The ethnic-Chinese business is often characterised by a central role of the family both in the structure of the firm and in its corporate culture. This has political, social as well as cultural reasons. The centrality of the family in business has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it enables a fast, efficient and flexible process of decision-making. On the other hand, it often contradicts modern business professionalism. The younger generation of ethnic-Chinese business actors tend to preserve crucial (...) elements of such family-centred characteristics. Yet, globalisation drives them to transform their business style, lessening its dependence on family resources and adopting more-modern professional ideas. Changes in current political situation, religious-cultural trend, demography and education contribute to making possible the transformation. (shrink)

Abstrak: Artikel ini menguraikan penggunaan konsep teologis “Trinitas sosial” oleh empat teolog yang secara khusus menyoroti isu-isu ekonomi. Secara umum para teolog itu menyatakan bahwa teologi ekonomik yang berdasarkan “Trinitas sosial” menolak model ekonomi individualistik yang memertaruhkan komunitas. Mereka memberi gambaran yang berbeda-beda tentang model ekonomi yang layak ditolak itu. Meeks dan Boff melihat praktik ekonomi pasar yang berlaku saat ini maupun praktik ekonomi sosialis yang pernah dijalankan di negara-negara komunis sebagai wujud-wujud dari model ekonomi semacam itu. Novak menolak praktik (...) sosialisme dan memandang kapitalisme yang bersifat demokratik sebagai model ekonomi yang trinitaris. Higginson menilai model ekonomi yang individualistik itu tersirat dalam “etos Protestan”nya Max Weber dan seringkali tercermin dalam cara pengelolaan perusahaan. Saya melanjutkan teologi ekonomik yang berdasarkan Trinitas Sosial itu dengan menjadikan secara spesifik keluarga sebagai wujud konkret komunitas. Saya berpendapat bahwa “Trinitas keluarga” dapat menjadi dasar bagi pengembangan teologi ekonomik yang responsif terhadap konteks ekonomi Indonesia dan Asia pada umumnya, di mana keluarga menjadi bukan hanya model hubungan sosial tetapi juga acuan etis. Kata-kata Kunci: Trinitas sosial, teologi ekonomik, ekonomi kekeluargaan. Abstract: This article explores the use of the theological concept of “social Trinity” by four theologians focusing on economic issues. In general, those theologians suggest that the concept of “social Trinity” implies an economic theology resisting the individualistic economy model, which puts the community at stake. They disagree on which economic system exactly they consider worth rejecting. For Meeks and Boff, that economic model includes both the existing market economy and socialism as had been practiced in the communist countries. Novak rejects the economic system of socialist countries whilst insisting that “democratic capitalism” is consistently Trinitarian. Higginson argues that the individualistic economy is implied in Weber’s “Protestant ethic” and often reflected in the management of corporations. Subscribing to the economic theology based on “social Trinity,” and, at the same time, responding specifically to the characteristics of the Indonesian context, I suggest the family as a concrete form of community. I argue that “familial Trinity” would serve as a foundation for developing an economic theology in response to the situation of Indonesian economy and Asian economy in general, where the family is not only a model of social relations, but also an ethical reference. Keywords: Social Trinity, economic theology, familial economy. (shrink)

This article focuses on the relevance of religious traditions of self-restraint, particularly Sabbath and Nyepi, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. From an economic perspective, the pandemic interrupts a lifestyle marked by an unceasing process of production and consumption that affects almost all aspects of life. Such a lifestyle, known as ‘productivism’, has been confronted with ‘anti-productivism’ promoted by groups of Marxism-inspired intellectuals and activists. Employing the method of public theology, this study reveals that religious traditions of self-restraint prepare (...) humanity to anticipate interruptions of regularity, such as a pandemic, in a way that is critical of productivism yet distinct from anti-productivism. From a spiritual perspective, the pandemic and religious traditions of self-restraint should be perceived as synergistic appeals to a balanced lifestyle that is socially, economically, and ecologically harmonious. (shrink)