And then Childs gives a named example: Max De Pree, CEO of Herman Miller, a Fortune 500 furniture company based in Michigan. As seen in some of the co-operatives, De Pree also values a non-discriminatory employment policy: “Actively promoting the dignity of all and celebrating our diversity as a human community are virtues of leadership that echo the character of Christian love in what we have seen is its inclusive embrace of all people.” De Pree has instituted eight rights to respond to this, among them:
- the right to be needed; i.e. use our gifts to their maximum in concert with the company goals
- the right to be involved, to have one’s input valued and to be given a chance to communicate in ways that will help to inform the company’s decision making
- the right to understand what is going on, the right to have a say over their destiny, knowing in detail about corporate expectations of them, criteria of performance assessment etc.
Childs talks about the model of the servant-leader, but in his interpretation it applies to limiting excessive executive pay relative to the lowest-paid workers of a business, which seems a long way from the inverted hierarchy described in Biblical terms.
David Miller (2007) also examines the disconnect between the world of faith and the world of work. He believes much of the divide stems from the fact that for much of the 20th century theologians saw commerce and capitalism in a purely negative light.
Both Christian socialism and liberation theology rely heavily on Marxist categories of analysis, historical interpretation, and methodology, which presuppose a prima facie rejection of: capitalism, non-state controlled forms of economic organization, ownership of private property, and the role of religion. Influenced by Marxist categories of analysis and economic presuppositions, the problems of industrialization and automation, and the deconstructive methods of postmodernism, many clergy and theologians failed to find and articulate a constructive doctrine of vocation or theology of work. (p. 90)
Miller talks enthusiastically about the Faith at Work (FAW) movement which has developed in isolation from the established churches for the reasons given above. Although not defined in detail in this particular book, the FAW movement seems to be a phenomenon that started in the mid-1980s and continues today, characterised by people who want to harmonise or integrate their religious and working life in some way.
This modern quest for integration has ancient theological roots. In particular, the Hebrew word avodah, which conjoins these points, is illuminating. Found throughout the Hebrew scriptures, the root of the word avodah means ‘work and worship,’ as well as ‘service’, thereby suggesting that our work can be a means of honouring God and serving our neighbour. (p. 6)