Business theology

Religions, throughout their existence, have found it difficult to formulate a balanced approach to wealth and the world of business. They have tended to comment more on poverty, with parables about camels fitting through needles demonstrating their ambivalence. Perhaps then, surprisingly, and particularly if we live in a secular, post‐modern society, there has been a persistent trickle of use of religious metaphor which shows no sign of abating. Equally, the language of business is infiltrating the religious sphere, as religions seek to maximize income, as well as, and as a means of, maintaining their essential missions. Advertising agencies draw on religious metaphor, and business leaders sometimes go into religious mode for the high‐spot achievements of corporate life. Work is not always pleasurable fulfilment, but this periodic spiritual underpinning does witness to the potential for self‐actualisation.