Introduction to Economic Ethics in Everyday Life
[1] People never tire of quoting the late Tip O'Neill's famous
statement that "All politics is local." Perhaps it is not entirely
amiss to borrow this idea by stating that "All economic ethics is
local." That is to say, while there is considerable ethical
discourse concerning mega concerns of economic justice and
monumental failures of business ethics such as the Enron scandal,
the ethical insights and attitudes that shape most people's
response to the larger issues of economic life are those developed
and nurtured in the everyday decisions faced by individuals,
families, and local communities. Equipping the saints for the
vocation of Christian witness in economic life begins with the
"local" realities of everyday life. This issue is a reminder of
that task.
[2] Mark Allen Powell's essay leads us into the biblical
underpinnings of stewardship which, together with Shannon Jung's
piece on sharing, provide an orientation to the active virtues
animating the ethics of every day economic life. Clint
Schneckloth's piece points out that what we eat, or don't
eat, can be a reflection of our faith. The virtue of frugality
lifted up in the article by James Nash links our personal economic
decisions with concerns for the environment and our culture of
consumption. Nash probes the yearnings that underlie our
"prodigality" and issues a challenge to the churches to nurture a
joyful frugality. William Diehl's account of the "Forum for Ethics
in the Workplace" opens another dimension of our subject.
Christians in dialogue with one another over the vexing issues of
daily workplace life is one good example of a Lutheran notion of
vocation at work through the mutual consolation and conversation of
sisters and brothers. The forum example also suggests one method
for ministry to one another in all matters of personal economic
responsibility and its relation to the larger witness of the church
in its concern for the common good and economic justice.
[3] There is no specific pattern of economic life that all
Christians must follow; responsible choices can differ and
Christians in good conscience can disagree on a variety of matters.
Nonetheless, there are parameters we can discover in our
deliberations with one another. It seems to me that these articles
point us in that direction.
© January 2007
Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE)
Volume 7, Issue 1