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Practical wisdom in management from the Christian tradition
Edited by Michael Naughton, André Habisch, Gilbert Lenssen
1. Background and scope of the article
Wisdom is an important concept in the Judaic tradition. It is the major theme of the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom is related to creative action. Genesis 1:1 (In the beginning Elohim created ...) is related to Proverbs 4:7 (Wisdom is the beginning), giving: in Wisdom Elohim created ...
In reviewing the essays in this issue, it appeared strange to me that there was no reference to the First Testament in the articles written about practical wisdom from the Christian tradition. [12] Grözinger (2004) refers to the way the Torah and wisdom have been linked as a means for "doing good and just governance". The core of this wisdom, the foundational myth of Judaism and an important element of Christianity and Islam, has been given to Moses and through him to the people on Mount Sinaï. This core can be found in the Decalogue (Exodus 20:2-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21). It is important to notice that those texts are not referred to as "10 commandments" as in the Christian tradition, but as words. In Hebrew the word Davar (word) has always a pragmatic connotation: word, event, thing are translations of Davar.
I propose to read the Decalogue not as commandments, but as guidelines for the exercise of practical wisdom, as "natural laws" for living well amongst others. We fly airplanes knowing gravity's law. We have learned to be very careful in "transgressing" natural laws. In fact, we are not transgressing them but making wise use of them. The same care has to be taken in "transgressing" the natural laws of the Decalogue.
We can compare metaphorically the turbulent times managers have to operate in nowadays as a travel through the desert. Recipes, relevant for the well-organised life in Egypt, have lost their relevance. There is a need for "generative" guidelines, which enables managers to act in situations which have not occurred before. Generative texts are guidelines for creative action. I read here the Decalogue as a generative text.
This article started as a "Cybernetic Decalogue". The word cybernetic refers to "kybernetes", the steersman of a boat. Our word governance has its origin in this Greek...