ENTREPRENEURSHIP – RELIGION AND ETHICS: THE ORTHODOX CHURCH'S VIEW OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship. Through the analysis of ecclesiastical texts and the approach of ancient and modern philosophers, there is a suspicion of religion towards entrepreneurial activity and the way it affects people. Between the second century and the Enlightenment (in the eighteenth century), Christian theology shaped debates about economic behavior. The main interest of the Church was to recommend and criticize areas where economic actions had moral implications. The Especially Orthodox Church and its Theological approach the awareness of the notion of "Entrepreneurship" to be the study of the relationship of God, Man, and the World. In the way Orthodoxy perceives entrepreneurship, there is a very important distinction: The business owner does not identify with the entrepreneur. Although on the basis of everyday practice each entrepreneur is considered the owner of his business, the theologically ultimate owner is God. God is therefore “Owner” (Κτήτωρ), and "Creator". The possibility of "Creation" establishes the right of Divine property and the assignment of its conditional use. By making a reduction to modern terminology, we could say that God is the "Ownership Shareholder" who provides through franchise raw materials and know-how. In fact, according to the approach of the Orthodox Church, even the "Entrepreneur" man is the property and property of God and that is why in the theological texts it is also referred to as “property part”.