CHRISTIAN BUSINESS REVIEW ISSUE 2 AUGUST 2013 PUBLISHERS Robert Sloan Mohan Kuruvilla CO-EDITORS Ernest Liang Leslie Haugen CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Richard Martinez Wallace Henley Note to Readers The views expressed in the articles in this publication are solely the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Christian Business Review, Houston Baptist University (HBU), or the HBU School of Business.
IN THIS ISSUE 2 4
Letter from the Editors Living Cases
God Leads in Mysterious Ways
One person’s spiritual journey of discovery about purpose in life Phil Clements
8
Book Excerpt
A Christian Ethic for Business
A practical framework for managing ethical challenges in business from a biblical worldview Alexander Hill
15
Insights on Application
Worship in the Trenches
Lessons from cases of ethical dilemmas for the Christian business professional Buck Jacobs
21
Feature Article
Christian Business Ethics in Theory and Practice – Cross-Cultural Perspectives Excerpts from a special panel discussion Buck Jacobs, Steeve Kay, Bill Mearse, Tao Zhang, Wallace Henley (moderator)
27
35
The Fruit of the Spirit – Application to Performance Management How the biblical concept of the fruit of the Spirit can be a meaningful tool in structuring employee appraisals conducive to stronger ethical values Al Erisman and Denise Daniels
Ethical Leadership: An Invitation to Spiritual Formation and Transformation for the Christian Professional For the Christian, the spiritual temperament of the inner person defines a leader’s capacity to lead ethically as much as his/her outward technical competencies. Doris Gomez
42
CBR PeerReviewed Articles
Book Review
Christ and Business Culture
By Kam-Hon Lee, Dennis McCann, and MaryAnn Ching Yuen (An empirical survey of Christian responses to ethical challenges in Hong Kong and China business, organized around stylized theological and negotiation typologies) Reviewed by Kwok Tung Cheung
45
Guidelines for Contributors
The Christian Business Review, Issue 2. Copyright 2013 Houston Baptist University. All rights reserved by original authors except as noted. Submissions to this journal are welcome. Email us at cbr@hbu.edu. To learn about the Center for Christianity in Business, please visit www.hbu.edu/ccb.
CHRISTIAN BUSINESS REVIEW AUGUST 2013