THE ROLE OF WORK & CAREER IN MISSION: MISSIONAL COMMUNITY AS THE MEANS TO RESIST MAKING WORK FULFILLING (wink, wink)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Ernst Troeltsch The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches vo. 2 (NY McMillan 1931) p. 610 … made a distinction between the Lutheran account of vocation and the Calvinist account of vocation. For Luther, according to Troeltsch, Christians were called to a particular work and were to exercise Christian faith in vocations. Work was thus regarded in the more traditional way (Medieval) as extraneous to the kingdom itself. For Calvin, Christians were to serve the cause of God through their vocation, to exercise Christian faith per vocationem. That required the particular work to be transformed, ordered to the mission of God. (I was reminded of this thru a footnote on p. 325 of Allen Verhey's Reading the Bible in the Strange World of Medicine- I'm teaching a course on Medical Ethics this quarter)
This means a couple of things.
One - We must resist allowing work to be formed by capitalistic versions of success. Too often evangelicals have been Lutherans (in Troeltsch's terms) - not seeing the need to order work itself towards mission. Instead, we make work something separate from our Christian lives which we might use if we choose for Christian purposes. We compartmentalize work and put it alongside other parts of our life that we participate in alongside our church activities. Everything (family, work, church, neighborhood) gets separated into compartments to be balanced by our Blackberry as we sit on the throne of our lives managing it all towards (what financial services professionals call) "balance." In the mean time, we get swallowed up into our jobs without the means to resist the powerful forces of job, mortgage and success as accumulation. Our lives are virtually rendered useless for the Kingdom.
Therefore, secondly, we must have the means to redefine success at work via Calvinist terms (as defined by Troeltsch.) In other words we must see success at work not as ascending to the top of the sorporate ladder or accumulating millions (a.k.a. success in terms of capitalism.) Rather we must resist describing people as "successful" business men/women in church under these terms? This kind of success may indeed happen to Christians (and often does). But this is an aside to the success by which we followers of Christ's mission seek to be measured. Instead, we seek signs that this workplace has become ordered towards His purposes of righteousness, justice and reconciliation, a field for mission and the extension of the mission of Christ. Our success will have little to do with accumulation or ascent to the top of the corporate ladder. Work thus becomes subordinated to the mission of Christ.
Stunningly however in some quarters, I still see the gospel preached in terms opposite to this ( and I am not just talking about Christian television). God wants you to be happy and successful, he wants you to find your job fulfilling in itself. Following Jesus can help you climb to the top "for His glory." Huh? Do you see it? Jesus has become subordinated to success in terms of capitalism! We are seeking the promise that work will bring us the fulfillment we seek in this life. It is the mythology of late capitalism that pulls us in. Preaching in this way is equivalent to preaching "Jesus, the secret to a great sex-life" or "Jesus, the life you've always wanted."
Of course the only way we cannot give in to these powerful shaping forces of capitalism upon our identity and life, the only way we can escape allowing years of our lives being devoured by the black of hole of seeking capitalistic success, is to be part of a reordering reality, the worshiping community of God's mission in the world. This is what the missional communities must seek to be.
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Of course this does not mean we renounce work either. In my opinion missional pastors must learn how to navigate survival in a hostile capitalist world. I have noticed many missional pastors who are particularly skilled at navigating survival in the capitalist world without succumbing to the drive to accumulate or achieve success in the terms laid down by carnivorous capitalism. This skill is especially important to missional pastors who seek to do our work in the suburbs.
I hope to discuss this issue more at the seminar May 9th at the Grow Center at Northern. We'll have a morning of discussing postmodern theory for pastors and then an afternoon of working on the practical living of missional life in light of what modernity is trying to do to us. Hope to see some of you.
Posted by David Fitch | 10:27 AM
COMMENTS:
Dave,
I wish you would have given a paragraph instead of a sentence to "we seek signs that this workplace has become ordered towards His purposes of righteousness, justice and reconciliation..." It's easy to critique a capitalist understanding of work and a theology that just mimics it, but how do we discern the difference, especially when jobs often involve us in larger systems whose orientation toward righteousness, justice, and reconciliation are suspect?
Understanding work as missional is complicated, I think, by how meaningless many jobs are in and of themselves. Work in late capitalism is often very far removed from the other realities of day to day life.
I mean, it's easier to imagine a Christian ordering of your work if you're a farmer or a builder or a provider of useful goods and services. But what if you're a data entry clerk for a foreclosure lawyer? Or you provide tech support to small business? What if the only apparent purpose of your job is to oil the wheels of capitalism? Aside from resisting being shaped into greed and corporate success, how can we order these kinds of workplaces? Are we reduced to the stock evangelical answers of being nice people and seeking to share our faith, or does missional thinking have something more shaping to offer?
12:12 PM
Hi David,
This is the very thing that's been on my heart lately and I've been rambling about it.
Thanks for putting it so well.
:-)
1:41 PM
Jon,
"But what if you're a data entry clerk for a foreclosure lawyer? Or you provide tech support to small business? What if the only apparent purpose of your job is to oil the wheels of capitalism? Aside from resisting being shaped into greed and corporate success, how can we order these kinds of workplaces? Are we reduced to the stock evangelical answers of being nice people and seeking to share our faith, or does missional thinking have something more shaping to offer?"
I hear you crying foul to on specialization because of what it does to the picture of a whole human being. I hear you. I have the same questions. I wonder, though, if a data entry clerk does, at this point - in a sense shaped by capitalism, - end up "only" not succombing to greed and living the picture of the coorporate ladder.
Jason
2:24 PM
Jon and Jason, I've wondered about the same thing many times. Are there some occupations that are simply too wrapped up in capitalism to be "redeemable"? I'm not sure.
One thing I think of, though, is when tax collectors and soldiers came to John the Baptist to be baptized in preparation for the coming kingdom (Luke 3). He didn't tell them to get out of their occupations, even though they were both very wrapped up in the purposes of the Empire. He told the tax collectors to simply collect no more than they were supposed to, and the soldiers to be content with their pay, not taking money from people by violence or false accusation.
Of course, who knows, perhaps eventually the baptized soldiers and tax collectors decided they could no longer work for the Empire, and gave it up completely. I think the point is that initially there wasn't a cut-and-dried answer to their dilemma, but that it needed to be (eventually) discerned within community as God gave light and understanding.
Wish I could come May 9, but probably can't make it.
7:30 PM
Thank you for your entry on March 25th, The Evolving Church Conference 2007 Blows My Mind. As I result of reading this entry, I purchased and have just finished Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution. This has been a fascinating and life-changing read.
The more I read about, understand, and get involved in the missional church, the more I am convinced that missional community is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. While postmodernism is the favored term of the day, I think Paul H. Ray coined a better term back in 1996 when he described – The Integral Culture. Wikipedia describes a vocation as an occupation, either professional or voluntary, carried out more for its altruistic benefit than for income. Participating in missional community and living a missional life requires one to live out their vocation. A life that is dominated by a culture of capitalism influences and may even force us towards specialization. The culture of capitalism has negative side effects, which I grunt through so that I can get the material advantages this culture offers. In a missional or integral culture, value comes out of the relationships fostered as our work benefits each other.
While this is a bit of a rabble, I just want to say that we should be very encouraged. After years of consumerism dominating the church, a clear cultural revolution is beginning to take hold. I can see it in books, conversations, and most importantly – actions. Thanks again for helping lead the way.
7:55 PM
Jon, excellent comment. Your words naming "jobs as meaningless in and of themselves" argues against the vocation notion of work I am arguing for. For either a job is so contrary toi the purposes of God (running a porn theatre) or it can be redeemed in some way to be a light to a different way of being in the world. And of course, one of the ways every job exhibits the mission of Christ is that the job itself is subordinated to Christ. We simply do not work as an ends to personal accumulation or identity. We work to glorify God in our work (the way we clerk, or the way we seek integrity and compassion for the work of foreclosure law). I admit these are not always black/white discernments, yet they transform work and the character we bring to itto make such discernments possible.
Thanks for spurring on conversation.
DF
7:39 AM
Good and excellent points Jason, I think you're getting at the same thing I was saying in my coment to Jon. Ben... I too wonder whether the tax collectors quit or whether they stayed and transformed that occupation into a vocation ... If we don't see you May 9th we'll catch you next time. ... Brian I hope you're right about "the cultural revolution," these comments have been..
Thanks to everyone who spurs on this discussion.
7:44 AM
David -
This is a great discussion, although I think Troeltsch misunderstood Luther's concept of vocation. Although Luther did believe that almost any career could be considered a vocation, he also argued that in order to be such it must be primarily focused on serving the neighbor. Therefore one's career could not be disconnected from one's faith and still be considered a God ordained vocation.
9:50 PM
Brian ... Thanks for the good stuff, not being a Luther scholar, and somewhat suspicious of all things Lutheran (especially when it comes to church & society).. I could use a reference or two on this issue as you see it? any writings of Luther you're thinking of to put in my mental file on Luther?
DF
6:09 PM
David -
Unlike Calvin Luther wasn't particularly systematic in his thinking, so it's hard to find a fully developed sense of his understanding of vocation in his own writings. The best place to go is actually a book written by Swedish theologian Gustaf Wingren called "Luther on Vocation". I think it's out of print now but many theological libraries have it.
I would also reccomend Luther's essay entitled "The Freedom of a Christian" where he examines the paradoical nature of grace. His famous line from the essay is that, "The Christian is perfectly free Lord of all and subject to none. The Christian is a completely bound servant of all and subject to all". You can find that essay in any anthology of Luther's writings. Timothy Lull's compilation is probably the best.
You also might want to check out an organization called Centered Life (www.centeredlife.org) which helps congregations rediscover Luther's concept of vocation. Jack Fortin, the director of the organization, has a book out called "The Centered Life" which further explores this neglected area of Luther's work.
Hope that helps.
4:01 PM
Brian - DUDE - that's REALY interesting! That quote: "The Christian is perfectly free Lord of all and subject to none. The Christian is completely bound servant to all and subject to none." It sounds so...INCARNATIONAL...or something (I hope I didn't just use that word wrongly!). Its like...inspiring or something! It gives such perspective! I think I'm excited. Yes...in fact...I am. That's neato. Too many gears turning...will have to wait a while to see what comes out the other side here in the little duder's head with all the stuff going through my head...like, then, how do you actually CHALLENGE "the world"? By serving it? Or by suffering under it (like Jesus)? Or by being different, in the various ways discussed above (by being perfectly free Lord of all)?
Additionally...even in light of how excited that quote gets me...how might Luther's desacramentalization of things effect the meaning of that very quote that got me so excited? In other words, maybe the very way that that quote gets me excited is simply not true. Is there a certain hope placed IN the world itself - in a very particular way that comes as the very particular result of the referenced desacralization - that both makes the quote possible and taints my excitement over it? Hhhmmm....more gears turning...need more time...
Jason
11:18 PM
Jason -
You raise some good issues here. I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying, so correct me if I'm off base.
I can see how it might seem that Luther is desacralizing work by opening up the possibility that any career can be sacred, but I think the opposite is actually true. Before Luther only those involved in full time religious work were considered to have a sacred calling. Luther opened up that possibility for all people. As long as one's work was serving the neighbor and being done for the glory of God it was considered a calling. Challenging injustice is an implicit part of Luther's concept of service, although perhps underdeveloped because Luther's worldview was shaped by christendom.
Blessings,
Brian
2:33 PM
Oh hey Brian,
When I referred to Luther's desacramentalization, I was just speaking in general. Actually I was being VERY general, maybe even "loose," if you are Lutheran - because I was thinking of Luther's role in the desacramentalization and unmasking of man's patterns of living and thinking throughout the course of late Medieval to modern history.
So, then, in that context, that very-general desacramentalization/desacralization was meant to inform the particular topic in question...of economics and vocation.
Anyway, your words about Luther's opening up of the sacred calling to all people...particularly in light of where we are NOW (not so much, then - again - necessarily or strictly specific to Luther, I suppose)...seem to offer to us a catch 22. Sacrilization through secularization. Both fishy and inspiring.
But...NOW...what is the hinging point on deciding between "fishy" and "inspiring?" I mean, Luter was OBVIOUSLY not a twentieth century Protestant Liberal! But...for us...now...in terms of deciding how to live and what path to take...what is the hinging point between "fishy" and "inspiring?"
Blessings,
Jason
4:49 AM
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