Chaplaincy
to People at WorkResources
Books
The following offers an insight into some of the current books available on Faith and Work. The reviews are provided by Richard Higginson of Faith and Business (Ridley Hall).
Ken Costa, God at Work: Living Every Day with Purpose
Continuum, 2007, paperback, 193 pp, £7.99
Ken
Costa is Vice-Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and Chairman of Alpha
International. Drawing on his personal experience and with plenty of
telling anecdotes, he writes engagingly on the issues of: ambition;
tough decisions; work-life balance; stress; failure, disappointment and
hope; money and giving; and spiritual renewal. Permeated with a robust
if in places sketchy theology, Costa is convinced of the reality of God
in the workplace and sees the Kingdom of God as the sphere of God’s
goodness in the world. ‘We are called to advance that kingdom, sharing
the “sphere of goodness” and extending it as we operate with God’s
values’, the aim being to ‘build up God’s original plan of community’.
He ends with a bold expression of hope that ‘The missionary effect of
Christians at work living authentic lives, weak yet empowered by the
Holy Spirit, vulnerable yet strengthened by God, anxious yet filled with
peace, could, through a new outpouring of God’s Spirit, become the
greatest evangelistic movement of our age’.
Available from Amazon...
David W. Miller, God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement
Oxford University Press, 2007, hardback, 222 pp, $29.95 (£17.99).
David
Miller is a former businessman who worked for several years in the City
of London before returning to his native USA where he is now Executive
Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School
and Assistant Professor of Business Ethics. The starting-point for this
book is the fact that – reacting against a strong sacred/secular split
which is deeply embedded in American culture – growing numbers of
businesspeople in the USA want to relate their faith to their work.
Finding little help from clergy or (sadly) theological seminaries, they
are being resourced by a growing number of ‘faith at work’
organisations. Miller charts the history of this movement which he
divides into three distinct if overlapping stages: the social gospel era
(c.1890s-1945), the ministry of the laity era (c.1964-85) and the faith
at work era (c.1985 – present). Miller sub-divides participants in the
movement into four (as having an emphasis on ethics, experience,
evangelism or enrichment), thinks a concern to integrate faith and work
links all four, and seeks a further integration of the four types. It is
a useful survey, though a little surprising that Miller does not draw
more on UK parallels and resources in view of the fact that he has lived
in Britain.
Available from Amazon...
David Jensen, Responsive Labor: A Theology of Work
Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006, paperback, 141 pp, $19.95 (£12.08)
David
Jensen is a Professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in
Texas. He presents a high theology of work, rooted in the Trinity as a
model that represents the purpose and nature of God’s work, and
contrasts that with the realities of an untransformed world – marked by
scarcity rather than abundance, hoarding rather than sharing, and a too
ready acceptance of unemployment which fails to recognise the worth of
each individual. Jensen has a fascinating chapter on the significance of
the Eucharist for our understanding of work. He says it speaks of time
in the midst of busyness and plenty in the midst of scarcity: at the
Lord’s table the fruits of our labour are shared, God blesses the work
of our hands, and we realise that we live by God’s grace. While Jensen’s
theological vision is impressive and his critique of Western society
often telling, the book is a little lacking in exploration of the
practical in-between steps which might be made, individually and
collectively, to bridge the gulf between the two that he describes.
Available from Amazon...
Darrell Cosden, The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
Paternoster, 2006, paperback, 148 pp, £8.99
Darrell
Cosden is Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at International Christian
College, Glasgow. He was formerly involved in missionary work in
post-communist Russia, where he encountered an attitude that God had
little purpose for people involved in ‘ordinary’ work. This drove him to
re-examine the theology of work, and to propose a bold and positive view
which asserts that from a Christian perspective, ‘all human work has
eternal meaning and value’. He argues from the resurrection of Jesus and
Paul’s teaching in Romans 8 that God will ultimately transform all
aspects of his creation, and there will be a place for the work that we
do, suitably refined, in the ‘new heaven and the new earth’. This vision
of the eternal significance of our work should inspire us to see value
and seek transformation in the work with which we are currently engaged.
This book is a very readable adaptation of Cosden’s doctoral thesis
A Theology of Work: Work and the New Creation (also
published by Paternoster in 2004), which is much more heavy going. While
eschatology should play an important part in a balanced theology of
work, Cosden appears rather weak on the theme of redemption, the message
of service, self-sacrifice and change for the better at a cost which is
a necessary precursor to the new creation.
Available from Amazon...
R. Paul Stevens, Doing God’s Business: Meaning and Motivation for the Marketplace
Eerdmans, 2006, paperback, 251 pp, $14.00 (£7.56)
Paul
Stevens is Professor Emeritus of Marketplace Theology and Leadership at
Regent College, Vancouver. ‘Marketplace’ –meaning the workplace with a
commercial or business orientation – is a key word in his thinking, and
this book is divided into two parts, ‘Meaning: Towards a Marketplace
Theology’ and ‘Motivation: Towards a Marketplace Spirituality’. It
represents the mature reflection of a man who has written and spoken
widely on the subjects of worldly vocation, theology of work and a
spirituality of everyday life. Stevens sees business as (potentially, at
least) a ‘praiseworthy form of community’ which gives scope for
developing the potential of creation, embellishing human life,
alleviating poverty and investing in heaven. Though a shade derivative –
Stevens draws heavily on the thinking of others - he brings together
telling biblical insights, wisdom born of mature character and
fascinating real-life case studies in an attractive mix. 2006 also saw
the publication of another selection of articles by Stevens which were
collected by his colleagues at Regent and presented to him on the
occasion of his retirement. This is entitled Playing Heaven:
Rediscovering our Purpose as Participants in the Mission of God
(Regent College Publishing).
Available from Amazon...
Dennis W. Bakke, Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job
PVG, 2006, paperback, 314 pp, $14.95 (£7.49)
Dennis
Bakke is co-founder and former CEO of the American multi-national
electricity company AES. AES is an unusual company which, under Bakke’s
leadership, operated according to the values of integrity, fairness,
social responsibility and fun. Bakke equates fun with the
satisfaction of making your own decisions as a result of delegated
responsibility; he believes passionately in ‘the joy of a workplace
where everyone, from custodian to CEO, has the power to use his or her
God-given talents free of needless corporate bureaucracy’. It is a
fascinating personal story, undergirded by a theological understanding
which he outlines in the postscript and draws heavily on the phrase from
the parable of the talents, ‘enter into the master’s joy’. Joy
at Work: A Bible Study Companion, spells out a supportive
theology more fully. Written by Raymond Bakke (Dennis’s
pastor-theologian brother), William Hendricks and Brad Smith, this is
really a separate if complementary book rather than simply a companion.
It opens up some fresh insights on theology and work if occasionally
displaying a rather literalist understanding of biblical passages. The
Bible Study Companion is also available on DVD.
Available from Amazon...
Prayers