Love Thy Colleague: Being authentically Christian at work
Ebook
Overview
How do you cope with arrogant colleagues, or coax the best from shy or sensitive colleagues? How do you develop a decent working relationship with someone who won’t shut up? Some people spread depression like a fog: how do you lift their spirits and stop them infecting the workplace? Our presence at work is a responsibility and an opportunity to bring the character and nature of God though what we say and do, and how we respond to our colleagues. William Morris draws upon his years in the corporate world and his Christian faith to reflect with wit and insight upon the characters we come into contact with during the working day. He explores these people from a pastoral perspective, informed by Jesus teaching in the parable of The Good Samaritan, giving reader’s permission to examine and find new perspectives on getting along with the people we work with.
How we can bring the character and nature of God to our colleagues at work
Contents
Acknowledgments 8
Introduction 11
1. Who is My Neighbour at Work? 16
2. The Ambitious Colleague 32
3. The Incompetent Colleague 47
4. The Shy Colleague 61
5. The Lazy Colleague 75
6. The Verbose Colleague 93
7. The Loner 108
8. The Insensitive Colleague 123
9. The Optimistic Colleague 139
10. The Depressed Colleague 160
Afterword: The Departing Colleague 180
"Far too little has been written about what it means to be a Christian colleague in the workplace. Since that is where most Christians spend much of their lives, the omission is a glaring one. In this book, Will Morris fills the gap admirably. He observes the workplace with an astute pastoral eye, devotes each chapter to a different type of colleague and works out Christian responses in terms of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Imaginatively conceived and engagingly written, Love Thy Colleague is at once confidently and openly Christian. Those hungry to know how to follow Jesus from ‘nine to five’ will be nourished; those who don’t yet follow, will be drawn."- Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, University of Oxford
"Few people are better qualified to write about being authentically Christian at work than William Morris, a priest at St Martin-in-the-Fields and a Director of Global Tax Policy. Grounding himself in Jesus’ endlessly fascinating parable of the Good Samaritan, Morris takes the reader through a tour of the weird and wonderful people who we found ourselves working alongside and poses the challenging question: what would happen if we viewed our colleagues like neighbour in Jesus’ parable? The result is a book that is insightful, witty and wise." Nick Spencer, Theos
"For too long the Church has paid only lip service to the world of work and yet this is where the majority of adults spend their waking hours. The challenge of working with an overbearing manager or a tedious colleague, or seeking to maintain one’s personal integrity in the face of decidedly grey business practices pass many clergy by, but not William Morris. As an Anglican priest and an international tax-lawyer, he inhabits this world on a daily basis. As a result he brings to his writing not only a wisdom honed in the workplace, but one infused with spirituality and the insights of faith." Right Revd Robert Atwell, Bishop of Exeter
Product Details
- Title : Love thy Colleague: Being Authentically Christian at Work
- Author: Morris, William
- Publisher: Monarch Books
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9780857217172