Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2015

Keywords

entrepreneurship, common grace, economic shalom, virtue, spiritual capital, beauty, Abraham Kuyper

Abstract

Entrepreneurship benefits society in many ways. It delivers obvious and tangible economic blessings. The spiritual blessings of entrepreneurship are harder to see, and yet these are essential in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of the role entrepreneurship plays within a virtuous society. This paper considers common grace as a helpful lens through which to view the spiritual reality of entrepreneurship and to discern the intangible contributions it provides to economic shalom. Viewed from the perspective of common grace, we can see that entrepreneurship bears witness to the beauty, creativity, power and the responsibility bestowed upon God’s image bearers to participate in the providence of economic shalom. Furthermore, common grace provides a context for discussion of the spiritual aspects of entrepreneurship, which can lead to a more profound understanding of business and economics than purely secular discussions can realize. Several themes stand out in this regard: pluriformity, spiritual capital, beauty, civic virtue and risk. We address these themes with special attention to the work of Abraham Kuyper. In conclusion, we see how common grace contributes to an understanding of the spiritual dimensions of entrepreneurship, and how this perspective affirms entrepreneurship as a positive movement in the direction of economic shalom.

Download

Share

COinS