I recently led a discussion on “How to Worry Well” at my church weekend away. In preparing for our discussions I came across this wonderfully insightful comment from Oliver O’Donovan, who includes some in-depth reflection on the nature of modern anxiety in his book “Finding and Seeking.” He notes that much modern anxiety is conceived in the passionate throws of anticipation: an elicit union of “breaking-news” and consequentialism (the practice of justifying our present actions on the basis of their anticipated consequences). Why are our first impressions of events so important to us...? It is because we feel our identities are at stake... Every culture concerns itself with news-bringing in one form or another; most other cultures have been more relaxed about it. Perhaps simply because we have the power to communicate news quickly and widely, we are on edge about it, afraid that the world will change behind our backs if we are not [up-to-date] with a thousand dissociated facts that do not concern us directly. It is a measure of our metaphysical insecurity, which is the constant driver in the modern urge for mastery...”
In contrast, FAITH in God's past action gives us firm ground from which to launch our moral decision making, and HOPE gives us the confidence to stay the course, despite the disorienting fog of the immediate future lying before us. Faith and Hope free us from the relentless need to anticipate the where the "times" are heading next, and instead focus our attention upon the next step of love that lies immediately at our feet. For more about Oliver O'Donovan, check out this Oliver O'Donovan Facebook Page.
0 Comments
Today I had Oliver O'Donovan's latest book, Entering Into Rest, turn up on my doorstep. Eagerly flicking through the index I discovered he'd given extended consideration to the significance of human work. O'Donovan gives particular attention to challenging the view that only "enduring work" can be considered good. The select quotes below are from p112-114. O'Donovan sets the scene for the discussion by recounting the way in which both Teilhard and Volf have framed their theology of human work: " 'With each one of our works we labour,' Teilhard wrote, 'to build the pleroma; that is to say, we bring to Christ a little fulfilment.' (1).... Miroslav Volf, in what was perhaps the last echo of the mid-century tradition, put the same challenge more bluntly. Only 'cumulative work,' he insisted, could 'have intrinsic value and gain ultimate significance.' (2) " O'Donovan evocatively draws out the implications of this perspective on human work: ...we might be tempted to conclude that our work would be effective in proportion to the durability of its products. Making the terracotta army would be better than making gingerbread men for the children's party, planting a tree better than cleaning a room, manufacturing the plastic bags that hang around forever caught in the branches of trees better than making biodegradable ones. However O'Donovan warns that..... "...we should hesitate before reaching such a conclusion, not only from a scruple about ephemeral work, but because we know the deeds valued most have often been those whose future effects the actor could know nothing about - such as the hours spent wrestling with a piece of writing no publisher may ever touch." O'Donovan goes on to conclude....
"So we must not allow ourselves to be forked on the suppositious alternative of a work that is precious because permanent, and a work that is worthless because its effects are impermanent. Work is made precious as impermanent, since God has taken time and its works to himself, restoring them through and from their passing away, not "cumulatively" as a process, but by an act that bears testimony to himself as creator and redeemer, which is resurrection." 1. Teilhard, Le Milieu Divin, pp. 54, 56. 2. Miroslav Volf, Work in the Spirit (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2ooi pp. 9o-91. Buy Entering Into Rest - it looks fascinating! In the section following that outlined above, O'Donovan goes on to address the difference between work and leisure, and work and self-realisation. For more about Oliver O'Donovan, check out this Oliver O'Donovan Facebook Page. "A sense of duty imprisons you" says NY artist Jenny Holzer. |
Evangelical Theology of Work | |
File Size: | 361 kb |
File Type: |
This paper was originally posted at:
https://graceinvader.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/volf-odonovan-an-evangelical-theology-of-work/
https://graceinvader.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/volf-odonovan-an-evangelical-theology-of-work/
Author
I'm Steve. Anglican Presbyter, Practical Theology Enthusiast, and Graphic Design Hobbyist in Sydney, Australia
Archives
December 2019
November 2019
February 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
March 2018
June 2017
January 2017
August 2016
May 2016
March 2016
May 2014
September 2011
Categories
All
Anxiety
Authenticity
Collect
Duty
Ethics
Faith
Hope
Jacob
Love
Luke 11
Luke 18
Matthew 26
Miroslav Volf
Oliver O'Donovan
Prayer
Psalm 119
Reading
Scripture
Scriptures
Tim Winton
Wills And Affections
Work
Wrestle