Business leaders, clergy and employees have expressed their desire "to close the Sunday-Monday gap," says David Miller, executive director of the Divinity School's new Center for Faith and Culture.

In Focus: Center for Faith and Culture

New center promotes practice of faith in all spheres of life

All too often, employees show up for work "minus" their souls.

That, at least, is what people, time and again, have admitted to David Miller, assistant professor (adjunct) of business ethics at the Divinity School and executive director of the school's new Center for Faith and Culture.

Many of these employees say they maintain a rigid division between their work and spiritual lives because they feel they would be breaking social or workplace norms -- possibly even risking their jobs -- if they make a point of publicly expressing the tenets of their faith on the job.

But this compartmentalization of one's spiritual and professional lives is not only psychologically unhealthy, it is also a disservice to the workplace, asserts Miller.

The core mission of the Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture, newly launched this fall, is to "promote the practice of faith in all spheres of life" -- including the workplace -- through a variety of initiatives and programs designed to "understand and revitalize the ways in which religious commitments interact with culture and shape people's lives," according to the brochure for the center.

One of the center's programs, called "Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace," attempts to bridge the gap between faith and the workplace by helping people "integrate the claims of their faith with the demands of their work," Miller says.

"People are tired of having to park their soul in front of the office," he comments. "They want to live a spiritually aligned life but still be top-notch journalists or CEOs or lawyers. Most people who live by a certain religious faith -- whether they are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or so on -- and take it halfway seriously, think of it as a 24/7 proposition. And yet, most of us have become accustomed to keeping that part of our lives very private, even though we spend more time at work than anywhere else."

In recent years, however, there has been increasing interest in the ways that faith and the corporate world intersect, says Miller, as well as a growing trend among businesses to attempt to be "faith-friendly."

"It seems a natural progression, as we go more and more into these deep, personal spaces, that we recognize the connections of mind, body and spirit -- and acknowledge that all of us have a soul," says Miller. "Henry Ford once asked why he had to have a whole employee, a whole person, when he only needed hands. But I think that enlightened employers see that an employee's whole being is important."

Miller, who came to Yale this fall, spent 16 years in senior positions in international business and finance before becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister. He was the founding president of the Avodah Institute, an educational organization that helped leaders live out their faith in the workplace. He has been a consultant to numerous corporations that have attempted to become faith-friendly workplaces.

Many businesses are seeking ways to incorporate an ethical and spiritual dimension, says Miller, and many have even encouraged their employees to apply their faith in daily business decisions and behavior. Corporate scandals such as Enron have also inspired many corporate executives to acknowledge the importance of promoting ethical standards and values-based decision-making in the workplace, he notes.

"There are a lot of business leaders and employees out there who feel the need to close that Sunday-Monday gap," Miller asserts. "Based on both the research coming out about this topic and what I've heard directly from business leaders, clergy and others, I think it is pretty clear that we at least need to get conversation going about how to close that gap."

The Divinity School is the logical place to begin such a conversation, according to Miller and Miroslav Volf, the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and director of the Center for Faith and Culture. They say the school can play a leading role in engaging "the often separated worlds of the University, marketplace and church" --as well as other University departments and professional schools -- in a dialogue about how faith impacts people's daily lives and the wider culture. Their hope is that scholars and students in a variety of disciplines, from economics and law to psychology and politics, will share an interest in such a dialogue.

"One of the things we do well at the Divinity School is to study religion, which in our case is primarily the Christian faith. We explore in scholarly ways its various dimensions -- historical, philosophical, even psychological and sociological," says Volf. "But if theologians simply study religion, we are not really shaping the world of religion. At a university like Yale, we do not have responsibility only to seek to explain and understand; we have also a public responsibility. In regard to faith, this means that we need to help people employ their faith in a way that would allow them to flourish in all aspects of their lives. And to do that, I think we need to be engaged with all of the various communities that have an impact on our lives: the business, political and legal communities, the media, the arts community, and so forth."

In one of the center's first collaborations with the School of Management (SOM), Miller will teach a course on business ethics in the spring for SOM and Divinity School students.

Harry Attridge, dean of the Divinity School, notes that the idea for the new center came about as part of a self-study conducted by the school several years ago to help chart its future. The study concluded that the Divinity School, which had a long history of being engaged in the public sphere on issues of faith, had in more recent years played less of a public role. Attridge says the center will help to reinvigorate that tradition.

"I am excited by the prospect of making the resources of our theological community available to churches, the business community and others to explore this central question of how people can live out their faith in the wider world," says Attridge. "I think the new center will enable us to have a more robust program of continuing education and outreach, and will help us to think about ways to enhance our own curriculum so we can equip future religious leaders to help those they will lead incorporate their faith in their daily lives."

As part of a new initiative called the "Faith as a Way of Life Project," a working group of pastors, lay leaders and theologians from across the nation are exploring ways to set an example for their congregations by expressing their faith in the practices of daily life, while supporting their church members in that challenge. This project is supported by a grant from the Lily Foundation.

"Too often we in the clergy are guilty as anyone of suggesting a compartmentalized faith," says Miller.

The new center will also host multi-year conferences -- called the Sarah Smith Memorial Conferences on Moral Leadership -- aimed at fostering moral leadership in all spheres of life. The first of these interdisciplinary events, scheduled for the fall of 2004, will explore the topic of trust and its importance in human transactions.

In addition, the Center for Faith and Culture will produce printed and electronic publications and host other events that examine the intersection of faith and its practice. This spring, for instance, the center will launch a lecture series on the topic "Spirit at Work." As part of the Divinity School's Summer Institute, Miller will lead a session on the topic "Ministering to Those Called to the Marketplace."

The center will also offer grants for the design and development of courses for future religious leaders that explore the issue of faith as a way of life.

Miller and Volf acknowledge that for many businesses and their employees, the issue of introducing spirituality in the workplace is sensitive, if not controversial.

Both point out that for a corporate organization to become successfully faith-friendly, it cannot promote a specific religion; instead, it must provide a setting in which people of every faith -- as well as those who have no particular faith -- can feel comfortable.

Furthermore, notes Volf, one aim of the center is to take a critical look at the ways in which faith can be used "as a detriment" to others or to a culture.

"Our work at the center will examine the potential that faith has in helping us live better lives as well as critique actual misuses of faith in various domains of life," explains Volf.

Nevertheless, both Miller and Volf are convinced that a faith-friendly society is more beneficial than one that is not sensitive to people's spiritual dimension.

"Whether you are a CEO or a ditch digger," says Miller, "a lot of people are asking the God question: 'How can I practice my faith in all aspects of my life? And how do I do it in appropriate ways, recognizing the diverse nature of today's world?' One of the contributions I think the center can make is to give people a framework to approach the issues of faith and ethics in their wider contexts and to give them a language to discuss those issues.

"If we disallow faith in our world outside of the church, many of us lose," he adds. "Some people have claimed that faith is a 'soft' issue that has no place in the world of business, for example. Business is hard and tough, but how you play the game does matter: Business and ethics are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, faith traditions are a rich resource for ethical guidance and courage in the marketplace. Theologically speaking, I would say that the business leaders who realize that faith matters in the marketplace are demonstrating good stewardship. And commercially speaking, the bottom line may actually benefit from this new way of thinking."

-- By Susan Gonzalez

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Groundbreakings celebrate construction of new chemistry and
engineering buildings

• Facility will support state-of-the-art research . . .
  
  
• Building will house new Department of Biomedical Engineering
  
  

Eire autobiography wins National Book Award

Dyslexia has been hurdle for scientist and 'Ironman' competitor

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

• DiMaio is appointed as Von Zedtwitz Professor of Genetics
  
  
• Hebert designated as C.N.H. Long Professor of Physiology
  
  
• Somlo named as C.N.H. Long Professor in Internal Medicine
  
  

In Focus: Center for Faith and Culture

Center aims to ease patients' anxiety about breast cancer

Noël Valis' book awarded Modern Language Association prize

Journalist reports greater willingness to talk openly in China

City students to study Shakespeare in new Yale Rep program

Drama School to stage Wilder's play about 'First Family'

Human evolution preserved in 'pseudogenes,' say scientists

Study: Mother's anti-depressant doesn't affect her nursing baby

Study shows spiritual belief and prayer can aid high-risk youth

The Fine Art of Shopping

'Sacred spaces' on campus featured in new calendar

Alternative Gift Market allows shoppers to help the world's poor

Pepper Center awards will support research related to aging process

Scientists to refine literacy game with support from grant

Dr. Barry Kacinski dies; renowned for work in field of DNA repair

Leon Clark dies; his work enhanced understanding of other cultures

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes

---

Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News

Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines

Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases| E-Mail Us|Yale Home

---