After Sunday: A Theology of Work - Tapa dura

Many people devote themselves to their work. And it is an easy step from there to show that this devotion has a strong religious bent. But does it follow that devotion to work is bending the knee to idolatry, giving service to mammon? This book says no, not necessarily. In many cases human work is co-creative with the Creator. Why, then, is there so little effort to explore the theological dimension of everyday work? The principal impediment to a proper theological understanding of work is the church's voracious appetite to concentrate everything onto Sunday and its own institutional needs. The kingdom of God gets foreshortened to ecclesiastical boundaries so that the shop floor, the foundry, or the lumberyard and all other places of work are out of bounds. Another impediment keeps the doctrine of the laity too anemic to possess a creativity of its own. This book lays a positive theological framework for a Christian understanding of work, be it manual, intellectual, service-related or not. It does this chiefly around the doctrine of the Trinity. It then turns to show how this system can underpin an ethics and spirituality of work.

Armand E. Larive is an Episcopal priest who combined parish ministry with teaching philosophy at Washington State University.