Vocation, work, and calling.

Week1: Background information

1. There is not much in the scriptures directly related to work, vocation, or career. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, Ecclesiastes 3:9-13. These verses offer incomplete understandings at best.

2. Because there is not a great deal directly related to this topic in the scriptures we need to utilize theological reflection. We can do this in two ways: Look at what others have said on the topic or engage our theological references and sources to come up with something that works for us. The theological references that are helpful are: scripture, family, ministers, tradition, pop culture, experience. In Methodism the “big four” are: scripture, reason, tradition, experience.

3. I tend to also look at other people’s theological reflection through reading. Some helpful references with regard to this topic (vocation, work and career) are:

a. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton
b. Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer
c. Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work by Miroslav Volf
d. How to Think Theologically by Howard Stone and James Duke
e. The Other Six Days by R. Paul Stevens

4. Look at Genesis 1:26-31. The cultural mandate, creating (working) puts us in the image of God. Creativity can be seen as solving problems in a new way. It provides fulfillment and generates synergy.

5. As we think about our own theology there are three broad categories that may be helpful. Before we can really talk about what it means to be a Christian at work or to have a Christian vocation we need to come to terms with what it means to be a Christian. There are three major understandings of Christian identity: doctrinist, pietist, and activist.

a. Doctrinist – is heavy into doctrine, what are the essential ideas we have to have? What do I have to know? There are certain doctrines that hold Christianity together. An example is the Nicean Creed. Presbyterians and fundamentalists are traditionally in this group. Lutherans also fall into this category. Readers tend to like Pauline writings over other scriptures. (2 Tim 3:16). Scripture is seen as somewhat of a rulebook.

b. Pietist – focused more on relationship. They are focused on the relationship that we have with Jesus. Being. Like the gospel of John and the Psalms. Love the mystery of the scriptures. It’s warm and fuzzy. Baptists tend to be in this camp as well as many traditional evangelicals. Traditions associated with the holiness movement (i.e. Pentecostals) tend to be in this camp. Tend to see scripture as a devotional book or a love letter. (John 15:1-5)

c. Activists – concerned with doing the right things. Influenced heavily by the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5 – 7) and the missionary activities of Jesus. Many liberation theologians fall into this camp (James Cone, Gustavo Gutierrez). Proponents of the social gospel are in here. Methodists tend to be in this camp although there is a strong history of pietism in our history as well. Scripture is seen as a manifesto for social action. Methodist gravitate in pietist and activist understandings.

6. The reason that we spent time looking at this is that in my research the authors that I have looked at have a decidedly pietist bias. Parker J. Palmer is a Quaker, R. Paul Stevens is an evangelical (taught at Regent), and Miroslav Volf is a Pentecostal (taught at Fuller Seminary and currently at Yale Divinity School).

7. With that said the focus of this series will revolve around Volf’s work. Primarily because he addresses the topic from a more holistic perspective. Of the sources I have looked at Volf deals with the questions people have in the most direct manner.

8. With some background information we now move to the central question of “What is Vocation?” Some feel that vocation is deeper and distinct (although not necessarily so) from merely a job. Others expressed that vocation can include a job but does not have to.

Next week We will look at what Christian thought has traditionally said about vocation and what that means for us today.

Paul