Book Report - Business as a Calling by Michael Novack

Sayo Ajiboye
DMin Overture I
May 2007
Business as a Calling
By Michael Novak
256 pages

Novack’s Thesis is to show that vocation is not limited to the popular concept of the sacred. He sought to show that business is a sign of God’s great goodness to man and that the great religions of our world affirm the sense of business as a calling from a holy God. Business for Novack is a morally serious “enterprise.”

What is it that ties human race together and transcends geography, racial and gender boundaries? What power is it that touches us all on the face of God’s earth? For Novack, it is commerce. Novack is convinced that the capitalistic expression of commerce fundamental to freedom and liberation for the poor and the oppressed of the earth. Novack traced the history of Commerce in the developed world and sought to show that it has been a force for good everywhere it is given a free reign. The most evident sign of our common humanness is trading Business is necessary for order in societies. A good business climate is required before there can be an effective governance of people in nations. It is commerce that makes equality most accessible, and provides ladders out of obscurity into a common global economic family

Novack cites those that opposes his proposition, he goes to great length to show how the Christian community opposed people like Andrew Carnegie and other famous "robber barons." He goes to a great length and even quoted writers like Hugh Price Hughes, a Christian minister who called Carnegie “an anti-Christian phenomenon, a social monstrosity, and a grave political peril” (58). These critics focus on how these capitalists have perpetuated social inequalities while throwing crumbs down to the people in the name of philanthropy. They showed how Carnegie prevented workers from organizing while all the time assuming an air of paternalism. They were particularly critical of the riots in one of Carnegie’s factories that led to many deaths and concerning which Carnegie feigned ignorance even though he was in constant daily contact with those who brutally crushed the protest and who ostensibly acted on his instruction.

In this section of the book, Novack almost looked like a hack writer. He goes to a great length to show that in spite of all the charges leveled against Carnegie, he was more instrumental in changing the face of America for the ordinary person. In my opinion, Novack tried too hard to exonerate Carnegie and others like him. Does a saint do no wrong? This fallacy of assumption is the Achilles Heal of Novak’s defense of the Robber Barons. Saint sometimes are wrong, that does not however nullify their contribution. In spite of this flaw however, I agree with the essence of Novack’s thesis. There is a calling for God’s people in the world of commerce, there is a gifting that must be consciously developed and there is a purpose that needs be discovered.

Novack is unique in convincingly challenging the fallacy of dualism. He blurs the line between the secular and the sacred and insist that that which is termed secular is actually a holy ground. For Novack, heaven is at work and angels are on assignment in the stock market as much as they are in the pews of the churches. Novacks brings a sense of comfort to the committed Christian who is in the market place and who are often caught in the tension of thinking that what they are doing is not holy enough. Novack resoundingly clarifies the fact that God is all and in all.

Some of Novack's comparative effort at showing that his “democratic capitalism” is the best option cannot really stand strong scrutiny. The excuse that aberrant practitioners must be allowed their excesses without those excesses being seen as a result of capitalism cannot hold. It is interesting that one of the worst examples of capitalistic excesses in modern times is Novacks example and saint! Ken lay epitomizes the height to which capitalism can rise and the abuse to which it can be subjected. Jesus’ focus on the poor critiques the capitalists exploitation of the same. “The spirit of the Lords is upon me” he says, “for he has anointed me to preach the glad tidings to the poor.” I disagree with Novack’s attempt to make God out into a capitalist and make communism like “the evil.” Our world must present a better critique of systems and delve deeper into the essence of our faith to propose a holistic doctrine of God’s favor on work.

Novack’s wholesale promotion of the Lay’s of this world ignores a large body of work and the tradition of God’s re-distributive systems. We cannot wish away greed, the prophets will not allow us to whitewash the acquisitive tendency of the rich, Zacheaus will always be a witness against those that own too much. While serving as a voice of encouragement to young conflicted entrepreneurs, Novack failed to serve as a voice of warning to those whose heart has been gripped by the acquisitive vice. In fact, he seems to be confirming them in their folly. This is an entirely very dangerous proposition.

I grew up in Nigeria where 500 individuals hold 80% of the wealth and leave the remaining 149.999 Million of us to struggle with the remaining 20 %. While affirming the call to freedom, while accepting the challenge that all which God has given is holy; the Church has a prophetic mandate to say to the rich:

James 5:1- 8

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.