Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Since the rise of modern industrial society, work has come to pervade and rule the lives of men and women. Although there have been many popular books and church documents on on the Christian understanding of work, this is the first scholarly effort to articulate a developed Protestant theology of work. In Work in the Spirit, Miroslav Volf interprets work as a theological construct in relationship to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Volf provides lucid and profoundly intellectual reflection on socialism, and draws from his personal experience growing up in communist Eastern Europe. He exhaustively explores the nature of work in both capitalist and socialist societies and considers a variety of work, including industrial, agricultural, medical, political, and artistic work.
Volf also brings the discussion into the twenty-first century, looking at work through the lens of the information society. He examines the theme of alienation in the work place —with particular emphasis on those in the technology and management—and illuminates the character of humane work.
On the basis of his “pneumatological” theology of work, Volf rejects the traditional Protestant understanding of work as vocation, and takes the concept of charisma as the cornerstone for his understanding of work. He denies that one is “called” to do a particular work in spite of one’s inclinations. Rather, he asserts, that it is our privilege—and fulfilling to us—to do the kind of work for which God’s spirit has gifted us. All human work done in accordance with the will of God, Volf argues, is cooperation with God in the preservation and transformation of the world.
- Presents work as God’s gift to humanity given through the Holy Spirit
- Evaluates the impact of socialism and capitalism on work
- Explores the implications of the technological age for the diginity of the worker
- Examines traditional Christian concepts of work
- The Problem of Work
- Dominant Understandings of Work
- Toward a Theology of Work
- Work, Spirit, and New Creation
- Work, Human Rights, and Nature
- Alienation and Humanization of Work
Top Highlights
“Work is honest, purposeful, and methodologically specified social activity whose primary goal is the creation of products or states of affairs that can satisfy the needs of working individuals or their co-creatures, or (if primarily an end in itself) activity that is necessary in order for acting individuals to satisfy their needs apart from the need for the activity itself.” (Pages 10–11)
“First, if we affirm that Christ is the Lord of all humanity—indeed, of the whole universe—and not only of those who profess him as their Lord, and that he rules through the power of the Spirit, then we must also assume that the Spirit of God is active in some way in all people, not only in those who consciously live in the Spirit’s life-giving power.” (Page 118)
“Work is alienating when it does not correspond to God’s intent for human nature.” (Page 160)
“To develop a theology of work means to consciously place biblical statements about work in the context of a reading of the Bible as a whole and to apply both these individual statements and the overarching reading of the Bible to the contemporary world of work.” (Page 78)
“All work that contradicts the new creation is meaningless; all work that corresponds to the new creation is ultimately meaningful.” (Page 121)
- Title: Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work
- Author: Miroslav Volf
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2001
- Logos Release Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Work › Religious aspects--Christianity
- ISBNs: 9781579106416, 1579106412
- Resource ID: LLS:WRKSPRTTHWRK
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:53:40Z
Professor Volf is the founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. His books include Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996; revised edition, 2019), winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion and named one of Christianity Today’s 100 most important religious books of the 20th Century; Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World (2016); The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything (2022), co-authored with Ryan McAnnally-Linz; and, most recently, co-authored with Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (2023).
A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (including the Muslim and Christian “A Common Word” initiative), as well as a participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and across North America. Amongst his many invited lectureships, he has given the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard University; the Chavasse Lectures at Oxford University; the Waldenstroem Lectures at Stockholm School of Theology; the Gray Lectures at Duke University; the Stob Lectures at Calvin University; and the Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham. In May 2025, he delivered the Gifford Lectures in Aberdeen, UK.