-
ical and scientific terms, as opposed to theology.
Without God or transcendent truth to establish one’s
values, modernism turned to science and philosophy
along with tradition and cultural norms as the basis of
what is good or right (Calkins, 2000; Daniels et al.,
2000). However, attempts to resolve ethical issues
without God could only result in moral relativism
where ethical standards were relative to a particular
culture, individual, or time in history.
Moral relativism is expressed in our culture where
conduct once considered immoral or even perverse
is now tolerated or has become the new norm
(Pearcey, 2004). Tolerance is increasingly viewed as
the highest ethic. This is not the traditional view of
tolerance in which one tries to recognize and respect
other people’s values without necessarily accepting
those values as being correct. Instead, tolerance
implies that all values, beliefs, and claims to truth and
lifestyles are equal. However, if all of these things are
equal, no one could claim that one person’s ethics
are any better than another’s (Cotton, 1996).
In business ethics literature, Singhapakdi et al.
(2000) and Tsalikis et al. (2001) among others
acknowledge moral relativism as the main orienta-
tion of moral thought. Ferrell and Gresham (1985)
in discussing their contingency framework for
understanding ethical decision making recommend
focusing on contexts and variables that influence
ethical behavior instead of attempting to discover
universal moral principles. The context in which an
ethical act can be viewed can be historical, cultural,
situational, or individual. Forsyth (1992) notes that
attempts to determine right versus wrong in business
would be fruitless given that each individual applies
different moral philosophies. At best we can aim for
a fuller understanding of our own and others’ reac-
tions to various types of business practices.
Ethical standards are often implicitly assumed, or
religious values such as the golden rule or what is
common across religions are strongly favored as a
normative foundation for business ethics (Brammer
et al., 2007). Non-religious frameworks such as the
social contract theory (Dunfee et al., 1999) and Kan-
tian deontology (Racheals, 1986; Raphael, 1989),
among others, have been applied to address corporate
ethics. However, attempts to identify and apply
absolute standards for ethical conduct have been
unsuccessful as researchers and practitioners search for
a relative balance between ethics and the bottom line
and personal values. A serious limitation of moral
relativism, then, is the inability to determine an
absolute standard of good or ethical behavior and the
reasons behind it (Shaw and Barry, 1992).
Besides moral relativism, modernism helped to
shape the meaning and purpose of one’s vocation or
business. The rejection of God and the Biblical view
of creation meant that human beings were no longer
God’s handiwork but instead were merely a part of
nature, driven by self-interest and expediency. The
Protestant work ethic was separated from its Christian
context of stewardship and service and viewed only as
a means to material success.
In the late eighteenth century, for example, Adam
Smith defined work solely as a means of fulfilling
one’s self-interest. Whereas Christian ethics had
regarded self-interest as a vice to be overcome for the
common good, Smith contended that self-interest
was actually good for society that the best thing for
the economy is for everyone to stand out of its way
and give free reign to ‘‘the invisible hand,’’ which
ensures that supply and demand will always balance.
This system promoted what Christianity had tradi-
tionally renounced as immoral: self-interest instead of
concern for the common good, personal ambition
instead of altruism, and drive for personal gain and
self-advancement instead of self-sacrifice and charity
(Colson and Pearcey, 1999). Without God, the
purpose of work or vocation changed to personal
achievement, material possessions, and status.
From a modernist perspective, business ethics is
justified because of its impact on corporate out-
comes such as reduced employee turnover, increased
productivity, and profitability (e.g., Daniels et al.,
David Kim et al.
2000). Although maximizing corporate profits in an
ethical manner is paramount, the essence of integ-
rity, altruism, and corporate social responsibility is
trivialized when their purpose is solely to enhance
the bottom line (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2007).
Christianity and business ethics:
alternative perspective
To this point, our discussion has centered on the
limitations of modernism on business ethics – namely,
moral relativism and a materialistic focus regarding
ethical behavior. We next examine how the Christian
worldview addresses these issues followed by how it
might influence ethics research.
Christian ethics founded on Scripture gives moral
standards or a common platform that allow us to judge
between right and wrong. In business situations,
people must decide what they ought to do and what
ethical principles to follow. They must know that
these principles are right and that it is reliable. This is
not to say that an absolute moral law must be strictly
followed given that the boundaries of moral law and
its varied applications will always be debated. But the
very idea of right and wrong makes sense only if there
is a final standard by which we can make moral
judgments (Colson and Pearcey, 1999).
Furthermore, much of what researchers and
business professionals seek as ethical standards and
behavior are found in Scripture. For instance, the
Ten Commandments provides the foundation for
many of today’s laws governing business practices
including truthfulness in business transactions, pro-
per entitlement, and so forth. Also, the life and
teachings of Jesus provide moral guidance in busi-
ness. The parable of the rich fool and the parable of
the talents teach about proper management of pos-
sessions and diligence at work. The primacy of love
and service to others is consistent with the goals of
corporate social responsibility (Calkins, 2000).
It should be noted that simply citing a chapter and
verse for the moral statement being made, or
insisting that God has demanded it, is not sufficient
to a make a Christian ethic (Rossouw, 1994).
Likewise, Christian ethics is not a set of isolated
moral principles but is dependent on a prior Chris-
tian view of reality as expressed in the relationship
between God and his people. What is expressed in
Scripture is not a set of principles or rules, but rather
a comprehensive understanding of reality such as all
life originating from God, the nature of God and
man, and life’s meaning. Christian ethics requires the
use of reason to derive from Scripture certain pre-
cepts and narratives that guide human action and
bring about certain consequences, primarily to pur-
sue the ideals of love and service to others (Calkins,
2000) and practicing good stewardship of money and
resources.
Rossouw (1994, p. 564) offers the following
illustration:
Someone with a Christian understanding of the
unconditional value of life, cannot be careless in the
workplace about products and quality-standards that
pose a threat to the lives of consumers or employees.
Neither can someone who believes that humans have
the responsibility to cultivate and protect nature, be
careless about pollution and ozone- depletion. In the
same way, someone with a conviction that special care
should be taken of the unfortunate in society, cannot
be unconcerned about employment practices that
cause hardships for employees in their old age.
In recent years, the assumptions of modernism
have been challenged by the postmodern worldview
which questions whether we can know anything
with certainty (Daniels et al., 2000). And as post-
modern thinking has become more dominant in our
culture and academe, it has opened the door for
business ethicists to explore alternative worldviews,
like Christianity, to explain the nature of reality,
knowledge, and morality.
Approaching business ethics research from a
Christian worldview requires us to re-think our
assumptions and beliefs about religion and the nature
of reality. Works by Christian writers and thinkers
would suggest that Christianity is more than a reli-
gion or a set of moral guidelines or beliefs. It is a
worldview that applies to all areas including social
issues, history, politics, science, and anthropology
(Pearcey, 2004). Whereas modernism assumes that
knowledge, truth, and morality are founded in sci-
ence and reason, Christianity is based on the
understanding that God was the creator of the uni-
verse, and that man, by use of his reason, could
discover the mysteries of the universe. Contrary to
popular notion, Christian thinking is not opposed to
science and scientific discoveries or to a rational
Modernism, Christianity, and Business Ethics
understanding of the world as evidenced by the
works of early scientists.
Finally, Scripture has much to say about human
nature and behavior that is consistent with what we
observe in ourselves and others. Given the challenge
among business ethicists and business leaders to
create a more ethical environment, ethics research
from a Christian viewpoint may offer insights that
promote morality in the workplace.
Note
1
Some of these men indeed clashed with particular
ecclesiastical bodies in their days, but notwithstanding
the conflicts they had with church governments, theirs
was always a firmly grounded, implicit Christian world-
view.
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University of Central Arkansas,
Conway, U.S.A.
E-mail: davidk@uca.edu
Modernism, Christianity, and Business Ethics