Michael T. Black was an illustrious businessman in the United States and United Kingdom before turning his attention to theology, ultimately becoming a Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK

This is a brilliant book. Few people would have the breadth and depth of scholarship to attempt such an ambitious project: we are lucky that Michael Black does, and that it is a tour de force. The book is a forensic examination of the ontology of the corporation, using theology to reveal what is hiding in plain sight: of course the corporation has a transcendent purpose, and it is only by rediscovering this essence that its modern incarnations can be restored to health. Tracing its origins from roots in covenantal theology to its civil emergence as the Fransiscan Res, Black patiently sets out the peculiar genius of this kind of model of collective being, such that its members through mutual service are loyal the whole. He explains that, despite the ploys of managerialism, the existence of a corporation can only ever be sustained through the 'performative communication' of the fine-grained behaviour that each member exhibits toward each other. His restoring of the corporation's backstory explains why good leaders have always leaned towards higher purpose, because in this view all corporate management must be spiritual in nature if it is to harness the power of this particular collective.

• PrologueIntroduction - The Mystery of the Spirit: Why Theology Matters to the Corporation1. In Search of the Spirit: Corporate Folklore, Myth and Theories2. The House of the Spirit: Composition of the Corporate Relation3. The Spirit Discerned: The Covenantal Corporation4. The Spirit at Large: The Ecclesial Corporation5. The Spirit Personified: The Civil Corporation6. The Spirit Exported: The Corporate Commonwealth7. The Spirit Ignored: The Anthropic Corporation8. Echoes of the Spirit: The Ideological Corporation9. The Spirit in Waiting: The Eschatological CorporationEpilogueIndex

Michael T. Black was an illustrious businessman in the United States and United Kingdom before turning his attention to theology, ultimately becoming a Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK

This is a brilliant book. Few people would have the breadth and depth of scholarship to attempt such an ambitious project: we are lucky that Michael Black does, and that it is a tour de force. The book is a forensic examination of the ontology of the corporation, using theology to reveal what is hiding in plain sight: of course the corporation has a transcendent purpose, and it is only by rediscovering this essence that its modern incarnations can be restored to health. Tracing its origins from roots in covenantal theology to its civil emergence as the Fransiscan Res, Black patiently sets out the peculiar genius of this kind of model of collective being, such that its members through mutual service are loyal the whole. He explains that, despite the ploys of managerialism, the existence of a corporation can only ever be sustained through the 'performative communication' of the fine-grained behaviour that each member exhibits toward each other. His restoring of the corporation's backstory explains why good leaders have always leaned towards higher purpose, because in this view all corporate management must be spiritual in nature if it is to harness the power of this particular collective.

• PrologueIntroduction - The Mystery of the Spirit: Why Theology Matters to the Corporation1. In Search of the Spirit: Corporate Folklore, Myth and Theories2. The House of the Spirit: Composition of the Corporate Relation3. The Spirit Discerned: The Covenantal Corporation4. The Spirit at Large: The Ecclesial Corporation5. The Spirit Personified: The Civil Corporation6. The Spirit Exported: The Corporate Commonwealth7. The Spirit Ignored: The Anthropic Corporation8. Echoes of the Spirit: The Ideological Corporation9. The Spirit in Waiting: The Eschatological CorporationEpilogueIndex