Shedding The Yoke of Mammon: Economic Stress and the Gift of Sabbath 

Kenneth Barnes, with help from C. Sara Lawrence Minard, looks at how and why people feel overwhelmed by their circumstances, and subjugated by a vast, powerful and impersonal economic ecosystem. Change seems impossible in the face of embedded power structures, organisational resistance to change and the increasing constraint on employees’ time. Ethical behaviour, especially for large businesses, comes at a financial cost which they can ill afford. Employees, often lonely, especially if isolated because of their religious beliefs, risk losing their jobs if they challenge the prevailing ethos. Sabbath, properly understood, gives believers the tools they need to throw off the yoke of mammon, and take on the yoke of Christ.

Click to read the full article (PDF opens in new tab). It was first published in Faith in Business Quarterly, Volume 23.1, pages 8-13.

Kenneth Barnes spent many years as a senior international executive for several multi-billion dollar companies doing business on six continents. He is chaplain and mentor to international graduate students at Oxford University. His main areas of research and teaching are the intersections of theology and economics and faith at work. His recent book projects include Light From the Dreaming Spires, Redeeming Capitalism and “Religion and Business Ethics: Religious Perspectives on Business” in Routledge Companion to Business Ethics. He is married to Debby, a singer, songwriter and professional voice-over artist. They have three children and three grandchildren..