Fourth in a series. Israel’s exile in Babel (a.k.a. Babylon) is the next step in the big biblical epic of Babel that we can draw on to rethink our daily work. It’s become fashionable in the evangelical quarters of the faith and work movement to talk about exile these days. In fact, it’s been so fashionable for so long that I…
I have mentioned many times, probably too many times, the seeming Mount-Everest-height stack of books published over the last 7-10 years relating to the integration of faith and work. One could justifiably argue we do not need any more books, but rather to read the books already written and apply their principles to our work. But for good or ill,…
Third in a series. You can’t understand Genesis 12 without Genesis 11. Unfortunately, the biblical story of redemption has been cut off from the biblical story of Babel, and there is no clearer sign of this than the fact that we frequently read Genesis 12 (the foundational text for the story of redemption) without placing it within the indispensable context…
Deeply and faithfully loving and caring for oneself is enough – it’s not just a pause between activities, writes a seminary professor and psychologist. This was first published in Faith & Leadership. By Chanequa Walker-Barnes I couldn’t move, it seemed. I was hungry and needed a shower, but I couldn’t force myself to get out of bed. It was as if somehow…
Note: This book will be launched tonight with a special event at the Chicago Faith at Work Summit. Many subjects can move a conversation in an unintended direction as the result of preconceived notions or baggage associated with the material. One topic that is often difficult to discuss for this reason is capitalism. I am pleased that Kenneth Barnes has…
Second in a series. God’s response to the rebellion of Babel is stunning. And it reveals much about our daily work – and the social nature we were made to work in. Surveying the disastrous wrong turn of humanity at Babel, here is what God says (Genesis 11:6): If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do…
If there’s any Bible portion that gets overused in the faith and work movement more than Genesis 1-2, it might be 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “ For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” It even rears its head outside the movement in political debates. It seems right, then, that the…
This the latest in a series of articles sharing insights from a joint curricular development initiative of the Oikonomia Network, the Theology of Work Project and three ON schools (Asbury, Assemblies of God and Western). It is reprinted from the Oikonomia Network Newsletter. Only two professors we talked with were teaching Old Testament courses as such, but discussion of OT texts and…
Part one of a series. The story of Babel reveals many of the patterns of work in the fallen world. It reveals them in the Babel account of Genesis 11, which is what you probably thought of when I first mentioned “the story of Babel.” But the story of Babel is much bigger than that, for “Babel” is also “Babylon,”…
Eschatology isn’t the only theological issue the faith and work movement struggles with, although it is probably the thorniest one. Another issue has been soteriology. How big is the gospel? But I think increased theological awareness in the church has removed a lot of what used to be real obstacles here. And the tensions that remain are, I think, actually tensions…
The Green Room 