The Promise of Social Enterprise

“I’ve waited for years for this book—and Mark Sampson has delivered with gusto. The Promise of Social Enterprise is a candid, incisive, and impressively clear theological framework for social enterprise’s potential as a humanizing force. Sampson puts the ‘social’ back into social enterprise as a way to combat the ethical problems of marketization on the one hand and charity on the other. . . . My students will be starting with this book.”


—Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary





“With its long-running penchant for privatism, the church has been largely mute in the face of urgent economic issues among us. . . . Sampson’s bold, lucid exposition provides an entry point for that work. He sees that the work to be done, on the one hand, is ‘deconstructing the myth of the inevitability of capitalism,’ and on the other hand ‘creating space for a theological imagination of an alternative.’ This book in effective ways shows how the gospel claim of ‘mutuality’ is an opening for fresh thinking, fresh policy, and fresh action.”


—Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary





“Engaging with sociology, anthropology, and economics, Sampson develops a powerful theological case for grounding social enterprise as an expression of gift and mutuality that arises uniquely from the Christ event and has the potential to creatively transform people, communities, and society. A vital read for those seeking a serious and deeper response to the problems of contemporary capitalism.”


—Paul Williams, Regent College





“This is a timely book which brilliantly supplies intellectual heft and direction for an economic practice of immense promise whose time has surely come.”


—John M. G. Barclay, Durham University





“Too often, we live as if theology and economics do not mix. Too often, the conversations we do engage in presume the answers before asking the questions. In wading into these waters, there is no better guide than Mark Sampson. As scholar and practitioner, Sampson has led the way in helping us reimagine these topics and our own faithful economic activity for the work of the church and our communities.”


—David P. King, Indiana University





“Just as the associations that comprise civil society shelter us from the narrow and often harsh logic of modern economic life . . . , so the notion of ‘social enterprise’ would seem to offer a creative and constructive alternative. . . . Drawing on the work of a wide range of thinkers, Sampson argues that ‘social enterprise’ does indeed offer a genuine alternative, an alternative energized by the mutuality that has been made possible by the Christ gift.”


—Craig Gay, Regent College





“Robustly argued and securely grounded in the literature, Sampson’s book positions social enterprise as an exciting way to address economic challenges and provides an important theoretical platform for its future development. Both thoughtful and practical, it is the ideal manual for those within the social enterprise sector, and for those marooned in the business and charitable sectors who are looking for a better way.”


—Eve Poole, author of Capitalism’s Toxic Assumptions: Redefining Next Generation Economics