Sneak Peek

As part of an upcoming conversation with Forbes contributor and CEO Leadership Journal editor, Robert Reiss, I observed that it seems we’re living in a strange time right now. Parts of the world are beginning to open up from the pandemic, while others are shutting down. Parts of the world are open to collaboration and peace while others are ideologically and relationally closing down. Covid has exacerbated the push and pull of non-financial factors as business leaders seek to identify risks and protect their employees. Both investors and consumers increasingly insist that company CEOs take public positions on polarizing societal issues, including how to combat racism, fix our nation’s failing public school systems, and manage immigration thoughtfully. How can corporate leaders address these issues in a well-intentioned way that is creative, fair, and sustainable, and not just empty platitudes to appease public pressure?

Here’s where considering the wisdom and resources of faith traditions might connect with these and other such issues. These traditions remind us that corporate life is not about programs but people. It’s about cultivating a covenantal mindset instead of a contractual one; about relationships not transactions. And faith traditions talk about individual and societal transformation for the greater good, not just what’s best for me or my company. And faith traditions also remind us of the profound stewardship responsibilities that God has given humanity to tend to the garden in sustainable and generative ways, i.e., to be responsible trustees of the resources and environment entrusted to us.

Let me close by wishing each of you health and happiness in the holiday season. A heartfelt thank you to all those who have supported our work this past year. The Faith & Work Initiative is 100% funded by your contributions. For those that would like to support FWI with a tax deductible year end gift we would be most appreciative!

With gratitude,

David W. Miller, Ph.D.

Director, Faith & Work Initiative

Princeton University

What is Life?

One would think this is a fairly straightforward question to answer. Biology is the field devoted to its study. Wouldn’t the biologist need to know what life is in order to study it? Historically, the questions of biology have ranged from life’s origins, to its emergence, and, to its constant development and change. Recent advances in fields as diverse as astrobiology, bio-engineering, A.I., and information theory, however, have returned to this more elementary question: what is life?  

 In one of my current research projects, I engage this question as an ethical philosopher and as a philosopher of religion—specifically as it relates to difference. How should we think about “life” in its myriad forms? Whether it’s your puppy on the sofa sitting next to you, or a stranger on the far side of the world, or one of the thirty trillion non-human microbial cells in your stomach, or that bit of kale in your noon-day salad, how do we account for apparent difference when there is such deep biological continuity? What does difference really mean when life shares so much of the same “stuff”?

 The relationship between the peculiarity of life and the inevitability of difference produce an ethical tension. From a cosmic perspective, biological life is perhaps the rarest resource in the universe. Human life is but one of life’s many forms. And yet each form busily differentiates itself while also consuming other forms to preserve its own life. How then should we relate, and what is our responsibility to life’s other forms? In answering this question, I draw on the fields of astrobiology, bio-engineering, world religions, history, ethical philosophy, zoology, ecology and literature. My aim is to place the rich diversity of life’s forms in productive tension with life’s shared fundamental structure—and, of course, the reality that life lives off other life.   

 This dense ethical sorting is upstream from most people’s daily concerns. The downstream effects, however, are already impacting people’s lives and their places of work. Whether it is our diet, hygiene decisions, treatment of animals and vegetation, care for one’s stomach gut health, or even the manner in which we perform our duties as veterinarians, biologists, farmers, medical doctors, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officers, we are affected by this upstream sorting. The purpose of this project is to bridge these dense upstream decisions with an ethical awareness of the lived realities of everyday exchange.

Michael J. Thate, Ph.D.

Associate Research Scholar

Faith & Work Initiative

Princeton University