A review of the emergence of post-secular critical accounting and a provocation from radical orthodoxy

Abstract

Abstract Pala Molisa's (2011) spiritual reflections on emancipation and accounting are important, not just because of the specific question they pose to critical accounting about the place of spiritual transformation in human emancipation, but because the crux of his argument sits on the arc of a more generally identifiable intellectual turn with which the critical accounting community has yet to fully engage. This commentary critically engages with Molisa's attempts to spiritualise the critical accounting project. Firstly, the paper positions his arguments specifically within the broader context of theological perspectives emerging within critical and interdisciplinary accounting research. It is argued that Pala's perspective both helps constitute a field of religious accounting enquiry and also shifts that field in a new direction. Secondly, the paper critically appraises Molisa's methodological engagement with the religious traditions and texts that form the basis of his arguments and the subsequent revelation of love as a key criterion for a spiritual and emancipatory accounting practice. The third section of the paper draws on this critical commentary to introduce an emergent theological and philosophical movement known as Radical Orthodoxy in an attempt to provoke further debate and discussion on the limited kinds of spiritual and religious perspectives that have thus far characterised this emergent field.