Practical wisdom, an attempt for a Protestant re‐formulation

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore the role of virtues in the context of management from a religious perspective. Its objective is to shed some light on the significance of Martin Luther's anthropology and theology of justification for a modern understanding of practical wisdom.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews some passages of source literature by Martin Luther and – with side glances to Georg Simmel – reflects on basic structures of personal failure, as implied by Luther's metaphor of the self‐inclined man (homo incurvatus in se ipsum). By developing two theses, the paper proceeds to the question whether a protestant re‐formulation of practical wisdom could be useful to overcome self‐reference, not only on a personal, but also on an organisational level.

Findings

Faith and love, reformulated as virtues of practical wisdom for modern management from a protestant perspective can be understood as a receptive attitude and the ability to establish non‐instrumentalised and respectful relationships to humans. Lived by managers, they could help preventing companies and economy at large, to get caught in self‐referential, and inherently instable feedback cycles.

Originality/value

The change of perspective, inspired by Luther's theology of justification, enriches the notion of practical wisdom with new connotations and makes them accessible to the discourse over virtues in management.

Citation

Weber‐Berg, C. (2010), "Practical wisdom, an attempt for a Protestant re‐formulation", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 29 No. 7/8, pp. 724-735. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711011059167