Navigating the intersections of economics and faith

LOUISVILLE — The J. Roy Davis Family Chair of Theology and History at Union Presbyterian Seminary, the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, recently joined the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” to discuss an increasingly important topic in Hinson-Hasty’s research: navigating the intersections of economics and faith.

Listen to Hinson-Hasty’s 73-minute discussion with hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe here.

The hosts started her off with this question: “A major challenge for churches is that they are both religious institutions and also nonprofit organizations. How can faith communities navigate the relationship between economics/business and faith and theology to authentically live into our calling as Christians in this context?”

Many institutions that have experienced decline in recent years are living “into a kind of survival mode,” she said, using what have become “popular strategies to create change.” One strategy Hinson-Hasty sees, particularly in what courageous moral leadership “looks like in our present moment,” focuses on relationality — “how we engage in collaborative decision-making” and “how we think about the way we’re embodying values within religious communities that also help inform the mission of an institution.”

“If we had a mutually enriching dialogue between theology and these other conversations in economics and business and leadership studies, we might be able to come up with a very progressive theologically-informed new way of creating change and building the trustworthiness of our institutions” within the religion realm but also “in a broader social dialogue where we are in the midst of seismic change, really transformational change across the institutions of the United States and in the larger global community,” she told the hosts. “We’re all feeling that every day.”

Doong, who’s studying in an MBA program, said that “if we want to see change, it’s about people being leaders in their own areas, rather than relying on one person bringing everything to the forefront.”

Hinson-Hasty agreed, inviting “A Matter of Faith” listeners to “think about how we empower each other to see ourselves as part of a broader process of leadership as opposed to people who are in particular positions of leadership.”

John Calvin taught us that the church is the communion of saints, she noted, “drawing upon this communal understanding of vocation in the 16^th century Reformation that emphasizes that everyone is called into a form of vocation, whatever kind of work we do.” That applies to podcasters, professors, pastors and others, she said, “because that’s all a part of our vocation.”

“The Spirit will push you to change, to move forward in this thing called faith,” Catoe said. He asked Hinson-Hasty how Presbyterians and others can be moved away from the scarcity mindset that can limit the options for any institution, large or small.

“I’m glad you brought this conversation to the question of spirituality,” Hinson-Hasty said. “A lot of my work has turned toward trying to think through what it means to overcome the cynicism that has become such a tremendous part of our public debate” over the past few years. “In my mind, it’s affecting churches and how they think about change, what can be done and whether or not they’ll continue to be driven by a scarcity mindset.”

“When I talk about overcoming cynicism, one of the things that I encourage people to do is to practice groundedness — to really imagine our sense of connectedness to the Earth and our connection to other people within the community,” she said. Through that value of groundedness, we can engage “in the prophetic act of listening — listening for God in the midst of all these changes and how we can live into our values” when there are “so many competing values and loyalties that it can be tremendously confusing if we are concerned about what the future holds,” she said.

It may be worthwhile to go back and read teachings from recent  and current faith leaders including Pope Francis, whom Hinson-Hasty noted called on people of faith to become “social poets.” 

“Our religious leadership and even the language that we use should call us into a new way of thinking about society,” she said, “and challenge the kind of corporate mindset that has become so alluring.”

One of the projects Hinson-Hasty has “become very interested in” is Ashley Good’s work with Fail Forward.

“Part of what she’s trying to accomplish is to help people have permission to say when they’ve done something that hasn’t worked out exactly how they’d envisioned, to forgive themselves for failing,” Hinson-Hasty said. “If we are working toward innovation, an important phrase we need to learn is ‘I am wrong and I am sorry.’”

“When we’re trying to be creative and invite people to do something new, the path forward with that may not be perfect,” she said. “We need to embrace the idea that if we have challenges, not to just go back into this scarcity mindset and protecting oneself to say, ‘Maybe I didn’t think this all the way through’ or ‘Maybe I didn’t communicate that clearly enough.’”

“How do we come together and move forward to preserve part of this idea that needs to continue to move forward in order to give birth to the new and help us envision something new and novel and different and redemptive — I’ll use that theological language — that will continue to draw people in and create the community of hope we’re envisioning?”

If we ascribe to the aphorism that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” then what we need to do is “create a culture that allows for collective decision-making that considers broader constituencies, creates belonging and is focused on reciprocity,” Hinson-Hasty said. “That is witnessing to the good news in a world that is really bent on competition and the use of violence in order to create quick, dramatic change.”

Lifting up values including integrity and authenticity “can create this cultural ethos within our communities — not just religious communities, but in business and nonprofit organizations and public education and higher education,” she said. “We would really be embodying the kind of transformation we want to see in the world. That is my deepest hope.”

New editions of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” drop every Thursday. Listen to previous episodes here.