Book Review: Doing Virtuous Business by Theodore Malloch

As one of my business friends tells me, he always had a hard time with making money since the Bible does not seem to lend to the practice of making money. Malloch tries to combat that by looking at how we can do business ethically and from the perspective of a religious and moral attitude. He supports this with examples of ethical businesses that perform at level that is higher than their competition.

I got this book primarily for the fact that I do ministry to professional in the workplace. The book is written in the vein of many of business/management/leadership books. It does a good job of creating a biblical business world view. The author couches this belief with a variety of quotes from the Bible and other Christian business leaders who are in defense of capitalism done right.

He also provides a broad since of religions as he includes other businesses which are Muslim or Hindu. While he writes from a Christian point of view, he talks of spiritual capital. He calls this “the fund of beliefs, examples, and commitments transmitted from generation to generation through a religious tradition, attaching people to the transcendental source of human happiness." This is very open to an understanding of the business world as it relates to not only Christianity, but to other forms of religion as well.

He also compares company from family own to larger corporate conglomerates, not leaving out any area type of business. In essence, he shows that anyone in any type of business big or small can adhere to these principles.

The book was an easy read for me as I read it in one sitting. It can be a little business technical in writing, but it appears to be a book written specifically for this group. I highly endorse this book for anyone in the business world who has an interest in learning to live out their faith in the work that they do.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren

Spiritual practices have been around for a long time and McLaren takes a contemporary look at these practices that as Christians we do to try and get closer to God. McLaren likens the concept of Spiritual practices to running a marathon or speaking a language or even playing an instrument. In order to do well at these things you have to train, train, train, practice, practice, practice, do it, do it, and do it. Unless you do this you can’t get the true benefit out of the practices you do.

Like Foster’s classic Celebration of Discipline, McLaren emphasis both person and communal Spiritual practices. He goes through the understanding of practices like spiritual reading, prayer journaling, solitude and silence (which I struggle with everyday), gratitude and tithing and so forth. In essence what McLaren is doing is setting the ground for a series of 8 books that focus on returning to the accident Spiritual practices.

As part of my passion, I have a workplace ministry. As I was reflecting on this while I was reading the book, I realized that McLaren is calling us to do something that I have been trying to convey to folks for many years. That is religion is a life style. We can and should live out our religion in our lives. McLaren even provides some ways to help equip us to do that in our lives in a way that shows love and compassion to folks. McLaren attempts to show us how to cleans our lives and focus on getting closer God.

One of the things that I notice is the McLaren makes references to his own beliefs and concepts that he has outlined in some of his previous books. This can be awkward if you are not really familiar with him and have not read him. While the book stands alone, it does warrant some background on the author to really grasp what he is referring to in this book.

Overall I really liked the book; however, knowing the way that McLaren rubs some people the wrong way, it is possible that this could be a very polarizing issue as McLaren’s beliefs and concepts run deep in it. If you are not familiar with his concepts this can be a difficult read for some.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”