The following is an email exchange between Dr. Crispin Fletcher-Louis and Dr. Flint McGlaughlin. I have included it here because of its intriguing content. Please keep in mind that the content below represents provisional thinking and was not originally written for publication. It has been published here by permission.
Austin McCraw
Editorial Analyst
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From: Crispin Fletcher-Louis
Sent: Thursday, November 17
To: McGlaughlin, Flint
Subject: Entrepreneurship and Marketing
Hi Flint, good content on our call today. Much for me to digest.
I am still wrestling with the relationship between Entrepreneurship and marketing:I suggest that the two realities–Entrepreneurship (building a mini-cosmos that supports and offers life) and Marketing (messaging a value proposition)–can be seen as a reflection of the two aspects of the human identity in Genesis 1: humanity is God’s image-idol (tselem) and humanity created to be a microcosm (since when God says ‘Let US make … in OUR image’ he speaks to the rest of creation). Humanity is created both to represent the properly ordered world (which Israel late does in building a temple-as-microcosm, and so forth) and to present, to incarnate, God himself. Both movements define the priestly calling on the true humanity: entrepreneurship as world-building voices creation’s praise, gives to creation its teleology and brings that to God (in worship). Marketing, communicating a value proposition (or mission – communicating THE value proposition) brings truth and value (or God) to the world. There is intermingling between these two dynamics (but not confusion) because in the ONE mediatorial entity (the human being as originally created) each becomes the other; creation is taken up into the divine life and in the microcosm (of the Enterprise, or the church …) God’s own character is made present. And mutatis mutandis, the divine identity (the infinite) enters material, space-time reality in, through the individual/organization that embodies it. If it did not do so there would be no value proposition, since a value proposition (‘this is good for you’) requires both temporality (you don’t have this YET) and the material other (YOU need this).
Dr Crispin Fletcher-Louis â¨
Principal
Westminster Theological Centre
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From: McGlaughlin, Flint
Sent: Monday, November 21
To: Crispin Fletcher-Louis
Subject: Re: Entrepreneurship and Marketing
Well said… really powerful. Crispin, you are “on it” (once again, I am impressed with your gifts). This is in sync with my thinking. Consider these two related propositions:
S1. God
P1. God is
As an ontological statement they appear identical. But the predicate (P1), the act of existence itself, is communication. This requires more reflection. If God exists outside of time, then existence cannot be described as projection (movement). But the moment God enters time (even if only in our perception) then we have predicate. I wonder if an aspect of the otherness of God is the transcendence of predicate. In any case, for the finite (you and I), there must be predicate. Indeed, S1 is devoid of meaning. As the finite, we must have P1. We begin with P1 as the ultimate fact (or object of faith). From there, we extend P1. Theology, begins at the point of this extension (i.e. God is good).
Flint
