Corey Willson's PhD Shaping the Lenses on Everyday Work

Cory Willson's PhD has now been published online:
Shaping the Lenses on Everyday Work: A Neo-Calvinist Understanding of the Poetics of Work and Vocational Discipleship

In order to take the theology of work conversation forward, “Shaping the Lenses on Everyday Work: A Neo-Calvinist Understanding of the Poetics of Work and Vocational Discipleship” uses an interdisciplinary methodology that incorporates methods from qualitative research to explore the lived realities of contemporary Christians in their work and church contexts. The first third of the dissertation provides an historical analysis of the early theologies of work written by Pope Leo XIII and Herman Bavinck as well as critical reflection on the leading contemporary theologies of work. These historical and literary analyses outline the necessary methodological and theological issues that must be addressed in a theology of work for the Twenty-First Century. The guiding theological framework of human work is a biblical theology of the missio Dei, the mission of God. This theological framework used to interpret the ethnographic research conducted in three congregations. A concluding chapter draws several conclusions for constructing a theology of work for congregations as well as suggestions for how to cultivate a theological imagination for everyday work in Christians.

Chapter 1: Exploring Work Anew

Chapter 2: Historical Background: Herman Bavinck’s Engagement with the “Social Question”

Chapter 3: Overview of Contemporary Theologies of Work

Chapter 4: A Biblical and Theological Grounding of the Manifold Mission of the Triune God

Chapter 5: An Interdisciplinary Methodology for Cultural Hermeneutics

Chapter 6: A Theology of Work from the Road: Congregational Approaches to Vocational Discipleship

Chapter 7: A Theology and Spirituality of Work Fit for Our Times

The Entrepreneurial Vocation by Robert A. Sirico

The Entrepreneurial Vocation
Robert A. Sirico
Acton Institute, 2012
http://www.vocationofbusiness.com/

The Lord is my entrepreneur I shall not lack?

This is little book asks the right questions. I'm not sure it always gives the right answers.

Robert Sirico is a Catholic priest who co-founded the Acton Institute in 1990. He has written this book out of a concern for the church and the lack of understanding of economic principles. He writes with the aim of integrating the concept of entrepreneur and vocation. He is right when he writes:

While entrepreneurs should not be unfairly criticized for making money, they also must not be treated as victims of unjust discrimination who deserve a special blessing. However, it is also true that their chosen profession deserves to be legitimized by their faith. The public must begin to acknowledge the value of the entrepreneurial vocation, the wise stewardship of talents, and the tangible contributions of entrepreneurs to society.

He starts by highlighting the lack of insight many have regarding the integration of faith and business. Typical of many examples is this one Sirico gives:

I recall one man, a self-described conservative Christian, saying that he no longer attended church services because he refused to sit in the pew with his family and, in effect, be chastised for his business acumen. How many critical sermons can a small-business owner or investment banker hear before he or she loses heart and decides to sleep in on the Sabbath? 

His analysis is correct. "An obvious reason for this ignorance is the astonishing lack of any economics training in virtually all seminaries." He may well be right, but is that the role of seminaries? Does this mean we should also provide science training in seminaries, and what about politics, art .... the danger then would be the seminary becomes a general education college. I would rather see seminaries equipping the pastors to be able to equip the rest of the saints. That may include some economics training, but better would be equipping in the tools to be able to critique the economic, scientific, political, .... ideologies.


I must also confess to being a little troubled by his 'principal argument':

The principal argument of this essay is that the pursuit of excellence, like the mind’s original constitution, discloses humanity’s ontological orientation toward the highest and most supreme good, namely, the perfect apprehension of God in heaven (cf. 1 Cor.13:12).

This sounds a little close to being neo-platonic.

He helpfully contrasts two views of the market the first held by 'religious leaders' as they pass the collection plate, is static and commands a Robin Hood morality; the other held by entrepreneur is of making rather than collecting money, the market is dynamic, a process rather than a place or object. This is obviously an over-characterisation. He makes this point to show that the 'clergy' must understand the market economy.

For those who think that the business enterprise is fuelled by selfishness and greed or that when entrepreneurs make economic losses they are getting their just deserts, this booklet will provide a helpful antidote.

He closes the book by taking a look at the parable of the talents and uses it to show how business and entrepreneurship are not no-go areas for Christians. As he rightly notes: "Entrepreneurs are the source of more social and spiritual good than is generally recognized."

There is much in this short booklet for careful and considered thought, it will provide the stimulus to think more carefully over these issues. The entrepreneur is a part of God's good creation and should be valued as such. The entrepreneurial vocation is just as much a vocation, a calling as being a priest, pastor or preacher.

After Sunday

After Sunday is  a charity that had its origins in the diocese of Durham. The website has many resources for moving from a part-time Christianity.

Mouw hits the spot - again

Some great thoughts from Richard Mouw [HT Antony Billington]

“My pastor has no idea of the kind of world I live in six days a week.” That came from a prominent businessperson, a venture capitalist, during a lunch we had together when I visited the city where he works.

And even though that particular comment was clearly a complaint, it was expressed in a larger context in which he was speaking quite warmly about his involvement in the local church.

His congregation has good programs for his children, and he and his wife are involved in a small group they find spiritually nurturing. His pastor preaches good, biblically based sermons. All of that is very positive in his mind. What is missing, though, is any sort of connection to his actual daily work experience.

Michael Schutt: Vocation the Mask of God

Mike Schutt on Vocation the mask of God

Schutt looks at why Luther called vocation the 'mask of God' and how we can be disciples over all of life.

How do we know what we are called to? "Listen to the Caller. It's not about being fulfilled or self-actualisation. It's about following a Caller".

Well worth checking out.
Mike blogs regularly here.

Kingdom Calling - Part 3 ch 9-13

Kingdom Calling:
Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
Amy L. Sherman

Part Three: Pathways of Vocational Stewardship






We often hear sermons on Joseph, Nehemiah and Daniel in church. Usually the theme is on leadership - and most often the hidden message is that it is leadership in church-related activities. What seems to be forgotten is that Joseph worked as second in command in Egypt, Daniel in the Babylonian court and Nehemiah built the city walls. The contemporary equivalents certainly wouldn't only be church leaders. Such an approach leaves those in the 'pew' feeling disenfranchised. No wonder many Christians think that to serve God in 'full-time Christian ministry' they have to go 'into the church'.

Sherman here provides us myriad of examples of contemporary Josephs, Nehemiahs and Daniels. All of them are local church based but kingdom oriented. The kingdom is so much more than the church.

In Part Three Sherman takes a look at 'Pathways of vocational stewardship'. She identifies four pathways: bloom, donate, invent and invest. Pathway 1 involves blooming where you are planted - promoting the kingdom in and through our daily work. Pathway 2 is donating - volunteering our talents and skills to projects outside of our daily work. Pathway 3, inventing, is to launch a new enterprise. And pathway 4 - investing - looks at participating in an intensive initiative.

Each of these approaches are examined. Excellent examples as well as possible temptations or weaknesses of the approaches come under scrutiny. As I've mentioned before one of the strengths of the book is the way it integrated theory with praxis, the stories of the wide range of projects help that. They provide an excellent source of inspiration and ideas. Lessons are drawn out from each of the projects described as well as some of the problems.

One appendix provides a list of fifty different vocations illustrated, everything from agriculture to veterinary medicine, through astrophysics and real estate development. This gives some idea of the range and scope of the book. Other appendices highglight twelve key theological themes undergirding vocational stewardship and another has a short discussionguide for small grpups. There are twenty-four pages of end notes, but sadly no bibliography.

I have a dream that one day the body of Christ will rise up and live its kingdom calling. Where vicar and vet are equally seen as full-time Christian ministers. Where pastor and pet food salesman are seen as equally vaild callings. Where dualism and false ideas of spirituality have been exposed. Where discipleship is seen as much more than what we do in our free time.

Books like Kingdom Calling can help make that dream a reality. It will be essential reading for all those in full-time Christian ministry - whether that is sweeping the road, designing and building housing, or running a congregation or a corporation.

Vocational discipleship/ stewardship resources: books on work and vocation

       Tom Nelson Work Matters  my review here
       Daryl Cosden The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
       Lee Hardy The Fabric of This World
       Gene Veith God at Work
       Mark Greene Thank God It's Monday
       Stephen Nichols What is Vocation? my review here
       Douglas Schuurman Vocation after Christendom
       Miroslav Volf  Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theory of Work
       Paul Marshall (ed.)  Labour of Love: Essays on Work   pdf available here
       R. Paul Stevens The Other Six Days
       Amy L. Sherman Kingdom Calling my review/ summary here, here, here and here

Vocational discipleship/ stewardship resources: bibliographies

In the past I have complied a number of bibliographies/ resources for Christian approaches to various areas. These include:

• Art and aesthetics
• Biology
• Business
• Education
• Economics
• Geography
• History
• Law
• Language and linguistics
• Mathematics
• Politics
• Physical sciences - forthcoming
• Psychology
• Sport
• Technology
• Vocation and work
• Worldview

Other resources are available on the further information page of All of life redeemed.

Vocational discipleship/ stewardship resources: professional groups

NB Inclusion does not imply endorsement!

Primarily UK:

• Agricultural Christian Fellowship
• Allied Health Professionals Christian Network
• Armed Forces Christian Union
• Artisan
• Arts Centre Group
• Arts Ecclesia
• Association of Christian Counsellors
• Association Of Christian Economists
• Association Of Christian Financial Advisers
• Association of Christian Law Firms
• Association of Christian Teachers
• Association of Christian Teachers Scotland
• Association of Christian Teachers of Wales
• Aviation Christian Fellowship
• Association of Christian Writers
• British Association of Christians in Psychology
• British Transport Christian Fellowship
• Business Study Group
• Carers Christian Fellowship
• Christianity and History Forum
• Christians in Architecture and Planning
• Christians In Entertainment
• Christians in Caring Professions
• Christian Academic Network
• Christians at Work
• Christians in Entertainment
• Christians in Government UK
• Christian Dance Fellowship of Britain
• Christian Dental Fellowship
• Christian Firefighters
• Christian Literary Studies Group
• Christian Medical Fellowship
• Christian Nurses and Midwives
• Christian Police Association
• Christians in Politics
• Christians in Science
• Christian Initiatives in Early Years Education
• Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians
• Forum of Christian Healthcare
• Hospital Christian Fellowship
• Industrial Christian Fellowship
• International Chamber of Commerce
• Lawyers' Christian Fellowship
• Librarians' Christian Fellowship
• Naval Christian Fellowship
• Northern Ireland Association of Christian Teachers
• Nurses Christian Fellowship International
• Probation Services Christian Fellowship
• Theology Network
• Transform Work UK
• Social Work Christian Fellowship
• Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research
• Veterinary Christian Fellowship
• Victoria Institute

Primarily North American:

• Affiliation of Christian Biologists
• Affiliation of Christian Engineers (ACE)
• Affiliation of Christian Geologists (ACG)
• American Association of Christian Counsellors
• American Scientific Affiliation
• Association of Christian Economists, (ACE)
• Association of Christian Engineers and Scientists
• Association of Christian Librarians
• Association of Christians in Mathematical Sciences 
• Association of Christians Teaching Sociology (ACTS)
• Christian Association for Psychological Studies, Inc. (CAPS)
• Christian Business Faculty Association
• Christian Educators Association
• Christian Engineering Society
• Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers
• Christian Foresters Fellowship
• Christian Legal Society, 
• Christian Medical & Dental Society,
• Christian Neuroscience Society
• Christian Nuclear Fellowship, (Nuclear Science and Technology)
• Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship
• Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International
• Christians in the Arts Networking (CAN)
• Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International
• Christians in Political Science
• Christians in Theatre Arts
• Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA)
• Christian Sociological Society
• Christian Theological Research Fellowship
• Christian Veterinary Mission
• Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities Library Directors, (CCCU)
• Conference on Christianity and Literature (CCL)
• Conference on Faith and History 
• Engineering Ministries International (EMI)
• Evangelical Philosophical Society
• Evangelical Theological Society
• Fellowship of Artists for Cultural Evangelism
• Fellowship of Christian Librarians and Information Specialists, (FOCLIS)
• Fellowship of Christian Optometrists
• Fellowship of Scientists
• Health Physics Society Christian Fellowship
• North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW)
• North American Christian Foreign Language Association
• Nurses Christian Fellowship
• Society of Christian Philosophers

Adapted from the lists complied by:   Bruce Edwards bgsu.edu;    InterVarsity;   Leader University

Kingdom Calling - Part 2 ch 5-8

Kingdom Calling

Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good

Amy L. Sherman

Part Two: Discipling for Vocational Stewardship

Chapter 5 on faith and work integration opens Part two with some revealing statistics:

Fewer than 10% of regular churchgoers ... can remember the last time their pastor preached on the topic of work
The Leadership Journal has 152 matches for 'vocation' - 95% of these were on the vocation of the pastorate
The Christian Century only had 9 hits
Discipleship Journal produced 41 - only one of which was about faith and work integration.

Faith and work integration is not on the churches agenda it seems. And yet there are over 600 books on the topic - at least according to The Marketplace Annotated Bibliography by Pete Hammond, R. Paul Stevens and Todd Svanoe (2002).

Sherman draws upon David Miller's research in God at Work (2007). Miller identifies four approaches/ quadrants to work and faith 'integration: 

Each approach has its strengths, but the best approach is one that adopts all four - the everywhere integrator. Sherman and her researchers looked at 15 marketplace ministries to see how many of them adopt an integrator approach.

The ministeries examined were:

• Blackaby Ministries International
• Marketplace Ministries
• Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, 
• Kingdom Companies
• Breakthrough Fellowship 
• Businessmen’s Fellowship USA
• International Fellowship of Christian Businessmen
• Christians in Commerce
• His Church at Work now WorkLife
• C12 Group
• Christian Businessmen Connection
• Kiros
• Life Chasers
• Marketplace Network/Made to Matter
• International Christian Chamber of Commerce (UK)
• Needle’s Eye Ministries

They found that none of them fit into quadrant 4 and none reflected the integrator approach.

It is obvious that much work is to be done!

Chapter 6 opens with an illustration from Doug Spada - the church needs to be an aircraft carrier not a cruise ship: 

What is missing is the teaching of a biblical theology of work coming from the pulpit. We need to hear that work is not a result of the fall.

Sherman lists several labours that God is involved in: redemptive, creative, providential, justice, compassionate and revelatory. She maintains that  pastors can 'explain the ways in which God is a worker, and then encourage their congreants to identify where their own labors fit'.  She then examines some false ideas about work.

Chapter 7 looks at approaches that have been used to help congregations discover their gifting. She makes some good comments about the weakness of many of the 'tools'. The main one being is that they are primarily designed to help people serve the church.

Chapter 8 examines the characteristics of vocational stewards: servanthood, responsibility, courage,humility and being prepared to share power. Again the theoretical underpinnings are illustrated with excellent examples from the workplace of people who exhibit these important characteristics.

Kingdom Calling - Introduction

My copy of Amy L. Sherman's Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good has just arrived. My first impression is that this book is a dynamite! If it it delivers what it promises then it will certainly be one of the books of the decade!

The introduction starts by looking at the depressing picture portrayed in Michael Lindsay's Faith in the Halls of Power. Lindsay interviewed 360 evangelicals who are in top jobs, he found that their lifestyles were no different for their peers. In some cases the only difference their Christianity made was a plaque on the wall or a cross around their neck. She contrasts this with Proverbs 11:10a: 'When the righteous [tsaddiqm] prosper, the city rejoices...' She maintains that this implies that 'by the intentional stewardship of their time, talent and treasure the tsaddiqm bring nothing less than foretastes of the kingdom of God into reality.' 

For this to happen we need to 'take vocation more seriously' (p. 20).

She coins the brilliant term 'vocational stewardship', by this she means:

the intentional and strategic development of vocational power - knowledge, platform, position, influence, skills and reputations - to advance foretastes of God's kingdom.

She sees vocational stewardship as an essential strategy and she has written this book to help implement that strategy.

Contents

Foreword by Reggie McNeal

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Glorious Vision of Proverbs 11:10

Part I: Theological Foundations
1. What Does a Rejoiced City Look Like?
2. What Do the Righteous Look Like?
3. Why We Aren't the Tsaddiqim
4. How the Gospel of the Kingdom Nurtures the Tsaddiqim

Part II: Discipling for Vocational Stewarship
5. Integrating Faith and Work: The Status Quo is Inadequate
6. Inspiration
7. Discovery
8. Formation

Part III: Pathways of Vocational Stewardship
9. Deploying Vocational Power: Four Pathways
10. Pathway 1: Bloom Where You're Planted
11. Pathway 2: Donate Your Skills
12. Pathway 3: Launch Your Own Social Enterprise
13. Pathway 4: Participate in Your Church's Targeted Initiative

Conclusion: Rejoicing the City
Afterword by Steven Garber
Appendix A: Key Theological Themes Undergirding Vocational Stewardship
Appendix B: A Discussion Guide for Congregational Small Groups
Appendix C: For Further Information
Appendix D: Index of Profiles by Vocation

Being more vocationally intentional - some suggestions (more wanted)

Tom Nelson in Work Matters writes:

To move forward a faith community will need to:
(1) become more intentional about teaching a robust theology of vocation
(2) begin celebrating the diversity of vocations
(3) equip for vocational faithfulness and
(4) collaborate with other like-minded local churches that also recognize the church as a primary conduit for gospel faithfulness

How can we do this? Here are a few tentative suggestions - some adapted from Nelson:

1. Watch your language
Avoid phrases such as 'a secular job', 'ministry' when its related only to a church-focused activity.

2. Avoid this mentality:

 

from here

3. Pray for those starting new jobs in the church service

4. Pray for those unemployed in the church service

5. Unemployed groups - provide room and resources for them to meet

6. Testimonies from people in the workplace about the workplace

7. Education Sunday - pray for all those in education, preach on education, testimonies form students and teachers. Have a Business, Science, Maths ... Sunday too!

8. Prayer life - review who and what we pray for

9. Preaching - review what topics are covered. Use more illustrations from the workplace.

10. Pastors on sabbatical in a workplace role - or at least visit congregational members in their workplace.

11. Employ a work place and vocations minister

12. Stock the church library with useful books such as:

       Tom Nelson Work Matters  my review here
       Daryl Cosden The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
       Lee Hardy The Fabric of This World
       Gene Veith God at Work
       Mark Greene Thank God It's Monday
       Stephen Nichols What is Vocation? my review here
       Douglas Schuurman Vocation after Christendom
       Miroslav Volf  Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theory of Work
       Paul Marshall (ed.)  Labour of Love: Essays on Work   pdf available here
       R. Paul Stevens The Other Six Days

13. Book reviews of the above books in the church service

14. Book discussion groups - discussing some of the books mentioned above

15. Start what Newbigin called 'Frontier groups'. 

16. Vocation-oriented discipleship/accountability groups

17. Vocation-oriented prayer triplets

18. Hold sessions on exploring vocation - and look at how to discern your vocation

Update: Amy L. Sherman's new book Kingdom Calling deals with some of the issues. See the website
vocational stewardship  and her list of Ten Ways to Encourage Vocational Stewardship In Your Church


Any other suggestions?

Tom Nelson Work Matters - a review

Work Matters

Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work

Tom Nelson

Wheaton, Crossway Books, 2011

ISBN 978-1-4335-2667-1

221 pages, pbk.

There is a tendency for Christianity in some circles to be a leisure activity. We are encouraged to pray, evangelise, worship, study our Bibles in our spare time. Sadly, the 40 hours per week, for forty or so years don't seem to matter - or at least if you looked at the content of most Sunday sermons from the pulpit. It has long been my contention that pastors should every seven years or so take a sabbatical and work in an office, educational establishment, retail outlet or such like. This will help them connect with the everyday pressure those in full-time work experience. Hopefully, it will help them in their discipleship programmes and in what they preach. 

Christianity is a whole life activity, despite the implicit denial of this from many pulpits. This book, however, provides a refreshing look at whole life Christianity. It's key message is that work does matter.

Nelson uses many everyday experiences - including discussions in coffee shops and vignettes from those who have considered how Christianity impacts their work life.

Illustrations come from films such as Narnia, WALL-E and Mr Holland's Opus. He also draws upon a wide range of sources Paul Marshall, Os Guinness, Tim Keller, Tom Wright, Miroslav Volf, Luther and Gideon Strauss are all mentioned. He utilises the neo-Calvinist/ Kuyperian framework of creation, fall and redemption to good effect. 

At the end of each chapter is a short prayer and then several questions for reflection and discussion which makes this book ideal for church small groups.

The final chapter 'The church at work' is particularly good. Here he draws upon Lesslie Newbigin's notion that 'the congregation has to be the place where its members are trained, supported, and nourished in the exercise of their parts of the priestly ministry in the world'. he offers some excellent ideas and suggestions how this can be developed. The role of church leaders is to 'prepare the saints for work of service' (Eph 4:12). Too often this gets narrowed down to church-related activities, here Nelson shows with examples that it doesn't have to be that way. Ideas include 'embracing a new vocational paradigm' as he puts it:

A primary work of the church is the church at work. Our work not only forms us spiritually; in and through our work, Christ's gospel mission is advanced in the world. (p. 190)

Many churches employ youth workers and ministers - maybe one day we'll also see work and vocation ministers too. That will certainly need a paradigm shift. Nelson's eminently readable and accessible book may well help towards that.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper ...

And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

'What's your life's blueprint?' Martin Luther King, Jr.

[HT Tom Nelson]

Work as/is worship

Workplace ministry - Mark Greene

What full-time Christian minsters need to know about secular work

1. All Christian are involved in full-time Christian ministry. There is no such thing as part-time Christians. Never use the term "full-time Christian ministry" to describe only those with a role in the church or a church-related activity.

2. There is no sacred-secular divide. It’s not the activity that makes it secular, it’s the attitude and approach.The term secular shouldn't only be used to describe work that's done outside of church.

3. Serving Christ is not all about church-related activities.

British evangelicals and the problem of work Stuart Weir EvQ 83(2) (2011)

The recent issue of Evangelical Quarterly 83 (2) (2011) contains an interesting article by Stuart Weir, a PhD student at Edinburgh, on 'British evangelicals and the problem of work'. In it updates John Stott's reasons for the withdrawal of evangelicals from social involvement. But what is intriguing about this paper is what he promises to look at in his PhD:

What is required ... is a theological account that shows how all works which co-operate with the agency of the Spirit, regardless of an agent's faith, will be redeemed for the new creation. Any work performed in cooperation with the Spirit is one that will be eschatologically redeemed by virtue of its divine empowerment. Because of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, pneumatology should indeed take theological primacy in such discussions about human work. [Footnote: My forthcoming doctoral research aims to provide an account of this claim.] (p. 146)

Sounds like a worthwhile project! His final section goes on to say:

In light of the gradual reconciliation between British evangelical theology and the value of everyday work, Stott wishes to reinvigorate serious reflection on human works with a focus upon the doctrine of God, theological anthropology, christology, soteriology and ecclesiology. Striking by their absence in this list of theological repairs are pneumatology and eschatology.

But the provision of a pneumatology of works is essential. Such an account would open the door to discuss how some of the world's works which might be included in the new creation. God himself will bring the new creation into being through a transformation of this world. Such a hope for this world stems from what Jesus taught his followers to pray: 'Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' (Matt. 6.10). The kingdom will not be a distinct place from the world, but will eventually spread throughout this world like yeast does in bread. Finally, through the purifying fires of Christ's judgement, a transformation of this creation will emerge.

An account which shows that the agency of the Spirit in cooperation with human works should, and must, take primacy in discussing the world's work if common grace theologies are accepted. This pneumatological emphasis must draw eschatology into play because pneumatology is automatically an eschatological matter. Not only does the Spirit presently encourage and empower eschatological anticipations of the new creation (Rom. 8.18-25), but he is also the one who will bring the fulness of the new creation into being at Christ's second coming. If the world can periodically work 'in the Spirit', then particular works might be caught up in the purposes of God for ultimate redemption.

His doctoral dissertation is entitled: 'Non-Christian’ Work and the Holy Spirit: The Empowerment of Good Work and the New Creation.

We humbly suggest that you can do both

Thomas Clarkson: Mr Wilberforce, we understand you are having problems choosing whether to do the work of God or the work of a political activist.
Hannah More: We humbly suggest that you can do both.

Cultural callings

The recording of session 4 of the cultural callings seminars can be found here.
Jon Swales looks at George Cadbury and I look at some principles for a Christian approach to (small) business.