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Tucker says the tough times return people to foundational principles: "On the street these principles don't resonate when the gravy train is running." The vice chair of a Wall Street investment firm observes the struggle within himself: "You come into this environment and it sucks it out of you. You know, I am often repentant because I realize, man, I just … I never say and do stuff like this outside this environment on Wall Street." For him, the crisis is also a cleansing.

Other Christian money people also refer to working on Wall Street as working on "the dark side," with an environment that is "absurdly secular," "out of balance," and "egoistic." One trader says, "Some of the times when I get on the train, it's like I go to the dark side." Nowadays the trips are especially bleak. One chief operating officer says that maybe Christian faith can stand out as a light of compassion and truth. "We should not be intimidated by the magnitude of the darkness of the times, but [should] realize how quickly the light stands out in all that darkness. We need to turn around and realize that one match lights up all of Shea Stadium when it is pitch black. If Christians walk like Christians, we can do it. Prayer, first of all. So before any general ledger closes, we should pray over the books."

Tony Carnes, based in New York City, is a senior writer for Christianity Today.

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September (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52