Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Thoughts on Work

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Matt Stone

2008-06-24

I have been working on my theology of work again lately and have come to the view that it is important to distinguish between the instrumental value of work and the intrinsic value of work.

When we say, work is good because it helps us to provide for our families, or work is good because it opens up opportunities for sharing our faith, we are treating work instrumentally. We are locating the value of work outside of work itself. The problem with this is twofold: firstly, it suggests that the value of work could evaporate if alternative and more effective ways of reaching these goals became available; and secondly, it leaves us open to means justifies the ends type thinking. Ultimately it effects our motivation for work.

I am therefore inclined to think we need to more clearly define the intrinsic value of work in deepening our understanding of work.

Tags Work

7 responses to “Thoughts on Work”

Peggy

2008-06-24

Matt,
This made me immediately think of a series of five posts Scot McKnight made over at Jesus Creed. The last one is here: http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=3786
There was quite a bit of conversation about it….

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Matt Stone

2008-06-24

Thanks Peggy. I liked the comment that “it is largely (though not exclusively) through our work that we reflect God’s image”. I might add, “as a worker”. That’s much closer to why I mean by the intrinsic value of work. Even if we could provide for our families some other way, the potential of work to be an expression of our spirituality would be undiminished. This potentially leads into the whole subject of voluntary work and vocation.

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Aaron Beitler

2008-06-24

Nice blog. The art on the side is sweet!
I agree with your ideas about work. Nancy Pearcy writes great pieces on this. She believes we need to learn how to “lawyer christianly” or even “pump gas christianly”. The problem is that the modern university pigeonholes with respect to discipline, and (I believe) this leads to the instrumental perspective you point to.
Keep up the good work!
Aaron

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Aaron Beitler

2008-06-24

Nice blog. The art on the side is sweet!
I agree with your ideas about work. Nancy Pearcy writes great pieces on this. She believes we need to learn how to “lawyer christianly” or even “pump gas christianly”. The problem is that the modern university pigeonholes with respect to discipline, and (I believe) this leads to the instrumental perspective you point to.
Keep up the good work!
Aaron

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Matt Stone

2008-06-24

Back when I was really into Buddhist meditation one of the books that really grabbed me was “Zen and the Ways” by Trevor Leggett. It contrasted the difference between monastic approaches to Zen and what might be called more lay (or militaristic) approaches to Zen where enlightenment was approached through the practice of arts such as archery, calligraphy, sword fighting, music, etc, etc.
It has long struck me as odd that the Christian disciplines are so monastic in orientation when the resurrection and incarnation should both drive us towards more embodied forms of discipline. So yes, I think we should be devoting energy to learning how to “pump gas christianly” (methinks it might involve purchasing more energy efficient cars for starters) and how to “do our taxes prayerfully” (and by that I mean listening prayer not panicky supplications). If the earth is the Lord’s then where on earth is God in our everyday activities?
Brother Lawrance is of course a shining example of where Christians have found the extraordinary in the ordinary, finding God in the washing of dishes, but he is uncomfortably too rare. I am of the opinion that what we need is a lay theology that takes this challenge seriously.

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Aaron Beitler

2008-06-25

I’ve not read Brother Lawrence, but have wanted to for awhile.
There is room for exploration in the Western philosophical tradition in a couple other areas as well. Edmund Husserl, I don’t know if you’ve read him. He believed that we need to carry out an inward turn toward the structure of subjective consciousness. This replaces the obsession with scientific knowledge which is so externalized. (He did not wish to eschew scientific knowledge however.)
Although he was not into the Philosophy of Religion, to me his philosophy brings ethics and understanding about the world “home”, into the inner man. Once our ethics have “come home to roost”, we find ourselves more consistent, and we embody more fully the ethics we preach–in our jobs and elsewhere.
Appreciate your thoughts though, very interesting..

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Matt Stone

2008-06-26

I have not read Edmund Husserl but I am interested in subjective consciousness. I am currently studying Christian counseling and have practiced meditation for close to 20 years now. You might want to read some of the posts on ecstatic prayer, trance consciousness and the subconscious in my achieves at http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween

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