Seasoning business knowledge: challenging recent Catholic social thought

Purpose – This paper aims to indicate how practical wisdom in the western Christian tradition may be introduced into management development. Following recent documents of Catholic social thought, three roads to go are indicated especially concerning: management practice, management education, and the managerial reason. Design/methodology/approach – This is an interdisciplinary paper summarizing economic, philosophical, and business literature. Findings – In his recent social encyclical Caritas in veritate Pope Benedict XVI criticizes a dominating approach of economic thinking that neglects practical wisdom in management. The authors indicate three roads of seasoning management practice with practical wisdom: integrating charity in management theory and practice (by spelling out the economic relevance of reciprocity and gratuitousness for economic theory and for managerial decision making), enriching business school experience (by deepening elements of voluntary engagement and interdisciplinary education) and to enlarge the perspective of management decision making (by enlarging the way to conceive knowledge in management). Originality/value – The interdisciplinary approach interprets certain elements of business education as expressions of the ethical concept of “gratuitousness”.