Just Business by Alexander Hill

¶ … Business by Alexander Hill

Alexander Hill's book Just Business is highly important for both people interested in business and those interested in Christianity. Within this manuscript, Hill attempts what some may think of as unthinkable -- to apply Christian ethics to the business world to develop a framework for enacting religious principles within the modern commerce. To the author's credit, he develops a solid structure for doing so, and devotes a good portion of this work to deconstructing various case studies and applying his ethical approach to them. As such, the reader is privileged to not only theory but also to examples in which Hill's theory is elucidated. Hill makes quite a convincing case; whether or not it is pragmatic in contemporary business practices, however, is largely up to the reader to discern.

One of the most effective aspects of Just Business is the author's structuring of the work. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which the author uses to denote his ethical framework (which is descended from some of the key notions of Christianity). In the second section he explicates how such Christian principles correlate to those within the conventional business word. In the final section he provides a number of case studies for some of the most salient issues related to business in modern times. This approach is beneficial to the reader because it enables individuals to understand his Christian ethics first before applying them to those regularly enacted in business. By providing the theory for this fact first, and then demonstrating how it applies in a series of case studies in the final segment of the book, the author has constructed his text in a fully logical, lucid way which significantly impacts reader comprehension.

The most important part of Hill's work is the ethical framework from Christianity which he provides. This framework consists of equal parts holiness, justice, and love, all functioning in a triune to effectively shift the focus of business from profits only to effectively serving God's will as well. The foundation of these three ethical tenets is holiness, which is clearly descended from God or the conception of Christ. By focusing on holiness instead of solely on revenues, Hill posits that organizations are "honoring God" and "the concept of holiness is not violated" (Hill 25). However, the notion of justice serves to temper the focus of a professional organization from just holiness to one which is more than merely legal, but also righteous in the God's eyes. It is key to note that all of these concepts of the author's ethical framework are largely defined as they are by the Christian God. Lastly, love -- which is manifested in business relations via virtues such as temperance, sacrifice, empathy, etc. -- provides a bond between the aforementioned ethical principles and helps an organization to maintain benevolence in its dealings with other entities as well as among its respective employees.

Thus, another positive point about this book is the fact that it provides a framework for Christians to rectify the practical concerns for earning money and surviving in today's world with the spiritual concerns upon which their religion is based. The author helps to eschew merely scripting an idealist's text by providing practical examples of the ethical implications of such a framework. Some of the challenging issues that he provides case studies for include environmental concerns, relationships between employees and their superiors, as well as various aspects of discrimination. Other important principles the author addresses includes the role of grace within his framework -- which is pivotal to understanding the disparities between Christian and business ethics -- and the notion of false exits. The latter is valuable because it contrasts the lofty aims of Christian ethics with "ethical authority in human instrumentalities -- business culture, government and corporate management -- rather than God's character" (Hill 67).

However, there are also a fair amount of dissatisfying parts regarding Hill's book as well. His ethics are not as immutable as they should be, and as a result reveal the inherent limitation in trying to moralize facets of business. It is somewhat surprising to read the author embrace deception with an ethical framework that reveres and seeks to incorporate the values of love, holiness, and justice -- especially as applied to God. But Hill does just this by acknowledging the necessity of deception in the following quotation. "Deception, if ever justifiable, should be restricted to the most narrow confines possible" (Hill 150). When one considers the converse of the significance of this statement -- that perhaps God, in his administration of justice, righteousness and holiness should minimize a paucity of deception at his discretion, -- the incongruity of attempting to rationalize business ethics and behavior with a religious one becomes readily apparent.