Covenant and Corporate Responsibility
September 20, 2006
In response to Justin Taylor's recent rejoinder ("Race and Responsibility"), I agree that the concept of covenant should not be applied to relationships beyond the proper biblical boundaries. One thinks, for example, of the destructive ways that covenant was allied to nationalism in South Africa, leading to racial oppression.
I guess what I really want to say is that corporate responsibility is not limited to covenantal contexts. Whether or not they are bound by a covenant commitment, nations have a responsibility before God. So do businesses, to give another example. Or military outfits. This does not deny that each member of an institution is personally responsible before God, or that there are varying degrees of moral responsibility, depending on a person's knowledge and place within an organization.
But if I am right that not all corporate responsibility is covenantal, then it worries me more than a little to restrict moral responsibility for a sin like racism to "covenantal contexts."
I guess what I really want to say is that corporate responsibility is not limited to covenantal contexts. Whether or not they are bound by a covenant commitment, nations have a responsibility before God. So do businesses, to give another example. Or military outfits. This does not deny that each member of an institution is personally responsible before God, or that there are varying degrees of moral responsibility, depending on a person's knowledge and place within an organization.
But if I am right that not all corporate responsibility is covenantal, then it worries me more than a little to restrict moral responsibility for a sin like racism to "covenantal contexts."
