A Call to Work Together with Professors
Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.
The Christian community needs a robust response to the naturalist economic viewpoint. C. S. Lewis observes, “(T)o be ignorant and simple now—not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground—would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”[1]
Warren Brookes, journalist and author of The Economy of Mind published in 1984, asserts, “We are dealing, no less, with the basic conflict between two entirely different concepts of man and his universe, concepts that affect every aspect of our social and economic lives, one determinedly physical and finite and the other profoundly metaphysical and infinite; the one (collective socialism) rooted in fearful concern about visible resources, the other (market capitalism) springing from faith in spiritual reality.”[2] He goes on to further assert, “Since economic thought first became formalized over two centuries ago, there have been essentially two different views about wealth. One view, first defined by Adam Smith and Jean-Baptiste Say, is that wealth is primarily metaphysical, the result of ideas, imagination, innovation, and individual creativity, and is therefore, relatively speaking, unlimited, susceptible to great growth and development. The other, espoused by Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx, contends that wealth is essentially and primarily physical, and therefore ultimately finite. The modern presentation of this view argues that since usable energy is steadily diminishing into entropy, all wealth is really cost to be shared more equitably.”[3]
Because universities play a vital role in transforming economic thought as well as culture, we need to engage those who are permanent university residents— faculty. How far is the nearest institution of higher education from your home?
Do you know personally any Christian faculty or Christian PhD students? Have you ever considered working together with faculty to advance the Kingdom as well as improve your business? As Joseph of Arimathea was able to walk into Pilate’s office seeking the body of Jesus, professors who are Christian are often in influential positions.[4]
Darin joined our church around 1991 as a graduate student in marketing at the University of Alabama. He and his wife were seeking to faithfully follow Jesus but were new to navigating the terrain of PhD programs. Ignoring my advice to be very discrete within the halls of this institution, he became the target of a particular secular professor who sought to have him removed from the program because he was a Christian. By God’s gracious provisions, Darin is now a world renown marketing professor at Samford University having a kingdom impact through a wide array of activities.[5]
At Darin’s suggestion, one of his students entered a PhD program at the University of Alabama. Again, not heeding my advice, Alex faced significant hostility because he was a follower of Jesus Christ. Today, he is a professor at a secular university seeking to use his position to God’s glory.
If universities are one gateway to influencing the world, then faculty are their gatekeepers, and PhD students hold the keys to the future. Further, business innovation often emanates from universities. From product innovation to advanced financial management practices, faculty often have an unbiased and unique perspective. Unfortunately, due in part to the academic culture, we often have challenging personalities. Let’s face it, what kind of person can work for weeks on a particular quantitative solution knowing it will likely end up in the trash? Together, partnering with faculty and PhD students can lead to some interesting opportunities for you, your family, and your business, as well as your local ministries.
Ann and I have been involved in Tuscaloosa’s International Friends for decades. [6] Although TIF is not a Christian organization, many Christians are involved. It is amazing the opportunities that become available simply from sharing a meal with our global guests. We have had too many experiences to enumerate here. Many PhD students arrive here seeking to become world-renowned academics
and leave here disciple-making followers of Jesus, having a Kingdom impact in countries often deeply hostile to Jesus’ Kingdom. They are world-renowned but in a different world.
Future global economic leaders are training in U.S. universities today. The current foundation of academic economic thought is atheist at its core and often Marxist in flavor. In other words, the foundation is sand and in desperate need of a surer foundation. You likely hold the keys to transformation through engagement one-on-one with faculty and potential faculty. Liberty is so clearly one key component of human dignity, and it leads to human flourishing.[7] Core to improving economic thought within universities is addressing the key issue of what it really means to be human.
In the right context, business consulting relationships with faculty can be mutually beneficial. You receive conflict-free assessments, and faculty’s core presuppositions are often changed. Faculty assist you with innovation, and you assist them with their worldview.
Further, the opportunities for you and your local ministries to partner with on campus groups are vast. There are ministries focused on undergraduate students,[8] ministries focused on graduate students,[9] and ministries focused on faculty.[10] As students are transient, these ministries are greatly benefittedby permanent residents, from faculty to area Christians. Although the temptation is to start something new, please consider just partnering with existing groups.
Within each academic area, you will find partnering opportunities. See, for example, Christian Business Faculty Association,[11]Association of Christian Economists,[12] and Christian Finance Faculty Fellowship.[13]
Let us now turn to finance as an illustration. My academic interest for over 30 years is quantitative finance. Based on extensive research and industry consulting, one key to human flourishing is improved financial decision-making. Returning to the previously quoted Warren Brookes, “The primary and essential character of wealth is metaphysical, not physical, and is the direct result of the creativity of mind, not the availability of raw materials—the sum product of individual efforts, not the manipulated static resources of collective nations or governments or lands.”[14] At its core, financial decision-making is metaphysical and rests on our worldview. Thus, I have been wrestling with the essence of the connection between finance and one’s philosophical worldview. [15]
Ideas have consequences. The idea that the Bible addresses personal finance has a direct consequence to those of us who are biblically responsive. But, can we really trust the biblical perspective, or should we turn to naturalism and modern sages?
Remember, not only do ideas have consequences, but ideas also have antecedents. Why should we entrust the weight of our lives to the biblical perspective for the purpose of taking us across life’s harrowing bridge? It has been our experience that if the biblical foundation is firmly established in the heart, then the unique particular financial strategies adopted will withstand the withering pressures of the day. One’s grasp on a particular biblically-based strategy may weaken if it is not firmly gripped with a robust understanding of its deep truthfulness and if one is not journeying together with other Christians. The Christian-based finance perspective is radically different fromalternative approaches, particularly those taught in academic institutions. Thus, we need a robust philosophical foundation for the Christian-based finance approach.
Again, Warren Brookes notes, “Our economic future is not now and never has been tied to the physical assets we now see, but to the vast untapped potential of creative thinking—the metaphysical process which can show us entirely new reserves and new and easier ways of doing things, extending value and increasing wealth without depleting our planet.”[16] As God’s image-bearers, the Christian community should be at the very forefront of economic innovation.
The doctrine of original sin should keep us attentive and cautious. From a biblical perspective, we know that there is objective truth. We also know that humans have a deeply-ingrained capacity to misrepresent the truth. Hence, when analyzing investment opportunities, we need to be ever vigilant to disentangle truth claims out of the mass of financial information.
Many financial industries rely on people not carefully assessing their choices. “Easy payments” just sounds so appealing especially if I can get something now rather than wait and have delayed gratification. Understanding the foundational nature of semantic information as well as what one’s worldview states regarding human nature is one key to successfully navigating the many financial decisions faced every day.
Economic prediction is not the same as economic preparation. Key to quality financial decision-making is understanding the fundamental difference between historical data and the semantic representations of future expectations. Life’s experiences as well as biblical patterns suggest that those things that have never happened in history may in fact happen. We tend to think we can predict the future better than we actually can. The biblical perspective is clear. In the New Testament, James challenges his readers, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.” (ESV, 4:13-14a).
This simple truth may cause a significant pivot in how we manage our investments. With the humble admission that we do not have the capacity to accurately forecast the future, financial planning strategies change. One clear example is retirement planning. Rather than focus solely on how much to save and where to invest, this inability to forecast leads naturally to focusing on the relationship between invested assets and the fair estimate of the present value of retirement needs.
As interest rates have fallen from the mid-1980s to 2020, the present value of retirement needs has significantly risen. Incorporating the fact that retirement needs rise in present value dollar terms when interest rates fall naturally suggests investing in an alternative way. We may not have known that rates would fall, but the relationship between rates and retirement needs is well known. Some estimate the losses within the pension industry exceed several trillion dollars just on this one issue. The simple reorientation toward managing investment portfolios in light of the stochastic behavior of non-investment assets as well as known liabilities would have saved enormous wealth, including trillions within the pension industry. Thus, well-vetted academic insights could have prevented these losses.
We know that business is one gateway to influence culture. I propose that higher education is another gateway often neglected within the Christian community. My hope is to have challenged you to consider your local university as a powerful agency to enhance your business processes as well as extend your reach. Please pray and ask God whether your calling may include engaging people within your university. If you find yourself somehow meeting a young person who is a PhD student or an abrasive adult who is a professor, then perhaps your vocational calling is about to expand. Finally, if you know high school students who are really intelligent as well as spirit-filled followers of Jesus, please encourage them to at least consider the life of a college professor as they are training the world’s future leaders. Although it is a vocation deeply hostile to the Christian viewpoint, the Kingdom opportunities are vast.
[1]C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, p. 58.
[2]Ibid, 24.
[3]Ibid, 12 (italics in original).
[4]See the Gospel According to John, chapter 19, verses 38-42. [5]See https://www.samford.edu/business/directory/White-Darin.
[6]See http://international.ua.edu/programs-activities/tuscaloosas international-friends/.
[7]See Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)
[8]For example, Cru, Navigators, Intervarsity, Reformed University Fellowship, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, and various denominational ministries such as Baptist Campus Ministries to just name a few.
[9]For example, Ratio Christi, Grad Resources, and Christian Grads Fellowship. [10]For example, Faculty Commons (https://www.facultycommons.com). [11]See https://www.cbfa.org.
[12]See http://christianeconomists.org.
[13]See https://sites.baylor.edu/shane_underwood/cffa/.
[14]Warren T. Brookes, The Economy in Mind (NY: Universe Books, 1982), p. 12.
[15]Extensive materials are freely available at
http://www.robertebrooks.org/project/christian-apologetics-and-finance/. Any feedback deeply appreciated, even negative in nature.
[16]Brookes, The Economy in Mind, p. 36. ©