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European SPES Institute

The European SPES Forum was established in by Luk Bouckaert and Laszlo Zsolnai 2004 In Leuven, Belgium. It was transformed into the European SPES Institute in 2014. See: http://eurospes.org/

The aim of the European SPES Institute is to make spirituality accessible as a public good to as many people as possible. Or, to phrase it differently: to open up spirituality as a vital source in social and economic life. This aim is expressed in the key word of SPES, being on the one hand an acronym for ‘SPirituality in Economic and Social life’ and, on the other hand, the Latin word for Hope, the virtue that sustains our belief in a better future. Spirituality is deliberately defined in broad and pluralistic terms so that the European SPES Institute brings together people from different spiritual backgrounds and traditions: Christians, Buddhists, spiritual freethinkers, Jews, Muslims. Our working definition is: Spirituality is the multiform search for a transcendent or deep meaning of life that connects people to each other and brings them in touch with God or ‘Ultimate Reality’. Within this definition there is room for differing views, for spiritualities with and without God and for an ethics of dialogue or ‘active pluralism’.

Business for Peace

    The 10th Anniversary Conference of the European SPES Forum was held in in April 10-12, 2014 in Ieper, Flanders Fields, Belgium. The conference entitled “Business for Peace – Strategies for Hope” was dedicated to the memory of the centennial anniversary of the first World War (1914-1918) The opening lecture was given by Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council under the title “Europe as a Peace Project”. Participants launched  The Ypres Manifesto on Business… Read More »Business for Peace

    Spirituality and Sustainability Management

      Laszlo Zsolnai edited the “Spirituality and Sustainability Management” Special Issue of World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 2014 Vol 10. No.1. This special issue is a product of the Spirituality and Sustainability: A New Path for Entrepreneurship Conference held on 21–23 September 2012 in Visegrad, Hungary. The conference was organised by the Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest in cooperation with the European SPES Forum and the ERENET – Entrepreneurship… Read More »Spirituality and Sustainability Management

      Responsible Economics: E.F. Schumacher and His Legacy for the 21st Century

        Hendrik Opdebeeck (ed.) Responsible Economics: E.F. Schumacher and His Legacy for the 21st Century. Peter Lang Academic Publishers, Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, 2013. (This book may be available at: Peter Lang) The centenary of E.F. Schumacher’s birth (1911-1977) offered an urgent opportunity to revisit his work and life. Against the background of the crisis at the beginning of this century, reconsidering Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful or frugality paradigm makes clear that advances in responsible… Read More »Responsible Economics: E.F. Schumacher and His Legacy for the 21st Century

        Spirituality and Sustainability Conference

          The Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest, the European SPES Forum, and the ERENET – Entrepreneurship Research and Education Network of Central European Universities organized an international conference on Spirituality and Sustainability: A New Path for Entrepreneurship in September 21-23, 2012, Visegrad, Hungary. Issues to be addressed were as follows: What are the spiritual orientations to nature in different cultural traditions  (e.g. Christianity, Buddhism, etc.)? How can spirituality and ecology contribute to transforming contemporary management theory and praxis? How art… Read More »Spirituality and Sustainability Conference

          Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship and the Common Good – International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

            Carole Bonanni, Francois Lépineux & Julia Roloff (eds.) Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship and the Common Good – International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Palgrave-Macmillan, London, 2012. (This book may be available at: Palgrave) What motivated us to put together this collection of essays on social responsibility, entrepreneurship and the common good? Why is it important to confront these three themes? Because we feel, along with many others, that the time for reinventing business has come; and this implies thinking differently, jumping… Read More »Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship and the Common Good – International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

            Business, Spirituality & the Common Good

              Mike Thompson (ed.) Business, Spirituality & the Common Good. Russel Media, Boise, Idaho, 2011. (This book may be available at: Amazon) Business, Spirituality and the Common Good provides a robust and thorough look at the nature of business and spirituality and how they can reinforce each other for human flourishing and the common good of all. the book does not offer a one size fits all answer to complex questions, rather it provokes the reader to think deeply on… Read More »Business, Spirituality & the Common Good

              The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business

                Luk Bouckaert & Laszlo Zsolnai (Eds.): The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. (This book may be available at Amazon) The handbook summarizes the most important issues, approaches and models in the field of spirituality in business, economics and society. It presents a comprehensive pluralistic view covering all the major religious and spiritual traditions. It is a response to three developments that challenge the business-as-usual mindset. Firstly, in response to a growing… Read More »The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business

                Spiritual Humanism and Economic Wisdom

                  Hendrik Opdebeeck & Laszlo Zsolnai (Eds.): Spiritual Humanism and Economic Wisdom. Garant, Antwerpen and Apeldoom, 2011. (This book may be available at Garant) The book contains essays in honor of the 70th anniversary of K.U.Leuven professor Luk Bouckaert, co-founder of the European SPES forum, which aims to make spirituality accessible as a public good to as many people as possible. In the spirit of the European SPES forum, this volume covers issues of contemporary economics… Read More »Spiritual Humanism and Economic Wisdom

                  Spirituality and Ethics in Management (Second Edition)

                    Laszlo Zsolnai (Ed.): Spirituality and Ethics in Management. Springer, 2011. (This book may be available at Springer) The book is a collection of scholarly papers focusing on the role of spirituality and ethics in renewing the contemporary management praxis. The basic argument is that a more inclusive, holistic and peaceful approach to management is needed if business and political leaders are to uplift the environmentally degrading and socially disintegrating world of our age. The book… Read More »Spirituality and Ethics in Management (Second Edition)

                    Respect and Economic Democracy

                      Luk Bouckaert & Pasquale Arena (eds.) Respect and Economic Democracy. Garant, Antwerp/Appeldom, 2010. (This book may be available at: European SPES Forum) Respect and Economic Democracy is based on the hypothesis that democracy will become a growing ingredient of good business and leadership. Many contributions of this sixth European SPES Cahier disclosing new practices of democratic entrepreneurship confirm this hypothesis. The authors assume that economic democracy implies a commitment rooted in respect and explore the spiritual, ethical and… Read More »Respect and Economic Democracy