Why Business Matters to God: (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed)

Jeff Van Duzer

Sep 2010 · InterVarsity Press

About this ebook

Jeff Van Duzer grew up thinking business was the source of much damage and evil in the world, the work of greedy capitalists polluting the environment. Thirty years later he was dean of a business school. In the course of that remarkable transformation, Van Duzer found cause for both hope and concern. He discovered many business people achieving a great deal of good for society as well as a lot of illegal and unethical behavior. Along the way he found some who thought that merely being honest and kind was what made business Christian. Others said they'd never ask pastors for business advice because they had no interest or experience in their work. After all, wasn't "full-time Christian service" what the church was all about? This book explores the nature and meaning of doing business and finds it calls for much more than most think. Van Duzer presents a profoundly Christian approach that integrates biblical studies with the disciplines of business and economics. Looking beyond the place of ethical principles and the character of the individual, Van Duzer displays a vision of business that contributes to the very purposes of God.

About the author

Jeff Van Duzer (JD, Yale Law School) is Provost of Seattle Pacific University after previously serving twelve years as Dean of the School of Business and Economics and Professor of Business Ethics and Business Law. He practiced as a partner with the international law firm Davis Wright Tremaine for more than twenty years, concentrating in commercial finance and natural resources while serving on the firm?s Executive Committee and as the Partner in Charge in their largest office. Van Duzer is a frequent speaker on the theology of business and is the author of Why Business Matters to God, along with a number of articles in academic and popular journals. He lives with his wife Margie and has two grown sons.