2001
The Voice: Fall 2001
Visser helps lead seminar for business profs at Reformed Christian Colleges
Sally Jongsma
What makes business so dominant in society? Where do our ideas about property
rights come from and how do they shape business today? What do Christian
business professors need to know about hermeneutics to apply biblical principles to business?
Under what circumstances are riches of some connected to poverty of others? How
can we prepare students to be salt and light in secular corporations? What
does virtuous Christian leadership look like?
These and a host of other such questions were addressed in a seminar
on business led by Dordt business professor, Dr. John Visser, and Calvin College
business professor, Dr. Shirley Roels. The seminar was held at Calvin.
Judging from responses on the evaluations turned in at the end of the
seminar titled “The Practice of Business: Reformed Christian Perspectives”—faculty participants from four Reformed
Christian institutions were appreciative of the opportunity to meet for two weeks to
talk about foundational issues in the field of business. And they were grateful
for the leadership of their colleagues, Roels and Visser, who were willing to
plan sessions and select readings that helped them delve into their subject area
from a Reformed perspective.
“We wanted to get to a deeper understanding of what a Reformed Christian
perspective means for our teaching,” says Visser, who has devoted much time to
helping others put a Christian perspective on business into practice. “We wanted to
ask how we can help our students catch that vision as they go
out into business careers.”
Seminar sessions focused on different topics each morning and afternoon. Participants were asked
to read a wide range of resources, listen to guest presenters, engage in
discussion on a group of questions, and respond to case study presentations that
came out of the business world. Using these case studies helped make the
issues concrete, Visser believes.
Personally, Visser saw the seminar as an opportunity to contribute to the Christian
academic community, but also an opportunity to deepen his own thinking about how
his Christian perspective shapes his view of his discipline.
“I was forced to read things that I’ve been meaning to read for
years but couldn’t find the time,” he says. He also welcomed the opportunity
to get to know colleagues from sister institutions and to open the door
for regular interaction and sharing of ideas.
Preparation for the seminar has also had some spin-offs for Visser’s classes. Having
to carefully think about how different assumptions and beliefs concretely lead to very
different results in action, helped him better organize presentations in the senior seminar
he leads at Dordt.
Another lasting result of the conference is the extensive bibliography put together by Visser and Roels. If you would like a copy you can contact Visser at John.Visser@dordt.edu.
