Theology of Work and Worldview
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Discusses the meaning and importance of worldview in general as well as the Christian worldview specifically, and introduces how the Christian worldview can be applied to the joys and challenges of work
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Theology of Work and Worldview
- 1. Theology of Work & Worldview Vocation, Calling, and the Purpose of Work, Week 5 Evan Donovan
- 2. Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society, the way that a child catches the measles. But people with understanding realize that their presuppositions should be *chosen* after a careful consideration of which worldview is true. Worldview Shapes All of Life “Causal Layered Analysis”. Sources: Sohail Inayatullah, Dennis List, Andy Hines. Presuppositions (largely unconscious) Values Perceived Need “Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society, the way that a child catches the measles. But people with understanding realize that their presuppositions should be chosen after a careful consideration of which worldview is true.” - Francis Schaeffer
- 3. The Issue for Everyone: Meaning & Purpose “Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace”. PwC Whitepaper. http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing-tomorrows-people/future-of-work/assets/reshaping-the- workplace.pdf. Retrieved on 1/29/2016
- 4. The Issue for Christians: Integration of Faith & Work Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
- 5. How Can We Address These Issues? To rebuild our culture, we must “return in a new way to the idea of work as a contribution to the good of all and not merely as a means to one’s own advancement” (Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart) This means “all human work is not merely a job but a calling,” a vocation (Tim Keller). “A job is a vocation only if someone calls you to do it and you do it for them rather than for yourself” (Keller)
- 6. What is Worldview? “New and Improved Worldview Lens”. Bret Thomas, “Integral Thinkers”. http://integralthinkers.com/featured/new-and-improved-worldview-lenses/. Retrieved on 1/29/2016
- 7. “Time Is Money” image under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0, by TaxCredits.net Work & Worldview: A Case Study
- 8. Why Theology of Work? What sets the Christian worldview apart from others? ◦ Balanced view of reality: Beautiful yet flawed Material & spiritual Eternal & here and now ◦ Accounts for personality and the meaning we find in love and relationships ◦ Gives meaning to suffering & power to endure to evil “Theology of work” applies Christian truth to the challenges & joys we face in work
- 9. Worldview is a Story “The Hero’s Journey – My Pros and Cons”. Veronica Sicoe. http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2013/03/the-heros-journey-my-pros-and-cons/. Retrieved on 1/29/2016
- 10. The Christian Story – Myth Become Fact Creation (Plan) Fall (Problem) Redemption (Solution) Consummation (Hope)
- 11. The Christian Story – Creation Creation (Plan) Fall (Problem) Redemption (Solution) Consummation (Hope) Humanity is created in the image of God Humanity is given authority over creation Physical world is created good
- 12. The Christian Story – Fall Creation (Plan) Fall (Problem) Redemption (Solution) Consummation (Hope) Humans are tempted Humans rebel against God Relationships broken; creation & human nature cursed Humanity is created in the image of God Humanity is given authority over creation Physical world is created good
- 13. The Christian Story – Redemption Creation (Plan) Fall (Problem) Redemption (Solution) Consummation (Hope) Humans are tempted Humans rebel against God Relationships broken; creation & human nature cursed Redeemer is promised Redeemer comes (Jesus) Jesus dies & rises again to save humanity Church works to make His Kingdom visible on earth Humanity is created in the image of God Humanity is given authority over creation Physical world is created good
- 14. The Christian Story – Consummation Creation (Plan) Fall (Problem) Redemption (Solution) Consummation (Hope) Humans are tempted Humans rebel against God Relationships broken; creation & human nature cursed Redeemer is promised Redeemer comes (Jesus) Jesus dies & rises again to save humanity Church works to make His Kingdom visible on earth Humanity is created in the image of God Humanity is given authority over creation Physical world is created good Redeemer returns Creation restored, greater than before – Garden to City
- 15. What Does God Want? Kingdom of God ◦ His rule & reign made evident – in all of life ◦ The Christian’s request in the Lord’s Prayer Shalom ◦ Not just the absence of conflict, but restored relationships Calling for the Christian, therefore, is finding your place in His story This is about your job but much more
- 16. For Further Study Fletcher Tink, “Theology of Work for the STEM Professions,” weeks 1-8 slides (http://www.slideshare.net/techmission/tow- week1) Tim Keller, “Every Good Endeavor” presentation (in course) Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor Sohail Inayatullah, “Causal Layered Analysis”, TEDxNoosa (in course) R. Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days
Editor's Notes
- No one is an island, as John Donne said centuries ago. We have all inherited metaphors we live by from our culture Sometimes these serve us well; often they do not Our task here is to make the invisible visible Up till now in the course, we have been proceeding downward from your perceived need to the deeper layers of who you are. You already have a story that is shaping how you approach your life; our task here is to help you become more conscious of it. Read the Schaeffer quote. Explain what he means by presuppositions – unquestioned assumptions about the meaning of life – what is the original design, the problem, and the solution. (If, in fact, there is any.) In this and the following presentations, as well as the book by Tim Keller, we want to tell you a story, a story that we believe fits with reality as it is. As we apply this story to the problems that you face in your daily work, you can see whether it is compelling to you.
- Shifts in worldview are reshaping work for everyone, not just Christians or others who have a specific theology or philosophy of work. As Daniel Pink said in his talk “A Whole New Mind”, people are seeking intrinsic motivation – a reason for doing what they are doing beyond just getting a paycheck or pats on the back from co-workers. This is true at the organizational as well as the personal level. He quoted John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods as saying in an open letter, "Neither must a business live merely to make profits. Social responsibility is not just for the nonprofit sector.” We see this in the rise of B-Corps: organizations that live by a Triple Bottom Line - People, Planet, and Profits in its most common form. However, as seen in this chart, meaning & purpose can be just about personal development, disconnected from a broader purpose of making a difference (65% vs. 16%). Furthermore, making a difference can be disheartening, because you won’t always succeed and you may need to take a job in which that is not the role. You need an understanding of work big enough to accommodate that.
- Christians don’t always see how their faith relates to their work Perceived sacred / secular divide – certain jobs or tasks viewed as more spiritual, holy Three options into which Christians often fall, according to Brad Smith of Bakke Graduate University: Leave secular work entirely Separate Sunday from Monday-Friday, as seen in the image above (privatized faith) Integrate faith with work For those of you who are Christians, this week & the next week are intended to promote integration, as Keller describes in Every Good Endeavor
- This takes us beyond simply personal development, writing our own story It takes us beyond achieving the coveted “work/life balance” But if someone is needed to call us beyond ourselves, then who is doing the calling? We need to have a worldview that is adequate to address these questions of meaning and purpose.
- Worldview is the lens through which you see reality, the largely unconscious framework through which we interpret all the data that is constantly coming at us (what CLA calls the top of the iceberg). Reality is truly “out there”, but we all view it through a filter that is at least partially distorted. As the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, we now see through a glass darkly. Worldview answers some of our deepest questions. We pick up much of this from the culture around us, sometimes in inconsistent ways. Is the material world good or evil? Is personality real? Can relationships work? Is love possible? When I die, what will be left? All this relates deeply to work: Is my work meaningful? As we are exploring our worldview in this course, we aim is to question the assumptions that govern our lives – both in theory and in practice. We want to see if there are assumptions that would make things work better for us because we are more in line with how reality actually is.
- The presuppositions that make up someone’s worldview provide the basis for their values – and therefore the basis for their decisions, as Francis Schaeffer said. Just one example from the world of work: Time is money (common Western view) vs. relationship seen as more important than time (common non-Western view) This leads to the Western individualistic perception of career - “climbing the ladder of success” Now people wanting to “have it all” - success, meaning, family. But is this possible? How can we have a healthy view of work that puts work in its proper place? As Professor Sears suggested in his first lecture, we can’t do this alone – we need a community around us that values the right things.
- Theology of work is applied theology – theology as put into practice. For those who don’t believe in the Christian faith, learning about a Christian theology of work is still helpful for two reasons: It can help you become more intentional in discovering what your own worldview is, your own theology or philosophy of work. You can see what the resources are that Christian faith provides in addresses practical questions like finding out where you should work, how to find fulfillment in live, and, perhaps most importantly, how properly to rest. Christians need to recover a fuller theology of work because they haven’t always kept the balanced view of reality described above Instead, they have adopted many of the assumptions of non-Christian worldviews, like the Greek worldview that said the spiritual was better than the physical. This is at the root of the sacred/secular divide we talked about earlier.
- Worldview is not just a philosophy, set of facts, or answers to questions. At its deepest level, it is a story See the model on this slide, taken from Joseph Campbell’s work on mythology, as referenced in the CLA presentation If you think about it a bit, this model fits many of the most popular stories of our culture, from Star Wars – there’s a call to adventure, a quest, a conflict, personal growth, and a return. The story sets not just the answers, but even the questions that we ask. Stories have the power to shape us at the deepest level because they draw on our emotions and imagination, not just our reason. The question we need to explore: What is the story you are telling with your life, and how does it fit in with a larger story? Common secular story: All that is there is chemical reactions, ultimately; death is the end; “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32) However, people embrace who embrace this as the larger story often still find meaning in a story that they craft for themselves. It’s hard to just live by the scientific worldview alone – too much of real life doesn’t fit. So modern culture has made freedom & the pursuit of more options its highest value. Keller calls “expressive individualism”. Insofar as the stories people write for themselves are about compassion and finding meaning in a cause larger than oneself, Christians see this an echo of eternity - God’s common grace and care for all people. “He placed eternity in the hearts of man” (Eccl. 3:11)
- There is a Person at the heart of the world, who created us to live as persons and to be in relationship with Him and with each other Calling implies a caller: Our stories find meaning as part of His story The uniqueness of Christianity is that this is story is a “myth” in the sense that it makes sense of reality, but Christians believe it has actually happened. It is a true myth - “myth become fact”, as C.S. Lewis said. Christianity provides story and metaphor that really explains how the world is because it connects us to the Creator of the world and helps show His plans for the world. This goes beyond CLA because the metaphors are not just one perspective, although Christianity does offer multiple perspectives in many cases. They are grounded in an ultimate perspective which has been revealed by God through Scripture.
- God created the world - this physical world - and He created it to be perfect and good (cite Gen 1 - it is good) work of art, work of love He created us to be His representatives in the world (cite Gen 1 - in God’s image) He created us therefore to work: to multiply in the world and to spread the garden across the face of the earth (cite Gen 1 - creation mandate) Work was fruitful & meaningful, a participation in God’s work
- However, humans were rebellious and wanted to go their own way (cite Gen 3 - fall narrative) at war w/God so work is hurt Therefore, the world was cursed and work was cursed too Work was cursed to be difficult: “Thorns and thistles shall it bear unto thee.” (cite Gen 3) This is how we often think of work today
- When Jesus came down from heaven to earth, He was the perfect human who fulfilled God’s purposes for work and His law, as well as paying the penalty for human sin Now the world is being released from its bondage as well (cite Romans - “creation groaning”) The redemption available in Christ is not just for the consequences of sin, but for broken relationships in general We’ll talk more about this in the next presentation- how all vocations can be part of God’s reconciling work We can have confidence in our work because God has already done it - has redeemed His people and creation in Christ, and now we are working out the implications of that redemption
- God’s plan moves from a garden into a city In the end the good works of the nations will be brought into the city (cite Rev) Ultimately, the eternal worship of God’s people will itself be a form of work, fulfilling the purposes that God had in the beginning for His creation