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Baylor University
Institute for Faith and Learning
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    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
      • 2021 Living Accountably
      • 2019 The Character of the University
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      • 2016 Higher Learning
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
      • 2014 Faith and Film
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
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      • About the Program: Called to Character
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  • Media and Resources
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
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    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
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    • The Christian Reflection Project
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
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      • Work
Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Work
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
    • Sports
    • Suffering
    • Traveling Well
    • Virtual Lives
    • Vocation
    • Where Wisdom Is Found
    • Women and the Church
    • Women in the Bible
    • Work

Work

Our labor should mirror God's creation and care for the world, but often it is mere drudgery because we idolize work or distort its meaning.

"Work can be a powerful source of livelihood, purpose, individual agency, social place, and connection to the divine," Darby Ray notes, but its “ability to confer these positive meanings is threatened by the dynamics of consumer culture." Joel Schwartz focuses on the threat to work's role in preserving our dignity and furthering our fulfillment. Christine Fletcher investigates why we undervalue caring for the weak, young, and old, and consider this "love's labor" for women. Jonathan Sands Wise warns that we dangerously overvalue efficiency at the expense of other values in our work.

Matt Beal considers how to respond to underemployment, which takes a high spiritual toll as work becomes entwined with personal identity. Robert Dickie critiques both the "poverty gospel" and the "prosperity gospel" for focusing on "what we earn and what we own rather than for whom we work and why we work." Mitch Neubert and Kevin Dougherty study faith-work integration, and Bob Newell explores options to empty retirement.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore work's goodness in the Christian moral life and diagnose its contemporary diseases. The guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Work issue and the set of six Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "Consumer Culture and the Deformation of Work," by Darby Kathleen Ray
  • "Working for Dignity" by Joel Schwartz
  • "On the Value of Caring Work," by Christine M. Fletcher
  • "Of Magic and Machines: When Saving Labor Isn't Worth It," by Jonathan Sands Wise
  • "When Work Disappoints," by Matthew S. Beal
  • "Integrating Faith and Work," by Mitchell J. Neubert and Kevin D. Dougherty

Art

  • "Working in Fields of Sunshine," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Vincent van Gogh's The Red Vineyard
  • "Dismissed," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Philip Evergood's The Pink Dismissal Slip
  • "Labor's Reward," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Jacopo Bassano's The Parable of the Sower and Domenico Fetti's The Parable of the Vineyard

Hymn and Worship Service

  • "I Offer All I Am to You" by Jeanie Miley
  • Worship Service by Jeanie Miley

Inspirational Pieces

  • "The Theology of Work in the New Economy," by Robert Dickie
  • "On Not 'Dying on Third,'" by Robert M. Newell

Book Reviews

  • "To Labor Not in Vain," by Gregory A. Clark
    • David H. Jensen, Responsive Labor: A Theology of Work
    • Timothy Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work
    • Esther D. Reed, Good Work: Christian Ethics in the Workplace
    • Ben Witherington III, Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor
  • "Work, Wealth, and Business as the Ground of Christian Discipline," by Roger Ward
    • R. Paul Stevens, Doing God's Business: Meaning and Motivation for the Marketplace
    • Amy L. Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
    • John C. Knapp, How the Church Fails Businesspeople (And What Can Be Done About It)
    • Jeff Van Duzer, Why Business Matters to God (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed)

Study Guides and Lesson Plans (Download the set of six Study Guides)

  • "Consumer Culture and the Deformation of Work"
  • "Working for Dignity"
  • "When Work Disappoints"
  • "The Value of Caring Work"
  • "Of Magic and Machines: When Saving Labor Isn't Worth It"
  • "Integrating Faith and Work"

Further Reading:

  • "Vocation" issue of Christian Reflection
  • "What's Retirement For?" by William L. Turner (Aging)
Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Work
  • About
    Back
    • Staff
  • Conferences and Symposiums
    Back
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      Back
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
        Back
        • Call for Proposals
        • Conference Schedule
        • Key Information and Frequently Asked Questions
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
      • 2021 Living Accountably
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
        Back
        • Co-Sponsors
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2016 Higher Learning
        Back
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
        • Presenters
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
        • 2002 Christianity and Economics
        • 2003 The Schooled Heart
        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
      Back
      • Additional Information
    • Missio
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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