Book Review: Business for the Glory of God

Business for the Glory of God: The Bible's Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business. By Wayne Grudem. christianaudio, 2012. ($15.99 Print, $12.98 CD)

««««« (four out of five) 

Wayne Grudem has had a major impact on the beliefs of Christians all over through his seminal work, Systematic Theology. It takes up quite a few inches on my shelf and is quite a comprehensive look at Christian doctrine. Theology can sound distant and impractical to modern readers who spend most of their day in secular employment. But with books like Business for the Glory of God, Grudem shows he’s a Christian who understands that our faith bears implications on all of life’s activities, not just what goes on in our heads on Sunday mornings.

The book reads like a sanctified introduction to economics. He explains from a distinctly Christian worldview the very positive and inherent goodness of business, from ownership and employment to profit and borrowing and lending. He argues against the idea that business is bad or merely neutral. Instead, business is good and has many opportunities to glorify God while at the same time presenting temptations towards evil.

I especially liked his chapters on profit, borrowing, and competition. I haven’t seen these subjects discussed the way Grudem does, and it goes beyond mere Dave Ramsey financial advice. He sees a lot of continuation of these business concepts in heaven, which I’ll have to think through a little more. Overall it’s a wholly sanctified way of thinking about economics and business.

The narration of this piece is superbly done, fitting a mature and seasoned voice to the author’s own mature and seasoned thoughts. I wish I had read this during my undergraduate studies (I took a lot of business classes) because I would have been much more prepared to share a distinctively Christian worldview with my teachers and classmates.

Click here for the audio edition from christianaudio.

The opinions expressed are my own. I received an audio book download of this work from christianaudio.