Prophets Profits And Peace

"This book addresses the many issues that arise when businesses locate in regions where local religions are different than the predominant religions of the organizations, a factor that potentially affects how the companies operate. It looks at contemporary business issues with a religious dimension that arise for today's managers; it considers larger implications for how to address the contradictory dimensions of religion and business; and it considers how corporations can themselves become institutions that are important to communities in creating a sustainable peace."--BOOK JACKET.

This book refutes the long held view of the Israeli left as adhering to a humanistic, democratic and even socialist tradition, attributed to the historic Zionist Labor movement. Through a critical analysis of the prevailing discourse of Zionist intellectuals and activists on the Jewish-democratic state, it uncovers the Zionist left’s central role in laying the foundation of the colonial settler state of Israel, in articulating its hegemonic ideology and in legitimizing, whether explicitly or implicitly, the apartheid treatment of Palestinians both inside Israel and in the 1967 occupied territories. Their determined support of a Jewish-only state underlies the failure of the “peace process,” initiated by the Zionist Left, to reach a just peace based on recognition of the national rights of the entire Palestinian people.

Michael Harvey Koplitz was born into a non-practicing Jewish family. At 37 years old, came into the faith that Yeshua of Nazareth was the Messiah the Hebrew Scriptures spoke about. Yeshua called him to preach the Gospel. He earned the Master of Divinity degree. He is an ordained Elder of the United Methodist church. He earned a doctorate in Ministry in Christian Leadership (D. Min.), and a Ph.D. in Hebraic Studies in Christianity. He is an ordained Messianic Jewish Rabbi in the WMEK Messianic Jewish Association. He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sandra. His websites are michaelkoplitz.info, followersofthewayministry.org, michaelkoplitzchurch.com, libc.in, thepeopleoftheseferchurch.com.

Best Book of the Year NPR • The Washington Post • Boston Globe • TIME • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Real Simple • Parade • Buzzfeed • Electric Literature • LitHub • BookRiot • PopSugar • Goop • Library Journal • BookBub • KCRW • Finalist for the National Book Award • One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year • One of the New York Times Best Historical Fiction of the Year • Instant New York Times Bestseller A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.

Private corporations are rarely discussed as playing a role in efforts to curb civil violence, even though they often have strong interests in maintaining stability. Violence often damages the infrastructure necessary to deliver goods to market or may directly target companies. Corporations also have a normative obligation to conduct business in ways that promote peace. While there are historical examples of firm-instigated violence and firms reaping benefits from instability and conflict, there is also evidence that corporations proactively engage in peacebuilding. For example, firms devise programs to promote economic development, offer access to education, and employ former combatants. In The Building and Breaking of Peace, Molly M. Melin develops a theory of the conflicting roles corporations play in both building and preventing peace. Melin shows that corporations engage in peacebuilding when there is a gap in the state's capacity to enforce laws, but they also weigh the opportunity costs of peacebuilding, responding to the need for action when conditions enable them to do so. Firms are uniquely situated in their ability to raise the cost of violence, and proactive firms can increase the years of peace in a country. At the same time, an active private sector can make it harder for states with ongoing conflict to reach an agreement, as they act as an additional veto player in the bargaining process. Including original cross-national data of peacebuilding efforts by firms in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa from 2000 to 2018, and in-depth case analyses of corporate actions and outcomes in Colombia, Northern Ireland, and Tunisia, Melin shows that corporations help to prevent violence but not resolve it. In examining the corporate motives for peacebuilding and the implications of these activities for preventing violence and conflict resolution, the book builds a more holistic picture of the peace and conflict process. The findings also help explain why armed civil conflicts persist despite the multitude of diverse actors working to end them.

This encyclopedia, edited by the past editors and founder of the Journal of Business Ethics, is the only reference work dedicated entirely to business and professional ethics. Containing over 2000 entries, this multi-volume, major research reference work provides a broad-based disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to all of the key topics in the field. The encyclopedia draws on three interdisciplinary and over-lapping fields: business ethics, professional ethics and applied ethics although the main focus is on business ethics. The breadth of scope of this work draws upon the expertise of human and social scientists, as well as that of professionals and scientists in varying fields. This work has come to fruition by making use of the expert academic input from the extraordinarily rich population of current and past editorial board members and section editors of and contributors to the Journal of Business Ethics.

Business schools are placing more emphasis on the role of business in society. Top business school accreditors are shifting to mandating that schools teach their students about the social impact of business, including AACSB standards to require the incorporation of business impact on society into all elements of accredited institutions. Researchers are also increasingly focused on issues related to sustainability, but in particular to business and peace as a field. A strong strain of scholarship argues that ethics is nurtured by emotions and through aesthetic quests for moral excellence. The arts (and music as shown specifically in this book) can be a resource to nudge positive emotions in the direction toward ethical behavior and, logically, then toward peace. Business provides a model for positive interactions that not only foster long-term successful business but also incrementally influences society. This book provides an opportunity for integration and recognition of how music (and other art forms) can further encourage business toward the direction of peace while business provides a platform for the dissemination and modeling of the positive capabilities of music toward the aims of peace in the world today. The primary market for this book is the academic audience. Unlike many other academic books, however, the interdisciplinary nature of the book allows for multiple academic audiences. Thus, this book reaches into schools of music, business, political science, film studies, sports and society studies, the humanities, ethics and, of course, peace studies.