Vocation and the Politics of Work

Vocation and the Politics of Work PDF Author: Jeffrey Scholes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0739178903
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Since Martin Luther, vocations or callings have had a close relationship with daily work. It is a give-and-take relationship in which the meaning of a vocation typically negotiates with the kinds of work available (and vice-versa) at any given time. While "vocation language" still has currency in Western culture, today's predominant meaning of vocation has little to do with the actual work performed on a job. Jeffrey Scholes contends that recent theological treatments of the Protestant concept of vocation, both academic and popular, often unwittingly collude with consumer culture to circulate a concept of vocation that is detached from the material conditions of work. The result is a consumer-friendly vocation that is rendered impotent to inform and, if necessary, challenge the political norms of the workplace. For example, he classifies Rick Warren's concept of "purpose" in his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, as a functional equivalent of vocation that acts in this way. Other popular uses of vocation along with insights culled from traditional theology and consumer culture studies help Scholes reveal the current state of vocations in the West. Using recent scholarship in the field of political theology, he argues that resisting commodification is a possibility and a prerequisite for a "political vocation," if it is at all able to engage the norms that regulate and undermine the pursuit of justice in many modern workplaces.

Vocation and the Politics of Work

Vocation and the Politics of Work PDF Author: Jeffrey Scholes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0739178903
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Since Martin Luther, vocations or callings have had a close relationship with daily work. It is a give-and-take relationship in which the meaning of a vocation typically negotiates with the kinds of work available (and vice-versa) at any given time. While "vocation language" still has currency in Western culture, today's predominant meaning of vocation has little to do with the actual work performed on a job. Jeffrey Scholes contends that recent theological treatments of the Protestant concept of vocation, both academic and popular, often unwittingly collude with consumer culture to circulate a concept of vocation that is detached from the material conditions of work. The result is a consumer-friendly vocation that is rendered impotent to inform and, if necessary, challenge the political norms of the workplace. For example, he classifies Rick Warren's concept of "purpose" in his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, as a functional equivalent of vocation that acts in this way. Other popular uses of vocation along with insights culled from traditional theology and consumer culture studies help Scholes reveal the current state of vocations in the West. Using recent scholarship in the field of political theology, he argues that resisting commodification is a possibility and a prerequisite for a "political vocation," if it is at all able to engage the norms that regulate and undermine the pursuit of justice in many modern workplaces.

God at Work

God at Work PDF Author: Gene Edward Veith Jr.
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 143351608X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
When you understand it properly, the doctrine of vocation—"doing everything for God's glory"—is not a platitude or an outdated notion. This principle that we vaguely apply to our lives and our work is actually the key to Christian ethics, to influencing our culture for Christ, and to infusing our ordinary, everyday lives with the presence of God. For when we realize that the "mundane" activities that consume most of our time are "God's hiding places," our perspective changes. Culture expert Gene Veith unpacks the biblical, Reformation teaching about the doctrine of vocation, emphasizing not what we should specifically do with our time or what careers we are called to, but what God does in and through our callings—even within the home. In each task He has given us—in our workplaces and families, our churches and society—God Himself is at work. Veith guides you to discover God's purpose and calling in those seemingly ordinary areas by providing you with a spiritual framework for thinking about such issues and for acting upon them with a changed perspective.

The Vocation Lectures

The Vocation Lectures PDF Author: Max Weber
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1603840729
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Originally published separately, Weber's Science as a Vocation and Politics as a Vocation stand as the classic formulations of his positions on two related subjects that go to the heart of his thought: the nature and status of science and its claims to authority; and the nature and status of political claims and the ultimate justification for such claims. Together in this volume, these newly translated lectures offer an ideal point of entry into Weber's central project: understanding how, as Weber put it, "in the West alone there have appeared cultural manifestations [that seem to] go in the direction of universal significance and validity.

Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures

Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures PDF Author: Max Weber
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681373890
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
A new translation of two celebrated lectures on politics, academia, and the disenchantment of the world. The German sociologist Max Weber is one of the most venturesome, stimulating, and influential theorists of the modern condition. Among his most significant works are the so-called vocation lectures, published shortly after the end of World War I and delivered at the invitation of a group of student activists. The question the students asked Weber to address was simple and haunting: In a modern world characterized by the division of labor, economic expansion, and unrelenting change, was it still possible to consider an academic or political career as a genuine calling? In response Weber offered his famous diagnosis of “the disenchantment of the world,” along with a challenging account of the place of morality in the classroom and in research. In his second lecture he introduced the notion of political charisma, assigning it a central role in the modern state, even as he recognized that politics is more than anything “a slow and difficult drilling of holes into hard boards.” Damion Searls’s new translation brings out the power and nuance of these celebrated lectures. Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon’s introduction describes their historical and biographical background, reception, and influence. Weber’s effort to rethink the idea of a public calling at the start of the tumultuous twentieth century is revealed to be as timely and stirring as ever.

Politics As a Vocation

Politics As a Vocation PDF Author: Max 1864-1920 Weber
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
ISBN: 9781014408709
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Politics as a Vocation

Politics as a Vocation PDF Author: Tom McClean
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351350919
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
German sociologist Max Weber’s 1919 lecture Politics as a Vocation is widely regarded as a masterpiece of political theory and sociology. Its central strength lies in Weber’s deployment of masterful interpretative skills to power his discussion of modern politics. Interpretation involves understanding both the meaning of evidence and the meaning of terms – questioning definitions, clarifying terms and processes, and supplying good, clear definitions of the author’s own. As a sociologist accustomed to working with historical evidence, Weber based his own work on precisely these skills, solidly backed up by analytical acuity. Politics as a Vocation, written in a Germany shocked by its crippling defeat in World War I, saw Weber turn his eye to an examination of how the modern nation state emerged, and the different ways in which it can be run – interpreting and defining the different types of rule that are possible. It is testament to Weber’s interpretative skills that Politics is famous above all in sociological circles for its clear definition of a state as an institution that claims “the monopoly of legitimate physical violence” in a given territory.

Visions of Vocation

Visions of Vocation PDF Author: Steven Garber
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830896260
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Vocation is more than a job. It is our relationships and responsibilities woven into the work of God. In following our calling to seek the welfare of our world, we find that it flourishes and so do we. Garber offers here a book for parents, artists, students, public servants and businesspeople—for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.

Every Waking Hour

Every Waking Hour PDF Author: Benjamin T. Quinn
Publisher: Lexham Press
ISBN: 1577996798
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
Pastors and chaplains aren't the only ones in ministry--every Christian is called to be a minister through his or her work in the world. But in order to fully understand what this entails, we must look to the Bible and develop a fuller understanding of work as any way we interact with God's creation. Doing so may transform our view of how Sunday morning impacts our work-a-day lives--and vice versa. In Every Waking Hour, Benjamin Quinn and Walter R. Strickland develop a biblically and theologically rich view of work, vocation, and how we may glorify God through everything we do.

Make Your Job a Calling

Make Your Job a Calling PDF Author: Bryan J. Dik
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599473801
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Do you ever feel sick of your job? Do you ever envy those people who seem to positively love what they do? While those people head off to work with a sense of joy and purpose, for the rest of us trudging back to the office on Monday morning or to the factory for the graveyard shift or to the job site on a hundred-degree day can be an exercise in soul crushing desperation. “If only we could change jobs,” we tell ourselves, “that would make it better.” But we don’t have the right education . . . or we don’t have enough experience . . . or the economy isn’t right . . . or we can’t afford the risk right now. So we keep going back to the same old unsatisfying jobs. The wonderful truth, though, is that almost any kind of occupation can offer any one of us a sense of calling. Regardless of where we are in our careers, we can all find joy and meaning in the work we do, from the construction zone flagger who keeps his crew safe to the corporate executive who believes that her company’s products will change the world. In Make Your Job a Calling authors Bryan J. Dik and Ryan D. Duffy explore this powerful idea and help the reader navigate the many challenges—both internal and external—that may arise along the pathway to a sense of calling at work. Over the course of four sections, the authors define the idea of calling, review cutting-edge research on the subject, provide practical guidelines for discerning a calling at all stages of work and life, and explore what calling will look like as workplace norms continue to evolve. They also take pains to present a realistic view of the subject by unpacking the perils and challenges of pursuing one’s higher purpose, especially in an uncertain economy. The lessons presented will resound with anyone in any line of work and will show how the power of calling can beneficially shape individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

Max Weber's Complete Writings on Academic and Political Vocations

Max Weber's Complete Writings on Academic and Political Vocations PDF Author: Max Weber
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 0875865496
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Annotation This is the first edition in any language of all of Max Weber's writings on academic and political vocations. The translation is new and liberally annotated, including a look at Weber's personality and what it was that made him such a phenomenon. Max Weber made many significant interpretations of both academic and political vocations in his two lectures on Science as a Vocation (Wissenschaft als Beruf, 1917) and Politics as a Vocation (Politik als Beruf) 1919), as well as in a series of newspaper articles including those written between 1908 and 1920. Since these writings are of more than historical interest, there was a need to bring them all together in a single volume. Newly translated and annotated, this collection comprises both lectures plus 32 articles which Weber wrote on academia. Most of these have not been translated before. In the Introduction, Prof. John Dreijmanis relates the academic and political vocations to each other conceptually, showing that there is considerable overlap and some convergence: the need for passion, an inward calling, as well as career insecurity both vocations. Dreijmanis then examines the person of Weber and provides a new view of him, in part through the lens of Carl C. Jung's theory of psychological types as further developed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). As an extravert with a powerful thinking function and intellect, he was driven to take an interest in events outside himself and to speak his mind. Coming after a long line of introverted German philosophers, he was a phenomenon. The new translations, by Gordon C. Wells, are more faithful to Weber's style of expression, and they correct an accumulation of errors of previous translations in the oft-translated essays on Politics and Science. Contains Glossary, Bibliography, Names Index, Subject Index.