as over-dedication to one's profession, no practical guidance on what to aim for through the mists of our economic success, or how to achieve it. The Church does not even declare idolatries to be idolatries; perhaps does not recognise them as such. Idolatries range from “religiously” cleaning the car on Sundays at one end of the scale, to making a job or a sport “one's whole life”, on to the lust for money or power at the other end of the scale. So what is the answer? If anyone retorts that the answer must be that it is impossible to be a Christian and to take part in the competitive world, my reply is, “Not so in my experience”.
There is nothing difficult in mastering the rules of conflict, and modifying them for use in one's own profession, as I hope the handful of examples I have given from the law courts makes clear. Furthermore, if one wants advice on how to treat one's professional colleagues, one might do worse than go to General Fuller's book on The Conduct of War. He says that brutality in war seldom pays; and once you have knocked your enemy out, it is wise to set him on his feet again, because you are likely to need his assistance in the next conflict. Replace the word “enemy” with “professional opponent”, and you have a thumb-nail sketch of how to treat a colleague. You may need his help next week, so treat him decently this week. Subject to that, fight tooth and nail within the limits that the rules allow, and you will probably do best for your clients in the long run. But do not misrepresent the evidence, or get up to the other tricks that I'm afraid you tend to find in practice from time to time.
So what has the Church to offer to the ordinary man in a competitive world? Nothing. Nothing, except a communion with Jesus, which may be most wonderful, or which may be pure fantasy. But whichever it is, outside the realm of meditation and perhaps social life, it is of no use unless it finds its counterpart in a sense of communion with others in the secular world. The truth…