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Box 30183 Portland, Oregon 97294 USA Website: www.tren.com E-mail: [email protected] Phone# 1-800-334-8736 ___________________________ ATTENTION CATALOGING LIBRARIANS TREN ID# Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) MARC Record # Digital Object Identification DOI # CALLING, KINGDOM, AND CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT: RECOVERING CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY FOR THE PUBLIC SQUARE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY FRANK BOSWELL JUNE 2011 ABSTRACT Calling, Kingdom, and Cultural Engagement: Recovering Christian Spirituality for the Public Square Frank Boswell Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2011 The purpose of this study was to examine how recovering an understanding of Christian calling could be key to de-compartmentalizing the lives of Christians and fostering a spirituality that connects faith with public life in today’s postmodern environment. After examining the current cultural context, the paper considered how and why the evangelical church finds itself so marginalized and explored the consequences of that disengagement. It also looked closely at the way alternative spiritualities are penetrating the business world with alarming effectiveness and then demonstrated the superiority of the biblical theology of creation and calling, particularly as it applies to work. A significant concern that emerged was the importance of distinguishing between one’s work and God’s building of his kingdom. Although not directly building God’s kingdom, people’s work can still be an indirect vehicle by serving as a witness to the goodness and beauty of the new creation. Another theme was the critical importance of the doctrine of creation and how transforming it is for people’s thinking and behavior in their work. The third discovery was how comprehensive and transformative the idea of calling can be for spiritual formation, particularly in surmounting the pervasive legalism plaguing dedicated Christians. It also provides a subtle but powerful way to interact meaningfully with non-believers. This approach allows conversations to begin with people’s subjective awareness of, curiosity about, and hunger for a sense of meaning and purpose to their lives. The material in this study points the way to a fresh and timely approach to pastoral ministry by wedding ancient spirituality to the contemporary work environment and providing Christians with an increasingly urgent need for a voice in the public square. Content Reader: Richard J. Mouw, PhD Words: 299 To Jeannie, the love of my life and my traveling companion, who made the journey possible and filled it with joy. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am forever indebted to the elders and congregation of Hunt Valley Church for their unfailing support and encouragement for this project. Thanks to my counselor, Ken Zeigler, for pressing me to undertake this work; to my staff for their never-ending patience and cheerful support in completing this project; to the countless members who prayed so faithfully for me and continue to look to God for great things; and most of all to my kids who always reminded me to “just finish it, Dad.” I have not only gained a second wind and fresh energy for the next season of ministry, but have been humbled in two ways, primarily: by the wonder of God’s world, and by the love and affection of my friends and family. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 PART ONE: THE CHALLENGE OF SPIRITUALITY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE Chapter 1. HOW THE POSTMODERN SHIFT CHANGES PERSPECTIVES ON WORK ............................................................................................................15 2. THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH’S CULTURAL DISENGAGEMENT .......37 3. ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITIES IN THE WORKPLACE ........................56 PART TWO: A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF CALLING 4. HISTORICAL THEMES AND UNDERSTANDINGS ...................................75 5. BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AND THEMES OF CALLING ..............................91 6. DISCERNMENT OF CALLING ...................................................................113 PART THREE: COMMUNICATING AND CONVEYING CALLING IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE 7. NEW VOCABULARY AND NEW BEHAVIOR IN THE WORKPLACE ..................................................................................130 8. CALLING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF CULTURE .....................150 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................168 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................174 v INTRODUCTION Vocation - It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.…The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological Abc For a pastor it was a refreshing privilege to be able to participate for a whole year in a business group in which people from various walks of life met monthly for learning and mutual support. Not many of them seemed to have any particular religious commitment or understanding, although a couple were quite outspoken in their frustration and resistance to “religion.” One day, the discussion somehow touched on a matter that I can no longer recall, but that prompted a recollection of Buechner’s well-known quote on vocation. When I off-handedly shared it with the group, time stood still. There was a sudden riveting of attention on what I had just said; in fact, people got out paper and pen as they asked me to repeat it for them – slowly – so they could write it down. It was startling to see the sudden fascination with the words of someone I know to be a religious writer and a concept that is more “religious” than they knew. This simple vignette provides a glimpse into the possibilities for Christianity in our post-Christian culture. Despite prevailing pessimism in the church and its continuing ineffectiveness in engaging culture, it is possible to broach subjects of faith in a secularized and pluralistic setting. People remain hungry for spiritual reality and respond to spiritual wisdom. The church can do more – much more – to foster a spirituality that connects faith with public life. When believers learn how to de-compartmentalize their lives, they will begin to see the content of their work and their life in the public square as vehicles for God’s Kingdom in addressing human need and providing for the common 1 2 good. In so doing, a more robust spirituality will emerge that can better withstand the problems and pressures of contemporary culture. The center of gravity and motivation for this spirituality will be a profound and joyful sense of living out of one’s unique personal calling before God. What was it that those business people found so startling and magnetic in Buechner’s words? In that moment, I believe, the curtain parted to reveal the spiritual longing that lurks within every person. People would love to know that their lives actually mean something and are not simply a purposeless exercise in order to sustain life for the weekend. This particular group met, supposedly, to learn how to run their businesses better, which usually simply means to run them more efficiently. Guest speakers would deliver (excellent) teaching on how organizations and markets work and what is necessary, for example, for a new start-up business to grow and thrive. The group members’ response to Buechner’s definition of calling, however, was indicative of something Christians (are supposed to) know, namely, that “man does not live by bread alone.” Material success in and of itself is empty and toilsome. Sadly, most Christians do not have any better notion of what Buechner’s words mean for their lives than do non-Christians. The idea of vocation or calling may be enormously attractive, but it is functionally absent in most believers’ day-to-day lives. The mention of the integration of faith and work turns most people’s minds to images of grafting religious practices or language or behavior onto their work lives. The world of work, or the public arena in general, is a world apart from people’s “spiritual” lives. Christians, by and large, do not have a vision for their jobs that goes beyond the categories they have inherited from a radically secularized culture, namely, to make 3 money for the weekend. If one is a Christian, then the job must be done in an ethical way. What is not understood is how to see their work as a spiritual vehicle for their love of God and neighbor and as a vital instrument for the Kingdom of God on earth. The vision for a “Christian” workplace does not often go beyond being a nice person and cleaning up their language and ethics. At most, they might entertain the radical idea of a lunchtime Bible study. The thought that their work in itself could be a critical ingredient in their spiritual walk is pretty much a foreign idea. The irony deepens further when one looks at how hungry