Summary : ' Bulls, Bears, And Golden Calves '

The purpose of this paper is to show that Revelational Christian Ethics is a viable metaethical approach to Business. This ethical theory is a prescriptive and a concrete expression of objective reality. It exemplifies the core values and teachings of Jesus Christ as the foundation of morality and guiding principles for ethical conduct, treatment of others, as well corporate leadership decisions that affect the environment, community, and economics.

In Neil Messer’s book, Christian Ethics, he outlines three approaches to economics as classified by theologian Stephen Long. These three being a dominant tradition, an emergent tradition, and a residual tradition. After reading through and considering the merits of each I feel that as a Christian, one must embrace the residual tradition.

The acts of accounting and finance date back to the beginnings of recorded history and has evolved over the centuries to become a cornerstone of societies across the globe. Both the Old and New Testament of the Bible discuss the subject of accounting and finance in many scriptures and parables. The biblical concepts taught about accounting and finance are, without fail, applicable to modern business. Without an ethical foundation build upon a biblical foundation accounting and finance practices are bound to fail. This paper will tie biblical concepts to accounting and finance as well highlight the implications of a secularism.

What Money Can’t Buy; The Moral Limits of Market by Michael Sandel argues the relationship between markets and our morality. His central concern is the influence of money on the sphere of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms such as rights as a citizen, care for others, and civic duties. He demonstrated that market is responsible for destroying our sense of morality by placing monetary value to it. This paper will argue the relationship between market and morality through demonstrating the type of goods corrupted by money, the flaws in the market system that causes such problems, and the political solution for this problem as suggested by Michael Sandel respectively.

Michael J. Sandel advocates the ideas of money, markets and morals in his book What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets with the use of various examples. Sandel analyzes the concepts of money, markets, and morality with his examples of offering cash to students as an incentive for earning good or better grades and for drug addicted women to receive sterilization. The idea that cash incentives can fix school educational problems is popular for education revision. Sandel explains these incentives can be given to both the students and teachers. Cash incentives have developed for sterilization because some believe they are the solution for drug addicted mothers who neglect their child. Although cash incentives are becoming increasingly

With a combination of big bone, big toplines, big hair, long pretty clean necks, and structure soundness on there feet and legs. They are cardboard cutout cattle. They are not practical cattle. Based on appearance, they are extremely powerful and over the top. Big boned and deep bodied yet still attractive through the front end. (Macarthur)

“Business ethics is the application of general ethical ideas to business behavior” (Lawrence & Weber, 2017, p. 94) and it’s through these ideas that good, bad, moral, and immoral decisions are made based on the foundation and framework of how we view life. For this reason, our moral compass when based on a biblical worldview should influence how we approach making decisions as it pertains to business ethics (Porter,2013).

In the beginning of the book, he says “ethics is inexorably intertwined with economic life and analysis” (Stapleford, 2009).

Dr. Barry Swartz discusses a topic he explores in his book “The Paradox of Choice” written with Kenneth Sharpe. Dr. Swartz examines practical wisdom and the practices currently utilized to mock practical wisdom by bankers, teachers, and doctors. Dr. Swartz is a psychologist who studies the connections between the psychological and the economic communities. Dr. Swartz heads the argument by stating that many people have a general distrust for the specialists who are meant to be working for them such as bankers, doctors, and teachers. He states that this is due to the fact that though most of the population wants to be virtuous they are rarely given the option to demonstrate virtuous behavior.

This essay will provide a scriptural key to understanding the topics of finance in a Christian worldview perspective. The illustrations will be reflected through the events found in God’s word, providing a greater understanding into the relevance of the Bible in today’s economic world. It will show the importance of the integration of faith, as God has provided his wisdom for today in the illustrations of the Holy Word. Refer to II Timothy 3: 16 – 17; “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped

As a Christian that is going into the field of accounting and finance, I find that is extremely important to know what my ethical values are. When things get difficult in the workplace, I need to be able to stand up for my beliefs and follow them even when it may cause me trouble. In the world of finance, the most important goal is maximizing wealth and profits at all costs. This paper will look at some of the ways a Christian financial manager can re-act to some of the things that the finance industry will throw at them.

Economic way of looking at life helps individuals to know moral pathways and how to be ethical in economics. In chapter 7, social issues that are discussed, as labor supply in which you find household production, the family, and the life cycle can be well analyzed using economic way of looking at life. In making household decisions, certain factors have to be in mind, such as the economy, time, income and individuals involved.

Alexander Hill’s Christian Ethics for the Marketplace in my view point focuses on ethics as it relates to business which also includes the Christian element. Hill outlines the scripturally grounded ethical structure of holiness, justice, and love for business practices. Hill also connects his Christian ethic to the dominant methods of ethical practice in the world of business. Lastly, Hill uses the analysis of case studies in lieu of his proposed Christian ethic. Although questions in regards to ethical behaviors remain conclusively unanswered, several find ethical structure valuable when dealing with difficult situations.

In the first ethical problem selected, two separate books were kept by personnel in the Adelphia financial management department with the intent of deceiving external auditors; thus leading shareholders and the public to believe that the company was ultimately worth more than it was in actuality. In the second, the Rigas family frivolously dwindled away public money for personal selfish consumption which is clearly a violation of the public’s trust. In the weeks following the unraveling of events and divulgence of information, a number of townspeople and investors were concerned that the family was rather free with shareholder money and further believed corporate money was used to finance public generosity as previously discussed in this paper (Barlaup, Hanne, & Stuart, 2009, p. 10).

Morals and principles in business is what has kept the world going for centuries and what continues to fuel progress today. These ethics have not changed much since the book, “The Richest Man in Babylon,” was written by George S. Clason originally in 1926. In this book, Clason discusses a unique set of financial strategies and standards, such as the “The Seven Cures,” that relate with the class, Agricultural Financial Management, and life in general. With this book being written in the 1920s, it was a great time for the people living during that era, until 1924 when agriculture started witnessing the factors of the Great Depression. Although the book is set in Babylonian time, Clason created the parables in a storytelling format that makes