Recently, a plethora of books have appeared making relationships between religion and economics, business and spirituality. From Pope John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus and the book-length commentaries on it by Richard Neuhaus and Michael Novak, we find theological analysis of capitalism and socialism. From New Age management gurus we find "new paradigms" and "new traditions" in business as an emergent spirituality begins to blossom within the work place. Professor Amitai Etzioni, writing on behalf of a new communitarian social movement in America, urges businesses to be more supportive of the moral revival needed in families, schools, and communities. Mary Scott, Robert Levering, and their co-authors describe how the "best" businesses in America are companies with a conscience that implement practices to improve the workplace in tangible and measurable ways. Philosopher Robert Solomon urges a return to Aristotilean ethics to improve business, and author Lawrence Harrison observes how nations prosper by exhibiting the classical virtues associated with the Protestant ethic. Finally, the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame continues to sponsor conferences and publish proceedings on the relationship of the Judeo-Christian worldview to the areas of work, business, and economics.

The wide range of prominent scholars, religious leaders, and business persons who are offering commentaries on the themes mentioned above illustrate that a genuine shift is taking place in the way purpose, value, and meaning questions are being introduced into the world of economics. Certainly, the colors of theology, philosophy, and history are brightening the once dismal science. However, as with any rush toward a new direction, it is always prudent to reflect on the need that is being addressed and the adequacy of the responses being offered.

As socialism in practice has been discredited as a productive and humane economic system, large numbers of people have begun to analyze what went wrong, and then to look once again at the alternatives to socialism. Though capitalism has been an extraordinarily productive system, many critics still take an adversary position and see only alienation as the fruit of prosperity. They yearn for a world of peace, cooperation, and good will -- as well as plenty. They look at the world and see poverty dominating the lives of billions. Even those who celebrate the virtues of capitalism recognize that it must receive its ultimate legitimacy within the context of religious and cultural values.

Since much of Western culture, its spiritual 'and moral heritage, is facing serious challenges, economic activity has lacked a solid footing by which to understand how it shapes persons and communities. In response to this inadequacy many have turned to Eastern spirituality, new age psychology, or traditional religions and philosophies. Business consulting has become a stage for pundits and fads, as companies are going through the kind of existential meaning-crisis that we usually associate with individuals. It is true that perhaps a majority of businesses will just hunker down and work harder at what they have been doing, but the needs being expressed are real, the challenges are as much of internal meaning as of external, global competition. The meaning within, businesses realize, leads to the effectiveness without.

Perhaps the most profound analysis of religion and economics is offered by Pope John Paul II in his most recent papal encyclical entitled Centesimus Annus, marking the centenary of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. Drawing upon the rich tradition of Catholic theology and Catholic social thought, and developing themes he discussed in earlier encyclicals, the Pope addresses the fundamental questions about the nature of the person, the community, and society in purposeful relation to God the Creator. From these foundational questions, he then goes on to discuss the nature and purpose of economic systems.^l

Although the Pope's expertise is obviously religion, he speaks with a unique authority on the nature of economic systems, for he has experienced the reality of both socialism and capitalism. Since the Pope grounds his ultimate beliefs in the reality of a loving, beneficent Creator, he views the person as created in the image of God, and thus resembling God in value, nature, and creativity. Further, the Pope stresses the purposeful covenant with God, whereby all human beings are commanded to love God, to build communities of love, and to lovingly care for creation. From this perspective, then, the Pope can evaluate economic activity as one major form of human creativity.

His analysis of the failure of socialism points first to socialism's false image of the person:

The fundamental error of socialism is anthropological. Socialism considers the individual simply as an element, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinate to the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice in the face of good and evil. A person who is deprived of something he can call "his own," and of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and those who control it.²

The socialism of the former Soviet Union and of the Pope's native Poland was rooted in an atheistic worldview. The framework of meaning within such systems was materialistic and mechanistic, undercutting any connectedness to a transcendental value. Consequently, human beings were easily manipulated, abused, and misused in the name of state socialist ideologies. The primary human quality of freedom, which for the Pope is an aspect in which we resemble our Creator, is denied in the name of a utopian end-vision of society.

He goes on to explain the danger of utopian thinking. If a group or an ideology pretends to have all the answers to human history, of how to root out evil forever and to establish a utopian world, such a group will justify any evil activity, cruelty, or deception in the name of its noble ideal. The Pope warns us to have a healthy respect for evil and a wise vigilance against those who would usher us quickly into an ideal world. The Church, he explains, has no ideal models for economic systems; rather it offers principles that must be applied prudently to concrete situations, with all their potential for good and evil.

The Pope acknowledges the great productivity of capitalism, its emphasis on human creativity, and the valuable moral and political systems that usually act as checks on the abuses found within free market systems. He comes further than any previous papal encyclicals in celebrating the virtues of free enterprise, but he cautions that economic activity must still be evaluated in reference to Godly purpose: "Alienation -- and the loss of the authentic meaning of life -- is a reality in Western societies, too. In consumerism people are ensnared in a web of false and superficial gratifications. Alienation is found in work when it is organized so as to insure maximum profits with no concern for the worker."³

Richard John Neuhaus' book-length analysis of Centesimus Annus elaborates on the implications of the Pope's ideas for the Christian capitalist.⁴ Neuhaus admits that the Church has not been a good pastoral shepherd in offering guidance or wisdom to those involved with economic life. His book celebrates the Pope's affirmation of capitalism within the context of a religious, purposeful life. However, much commentary is necessary for the Catholic view of economics to be relevant to the mundane world of business:

...we are to take care of business conscientiously, fairly, honestly, lovingly, and, yes, even prayerfully. To many in the business world that may seem impossibly idealistic. What do love and prayer have to do with sales reports, corporate takeover, management studies, and reducing inventories? It would seem that Christians should have an answer to that question. One might suggest that the Church has a serious pastoral responsibility to help people answer that question, for occupations that are pursued without respect of God's injunction and glory, are loaded with curses.⁵

Ever since writing The Naked Public Square, Neuhaus has been concerned that once religion is removed as a norm from public life anything, usually with less value, will fill the vacuum. Consequently, in this analysis of the Pope's encyclical he sees the importance of relating economics to the truth about the person, which is more than an economic truth. The goal and purpose of economic activity, for Neuhaus as well as the Pope, is the fulfillment of a human purpose in relationship to a transcendental ideal of the good life. Economics, for both of these religious men, has suffered under a reductionist sword, in which it has been cut from life's larger meaning.

Certainly, Neuhaus argues, the capitalist system exhibits many kinds of evils, but these evils are more a result of the sinful person rather than an inherently corrupt system: "...John Paul knows that the free market is not always self-correcting. The answer to abuses of the free market is not always to be found in the economic system, he says, but is finally moral and spiritual."⁶

In a pluralistic society, Neuhaus sees the necessity for religion to enter into a vigorous debate with secular ideologies so that one can arrive at the most profound understanding of the common good, then apply the meaning of this ideal to each appropriate area of culture. Political democracy is essential, then, to both the Pope and Neuhaus, for it allows persons to enter freely into both the debate and the practical realization of ideals. The great value of Neuhaus' book is that he is able to make the great weight of the Pope's theological ideas relevant to the American experience.

Connecting the economic, political, and moral-cultural spheres, Neuhaus concludes:

The market has no morality of its own; it simply reflects the morality of those who participate in it. The common good (emphatically a moral category!) therefore depends upon the vitality of the political and, above all, moral-cultural spheres.

The language used by Neuhaus resonates very strongly with that of Michael Novak. In The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism Novak explained the human virtues that are encouraged in the cultural trinity of a free market economic system, a political democracy, and the moral-cultural ideals of a JudeoChristian religion. Like Neuhaus, Novak is an American Catholic, one who views the American experience with the perspective of a social philosopher and lay theologian. His most recent book, The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: The Free Press, 1993), although it traces the development of Catholic thought in relation to capitalism, has Centesimus Annus for much of its focus.

Novak explains the limitation of Max Weber's analysis of capitalism in relation to the Protestant ethic, as he points to those virtues which Catholicism develops within persons so that they become creative agents in a flourishing capitalist system. As Novak explores the Pope's encyclical, he emphasizes the theme of freedom as central to the Pope's view of the person created in the image of God. This freedom, however, is one guided by a purposeful lawfulness, where the person is free to choose virtue, goodness, and love. Since for the Pope, as well as for Novak, the human person has the potential to be a co-creator with God in bringing forth blessings to every area of human culture, only social systems guided by an ethical-spiritual lawfulness will draw out the full value of the person in community with others.

Looking at American culture, Novak sees how the Catholic ethic, more than Weber's concept of the Protestant ethic, helped develop human character consistent with lawful and productive economic, political, and cultural systems. Freedom, enterprise, innovation, co-operation, community-building, generosity, openness, diligence, courage, responsibility, self-discipline, and charity were some of the virtues cultivated in the American experience. "Virtue is the pivotal and deepest American idea,"⁸ writes Novak. Because the human spirit, reflective of a divine nature, is the source of human creativity and the foundation for economic productivity, Novak reinforces the Pope's view that capitalism, in the context of a healthy political democracy and a sound moral-cultural system, is the best hope for the immediate future. The Pope's observations have significance, Novak points out, because they offer profound legitimization to the capitalist system as long as it is rooted to its religious understanding of the person.

Yes, Novak would argue, a capitalist system may exhibit all kinds of corruption. However, ...a Jewish and Christian culture, not to mention a generous Anglo-American humanism, also modifies the actual practices of capitalism, by directing it to humane ideals, setting limits to what is permitted, and suffusing both collaborative work and individual initiative with moral and religious significance.⁹

Novak explains that a capitalist system can work well only if a culture develops persons of character and virtue. If these qualities are not promoted by the institutions within a culture, then capitalism becomes a grotesque parody of its ideal. If families promote individual autonomy as their chief goal, if schools teach self-actualization, and if the pop culture teaches hedonistic self-indulgence, then a culture produces people who will exploit each other economically and in every other way. Virtue must be the order of a loving culture and the order of a healthy economy:

The moral-cultural system is crucial to the health of capitalist democracies... By "system" I mean more than "ethos," the complex of social values that guides human activities. I mean institutions and habits... churches, schools, families...These institutions tell citizens which of their behaviors will receive social approval or disapproval ... [and] help to form the inner life of individual citizens -- their imaginations, aims, desires, and fears... Such institutions are crucial because the primary form of capital is the human spirit, which is subject to decline as well as progress.¹⁰

If Pope John Paul II, Richard Neuhaus, and Michael Novak emphasize the relationship of religion to economics, another group of writers focus on what I would call spirituality and business. In these writers there is little discussion of the classical themes of theology or economic theory, but more an emphasis on a generalized spirituality as it applies to the workplace and the business enterprise. Although with this latter group there is also a concern for encouraging a more humane workplace, as well as a caring and compassionate world, there appears to be little rigor in defining terms, much hyperbole in what is sought, and almost no historical analysis brought to bear on the themes discussed. Such is what I find in the anthologies New Traditions in Business and The New Paradigm in Business.¹¹

The dedication page of New Traditions in Business signals the tone of this volume: "...helping to establish new traditions that enable businesses to thrive while being responsible to and for the whole of humanity." We are in store for one tall order. Michael Ray's essay explains that the new paradigm is "a move to the spirit."' The assumption seems to be that this is a wholly beneficial spirit that will transform humanity in only positive ways, although there is little definition of the nature of this spirit. The rigors of theology are shunned as somehow being a denial of the spirit. Ray goes on to explain that "Spirituality in the new paradigm does not refer to religion but rather to the power of inner wisdom and authority and the connection and wholeness in humanity."¹³ The theme of inner wisdom appears in many of these essays and seems to echo Rousseau's ideal of the inner goodness of the child who is corrupted by the artifices of culture. Since religion (at least Jewish and Christian) usually emphasizes an external natural or moral law, one which the person must obey in seeking a life of virtue, it is rejected for the inner wisdom of spirituality. There is apparently no darkness, foolishness, or evil to this inner authority, therefore the new paradigms will offer business people "...three guiding principles: wholeness/interrelationship, inner wisdom, and inner authority."¹⁴

Terry Mollner, in an essay on the 21st century corporation, first explains that "nature is at all times solely cooperative."¹⁵ He argues that "the nuclear family unit is not a large enough unit to be easily successful in the future." Therefore, "As private corporations assume the Relationship Age worldview, they will become tribes that transcend the boundaries of geographic nations..."¹⁶ These are, to be sure, sweeping statements that need much definition and discussion. What is the role of the family in nurturing the young, physically, emotionally, morally, spiritually? How will corporations contribute to these functions? Will tribes war with each other? Mollner's mix of spiritualism and rationalism seem to echo the ghosts that have haunted us in the past:

Science -- the search for truth for truth's sake -- is the actual but unofficial spokesperson for God in our modern cultures, and its conclusions will be the basis for the building of the new Relationship Age culture ...the religions are locked into a cheerleader role unless they once again move into secular activities.¹⁷

Apparently, Mollner is neither familiar with the works of theologians on the subject of economics, nor the statements by churches on almost every area of public life, nor the failures of science as the modern equivalent of God.

The inner voice is apotheosized once again in the essay "Corporate Leadership in the 21 st Century" by John Thompson.¹⁸ The essence of leadership development for Thompson is a "process of breaking up the patterned responses of the false self and learning to trust and express ourselves consistent with our true inner nature."¹⁹ Culture, and all authority seemingly imposed from without, is seen as the great bete noire, while the spontaneous inner self is the source of all wisdom. Rousseau, the romantic imagination, and the self-actualizing movement of the 1960's are all the progenitors of these ideas. Although the United States seems to be torn apart in a youth culture that respects only its own feelings, rather than any external authority or classical ideal of virtue, Thompson only sees that "the family, the educational system, and the corporation -- represent an unconscious cultural conspiracy, held in silence, that deadens the human spirit and precludes the possibility of leadership."²⁰ The subjective self reigns supreme in this image of human nature, and we are urged to break the chains of culture in the name of inner freedom, as the essay concludes: "It is not what visionary leaders do that makes them extraordinary; it is who they are as human beings."²¹ To put it another way, 99% of life is just showing up.

Those seeking new structures and approaches to meaning in the work environment must be applauded for responding to an urgent need, even if their responses are not completely adequate. Stress in the workplace, and the concomitant human suffering, is pervasive in all industrial societies. A recent report by the United Nations indicates that In the United States, for example, job stress has been estimated to cost industry around US$ 200 billion annually -- through absenteeism, diminished productivity, compensation claims, health insurance, and direct medical expenses. In the United Kingdom stress is thought to cost up to 10 percent of GNP annually, through sickness, poor productivity, staff turnover, and premature death.²²

One can only imagine the human suffering that corresponds to these statistics. On a recent visit to Japan I could see that these conditions were not limited to Western industrialized societies. I saw workers hard at work, late at night and on weekends, seemingly driving themselves toward some future victory for their company, or toward karoshi, death from overwork. The ILO reports that "one survey indicated that over 40 percent of Japanese said they feared they would die from overwork."²³

As frightening as the Japanese statistic might be, "A study in the United States ...by Blue Cross-Blue Shield reported that five out of six workers claiming for an illness felt that job stress was a major cause. And surveys show that 75 percent of Americans would describe their jobs as stressful -- and believe that the pressure is steadily increasing."²⁴

Marxism may be dead, but the alienation of the worker is still too much with us. It was, after all, 1974 when Studs Terkel wrote his classic study of the worker, Working, in which he documents the range of alienation felt by workers of all types in a variety of work environments. It is no wonder, then, that thoughtful people are looking for creative alternatives to the present work environment.

The New Paradigm in Business, edited by Michael Ray and Alan Rinzler (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee Books, 1993), is very similar to the New Traditions in Business and even contains essays by some of the same writers. Once again, these writers are reacting to what they believe is a sterile, mechanistic work environment that dehumanizes workers. As in New Traditions, the writers emphasize that new meaning will be given to work from the inner wisdom of workers. Michael Ray explains in his introduction how "The fundamental assumption of the new paradigm is that our inner knowledge directs the way the world is going to look and the way we respond to it."²⁵ 

The meaning of this inner wisdom is never defined clearly, but the assumption by these writers is that indeed it is always wisdom and it is always good. The new paradigm essentially promises a new golden age, a secular yet spiritual kingdom of heaven on earth:

...capitalism as we know it having disappeared and been replaced by more positive images of humankind and a more communitarian form of ownership. No longer will other people seem threatening, competing, violent, or potentially dangerous, making necessary the privatizing of property ....human beings will be creatures of trust, caring, altruism, and cooperation, ready and able to share freely in the abundance of the Earth.²⁶

Not only has evil been removed by the new paradigm, but human beings will not even be "potentially dangerous." Surely, we have here a new religious vision without the profound understanding of the great religious traditions.

Very much in line with the vision presented in The New Paradigms in Business is M. Scott Peck, the popular psychiatrist author who has had a book on the best seller list for the past ten years. In his latest book, A World Waiting to be Reborn (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), Dr. Peck tackles the challenge of the future of business. He believes that God must enter the workplace as well as a spirit of community: "Build community and welcome God into your organization, and you will be introducing a wild card. A good wild card. A creative wild card."²⁷ As with new paradigm writers, Peck introduces an element that can only be good, never destructive, and will actually lead to utopia: "If Utopia is to emerge, it will do so primarily from the world of business. "²⁸

Dr. Peck and the new paradigm writers are long on vision and short on details, definitions, and examples of actual companies from which the vision will become substantial. As we turn to two recent books describing excellent companies, we get a more realistic understanding of what practices in the workplace significantly improve the quality of life for workers and for the larger society.

Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz in their new edition of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America (New York: Doubleday, 1993) thoroughly analyze the actual practices of companies by interviewing numerous managers, employees, and sundry others. They benchmark companies not by abstract vision but by categories that can be concretely defined and make much common sense. Although these authors do not offer a value-oriented vision of business, their categories emphasize the dignity, rights, and opportunities necessary for individuals within the workplace. They do not generalize about companies as such, but they have the wisdom to focus on specific practices that make excellent companies.

In an earlier book titled A Great Place to Work (New York: Random House, 1988), Robert Levering defines in depth a number of the categories used to measure the best companies: fair pay and benefits, job security, a "safe and attractive working environment," opportunities for growth and promotion, rights to due process, information, free speech, and the "right to confront those in authority," as well as opportunities to share profit and ownership.²⁹

The books by Levering and Moskowitz are useful because so few companies practice all of the benchmarks that the authors describe. Certainly, one might infer that the stress in the workplace documented by the international Labor Organization was caused by the company practices that fell far short of the ideals described by Levering. In fact, the employees interviewed by Levering and Moskowitz in the best companies reveal that they are happy in their work, they often feel like the work environment is supportive of their growth, and they feel the genuine dignity of free, creative human beings.

Levering explains, however, that a great workplace cannot be equated with the presence or absence of a particular set of policies or practices. What's important is the quality of the relationship that gets developed between the company and its employees. With that in mind, we can use this checklist as a way of taking the pulse of a company's workplace relationships. Great places to work tend to have most or all of the attributes listed above.³⁰

The caveat mentioned by Levering is important because companies may follow management policies to make employees "feel better," although there are few practices where employees do better. Even cheerleader managers, or those who can press for clear, rational objectives, may bring about "successful" companies measured by profitability, not by the wellbeing of employees.

Another valuable book which reviews the practices of actual companies is Companies With a Conscience by Mary Scott and Howard Rothman (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1992). The authors of this book do not pretend to do the kind of exhaustive analysis found in The 100 Best Companies, and there is a much more impressionistic discussion of each company. Yet, the book is a nice complement to those of Levering and Moskowitz for it focuses on those idealistic qualities where vision is often foremost in the consciousness of a company. Social responsibility, quality products, and care for people are the themes one finds in the discussion of companies with a conscience.

Greystar Corporation, for example, is run by a Buddhist priest who seeks to employ and improve the lives of those who need help in his area. Esprit Corporation offers "character-building opportunities," and Alfalfa's Inc. explains that their primary aim is "to make people feel better by helping them eat better." Don "Mac" MacLaughlin, plant manager of Ben & Jerry's, explains that "Every day I come to work I feel I'm making the world a better place."³¹

The well-being of consumers, the environment, and employees are central to most of these companies. Celestial Seasonings attributes its success to its mission, and the employees agree: "quality of the products, love of the consumers, giving the best we can give to the world, taking care of our people ....dedicated people, who love their work and want to put out the best tea in the world."³²

In another group of books published in the last few months, we find authors relating business and economics to the broader themes of culture, philosophy, and religion. Professor Amitai Etzioni has emerged as the leading voice for what he calls a communitarian movement in America. Essentially, this is a call for moral revival, especially in reference to the family, school, community, and community organizations. Etzioni analyses the breakdown of these institutions in contemporary America, and he seeks to build a new alliance among all parts of the political spectrum to strengthen the basic building blocks of the culture. In The Spirit of Community (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1993), Etzioni calls upon businesses, with all their power and influence, to help strengthen each of the fundamental areas of culture. Since businesses already strongly impact family and community, for example, Etzioni urges them in their own self-interest to support those institutions which must be healthy if business is to prosper.

Philosopher Robert Solomon, also seeking to strengthen the ethical fabric of culture by making business aware of its responsibilities to the larger culture, draws upon the classical teachings of Aristotle for his framework of ethical renewal. In Ethics and Excellence (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), he explains that:

What we need in business ethics is a theory of practice, an account of business as a fully human activity in which ethics provides not just an abstract set of principles or side-constraints or an occasional Sunday school reminder, but the very framework of business activity.³³

Solomon illustrates that for Aristotle the virtuous life is the good life, the fully human life. All activities, including business, either contribute to a life of virtue or fail to do so. The failure of business, Solomon points out, is that the bottom line has not been virtue. Consequently, business has had a truncated view as to how it impacts persons and the common good. Solomon calls for "An integrative structure in which the individual, the corporation, and the community, self-interest, and the public good, the personal and the professional, business and virtues all work together."³⁴

Lawrence Harrison, who makes a comparative study of cultural values in terms of economic success, is another writer to call for a renaissance of traditional values if America is to maintain its prosperity. In Who Prospers (New York: Basic Books, 1992), Harrison develops many of the themes expounded upon by Etzioni and Solomon. He laments the "erosion of traditional American values -- work, frugality, education, excellence, community," among others, and he points out that these are the very values that have enabled the newly industrialized countries to prosper. Even within the United States, he illustrates, minority groups such as Korean-Americans and Chinese-Americans succeed in business because they still maintain these strong cultural values. To arrest the moral, economic, and cultural decline of America in recent decades, Harrison calls upon Americans to understand the values of their cultural patrimony, then to act against those habits which undermine traditional values.

The final work in this survey of recent books is the latest publication from The Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame. For many years they have sponsored conferences concerning the Judeo-Christian vision and business, and the publications from these conferences constitute some of the most significant studies on the relationship between religion, economics, and business. A Virtuous Life in Business: Stories of Courage and Integrity in the Corporate World (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1992), edited by Oliver F. Williams and John W. Houck, continues the tradition of significant studies by the Center.

A Virtuous Life is of the genre of narrative or story as illustrative of ethical ideals. As literature has always had the function of pleasing and teaching by allowing the reader to experience the little world of the work of art, so the story allows the moral imagination to transform the ethical sensibility of the reader. As the subtitle of the book explains, the essays in this volume present many concrete examples of virtuous behavior in business. From the courage of executives at Johnson & Johnson to act honorably in the famous Tylenol episode, to the heroes at General Electric, Edison and Steinmetz, we come to understand the nature of virtue in business as drawing upon the religious values of culture and then of reinforcing such values in service to culture. Just as a virtuous action does not make a virtuous life, a virtuous action within a corporation does not make a virtuous corporation. However, we can learn from acts of virtue, through stories, how to become virtuous ourselves and thus how to become fully human. Further, we can understand that the most excellent ethical norms defined by the classical religions have great relevance to our behavior in business, just as they must be the norms which guide us to become fully human in other areas of life.

The goal of becoming fully human is the underlying purpose of human life. The great religious traditions, especially Judaism and Christianity in Western culture, offer us the most profound understanding of the nature, purpose, and value of the person in relation to the common good. As we survey various recent books on economics and religion, business and spirituality, we see that economic activity, like any activity, may have a specific purpose, but it also contributes to the larger human purpose or it fails to do so. Drawing upon our classical religious heritage, a Principled Economics will seek to define and promote those core values that can guide us in establishing a more humane world.

1. The Pope's encyclical is reprinted in A New Worldly Order, edited by George Weigel (Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center), 1992.

2. Ibid. p. 35.

3. Ibid. p. 49.

4. Richard John Neuhaus, Doing Well and Doing Good (New York: Doubleday), 1992.

5. Ibid. p. 65.

6. Ibid. p. 165.

7. Ibid. p. 59.

8. Michael Novak, The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: The Free Press, 1993), p. 208.

9. Ibid. p. 33.

10. Ibid. pp. 195-196.

11. John Renesch, ed., New Traditions in Business (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers), 1992; Michael Ray and Alan Rinzler, eds. The New Paradigm in Business (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Perigee Books, 1993).

12. Michael Ray, "The Emerging New Paradigm in Business," pp. 24-37, in Renesch, p. 9.

13. Ibid. p. 29.

14. Ibid. pp. 32-33.

15. Terry Mollner, "The 21st-Century Corporation: The Tribe of the Relationship Age," pp. 95-106; p. 98.

16. Ibid. p. 102.

17. Ibid. p. 101.

18. John W. Thompson, "Corporate Leadership in the 21st Century," in Renesch, pp. 208-222.

19. Ibid. p. 218.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid. p. 221.

22. "Stress at Work," World Labor Report (Geneva: International Labour Office, 1993), pp. 65-76; p. 65.

23. Ibid. pp. 67-68.

24. Ibid. p. 68.

25. Michael Ray, "Introduction," The New Paradigm in Business, pp. 1-10; p. 5.

26. Herman Bryant Maynard, Jr. and Susan E. Mehntens, "Redefinitions of Corporate Wealth," pp. 36-42; p. 42 in The New Paradigm in Business.

27. Peck, A World Waiting to be Reborn, p. 351.

28. Ibid. p. 353.

29. Robert Levering, A Great Place to Work, p. 203.

30. Ibid.

31. Companies with a Conscience, p. 54.

32. Ibid. p. 11.

33. Solomon, Ethics and Excellence, p. 99.

34. Ibid. p. 145.

35. Harrison, Who Prospers, p. 1.

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