The Spiritual Art of Business, Barry L. Rowan. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023.

Summary: An exploration of how God can work both in us and in our world through our work.

There is a popular perception that business is a soulless or soul-sucking enterprise. We hear of high-pressure business leaders demanding workers live at their place of work. We read stories of driven leaders who promise advancement in exchange for utter devotion, using people up and tossing them aside, without regard to the personal consequences. Must business be this way?

Barry L. Rowan has spent a life in business. He’s both succeeded and failing in turnaround efforts with companies, often within the C-suite, working in the communications and technology industry. His journey of connecting his daily work with the divine began with a personal turnaround story. At the age of 29 on a Colorado mountain, he faced a crisis of meaning. Why was he working so hard? His questioning led him from seeking meaning in his work to larger questions of his purpose in life, the existence of God, and if this was so, was he willing to utterly surrender his life to God? After six months of searching, of evaluating evidence he says, “I chose to believe that God exists, as the lawyers would say, on the preponderance of the evidence and would give up everything I have to follow Jesus” (p.2).

This book is a story not only of how Christ transformed his life but transformed his view of work. Instead of seeking meaning in work, he understood his calling as bringing meaning to work. He goes on to describe a four part cycle to what he calls “the spiritual art of business” and this book of 40 short chapters is organized around those four parts:

1. Surrender. We begin by surrendering our all to Jesus.
2. Transformation. Our lives are transformed as we go from living for ourselves to living according to God’s dynamic design.
3. New Creation. We are realigned with God’s purposes and we then live, work, and relate differently as new creations.
4. Into the World. God then sends us into the world and transforms the world through us.

The forty chapters that follow in these four part are short, pithy reflections beginning with a scripture text, a key idea, and a couple pages of elaboration with some explanation laced with examples and personal stories, concluded with a few reflection questions. I can see these chapters being read and pondered over morning coffee before heading out the door to work.

There is a lot more to this than an inspiring thought. Rowan makes us think, perhaps going through a process similar to his. One early chapter for example is titled “Our Essence Is Our Emptiness.” For scripture, he quotes Philippians 2:5-7 on how Christ made himself nothing as a servant and Galatians 2:20: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” His key idea is “God empties us of ourselves and fills us with himself.” He explores the idea that only when we are emptied of the idea of filling our lives that we can experience union with God and find our fullness in God. He then describes a sustainable energy business that failed when oil prices tanked and described himself as D-E-A-D to Dreams, Expectations, Ambitions, and Desires. It brought him to a realization that even very good things could not fill him. Gritty stuff. The loss of money to investors and lost jobs Not “trust God and he will make all your dreams come true.”

Rowan’s book was released this fall. Not around Lent. But I think this would make a great set of readings for the forty days of Lent. Rowan re-traces our path to the cross as we surrender all, the transformation of resurrection, the new creations we are becoming as we are aligned with Jesus, and our sending into the world as God uses our work to change both us and the world. I could see this being used by workplace groups, perhaps over a brownbag lunch. The short readings lend themselves to being read onsite with a few questions, material that could be covered in 30-45 minutes.

Toward the end of the book, Rowan writes about the why of business, speaking of value creation, that business is the one place in society that creates economic value that others distribute; that businesses can create environments where employees grow into full expressions of themselves, in the place where the most of their waking hours are invested; that businesses serve customers, contributing to their flourishing; and being valued corporate citizens, enriching their communities. It strikes me that all of this is a manifestation of the goodness and providence of God in the world. Rowan shows the way we become God’s instruments for the good work he would do in the world.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.