This book, a treatise on work from super-reasonable super-accessible theologian Tim Keller, was a cracker indeed. Yet another bargain from last year's Forum bookstall, I'd been taking occasional strides through a chapter at a time for pretty much the year since, which worked out nicely as the chapters are self-contained enough to make potent points on their own and yet reinforce enough of the general theme to continue building the wider perspective of the book in an easily-retained way.
The topic is, of course, work. In our modern western economies, "work" has become something very dissimilar to God's biblical plan for it, argues Keller. With his piercing gospel-centred biblically-grounded insights and characteristic clarity of argument, he outlines God's original intentions for the design of human work, as dignified, diligent, and delightful, taking joy in serving together and cultivating the natural, social and cultural elements of creation. Then he explains why we have problems in our relationship with work, as it all too often becomes selfish, fruitless or pointless; and these shortcoming are rooted in our idolatrous heart, which in striving to immerse our lives in self-service and sin lead us to approach all things, including work, wrongly. Our working lives can lay bare those disjointed attitudes and idols; be they prestige in posterity, a stable family, material security, raw power, whatever - the way we approach our work reflects our heart's priorities, and if we've put something other than God in top place then problems will arise in our relationship with the world (including work). Finally he brings the gospel to bear on our relationship with work and shows the liberating power it has on it; by rooting our attitude to work in the framework of God's plan for creation, our adoption into Christ, and the Spirit's influence in us, we as working christians can embrace work as something both humble and dignified, to take pride in doing but not root our value in, to strive for loving practice to the wider world both in our conduct and choice of workplace, to commit to excellence in service yet recognise the importance of rest. The new perspective offered is starkly different to how our world treats work, and is far more appealing with the christian worldview taken into account.
I found this book really helpful. As per the stereotype of humanities students, even though I love my degree subjects and am passionate about other projects I'm involved with, I'm not prone to the best work ethic. Reading through Keller's book though made me think through a lot more thoroughly about the meaning and motivation of the work I do, finding purpose in its outcome and joyful service in actually doing it, by showing how my work and other people's work fits into God's bigger work - which is a good work. I'm trying to prayerfully reshape my attitudes to work to do it not for the salary, prestige, feelings of self-fulfilment, pride at social betterment, or even ethical outcomes themselves; but for the glory and spread of the kingdom of God. Old attitudes and habits die hard though, and having the truth laid bare in very lucid terms applicable to most working lives helps show us where to start. So, if you're a christian I strongly recommend this book to give you a solid grounding of practical theological applications of the gospel to the work that you do, and how it relates to the work that God's doing.
The topic is, of course, work. In our modern western economies, "work" has become something very dissimilar to God's biblical plan for it, argues Keller. With his piercing gospel-centred biblically-grounded insights and characteristic clarity of argument, he outlines God's original intentions for the design of human work, as dignified, diligent, and delightful, taking joy in serving together and cultivating the natural, social and cultural elements of creation. Then he explains why we have problems in our relationship with work, as it all too often becomes selfish, fruitless or pointless; and these shortcoming are rooted in our idolatrous heart, which in striving to immerse our lives in self-service and sin lead us to approach all things, including work, wrongly. Our working lives can lay bare those disjointed attitudes and idols; be they prestige in posterity, a stable family, material security, raw power, whatever - the way we approach our work reflects our heart's priorities, and if we've put something other than God in top place then problems will arise in our relationship with the world (including work). Finally he brings the gospel to bear on our relationship with work and shows the liberating power it has on it; by rooting our attitude to work in the framework of God's plan for creation, our adoption into Christ, and the Spirit's influence in us, we as working christians can embrace work as something both humble and dignified, to take pride in doing but not root our value in, to strive for loving practice to the wider world both in our conduct and choice of workplace, to commit to excellence in service yet recognise the importance of rest. The new perspective offered is starkly different to how our world treats work, and is far more appealing with the christian worldview taken into account.
I found this book really helpful. As per the stereotype of humanities students, even though I love my degree subjects and am passionate about other projects I'm involved with, I'm not prone to the best work ethic. Reading through Keller's book though made me think through a lot more thoroughly about the meaning and motivation of the work I do, finding purpose in its outcome and joyful service in actually doing it, by showing how my work and other people's work fits into God's bigger work - which is a good work. I'm trying to prayerfully reshape my attitudes to work to do it not for the salary, prestige, feelings of self-fulfilment, pride at social betterment, or even ethical outcomes themselves; but for the glory and spread of the kingdom of God. Old attitudes and habits die hard though, and having the truth laid bare in very lucid terms applicable to most working lives helps show us where to start. So, if you're a christian I strongly recommend this book to give you a solid grounding of practical theological applications of the gospel to the work that you do, and how it relates to the work that God's doing.
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