Wednesday 13 August 2014

Every Good Endeavour Review

Every Good Endeavour Connecting Your Work to God's Plan For the World by Timothy Keller,(pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church) and Katherine Leary Alsdorf (founder and former executive director of Redeemer’s Center for Faith & Work) is a book which seeks to do exactly what the title indicates. It's a book which attempts to take different aspects of practical theology; Christian ethics, contemporary culture and the link between traditional theological texts and today's society and combine them into a book focused on one area of our lives, in this case work. It also aims to transmit the gospel to people who might not be Christians who happen to pick up the book.

The book is split into three main sections: God's Plan for Work, Our Problems with Work and The Gospel and Work and these are placed between a clear introduction and epilogue. Within each section are three or four separate chapters addressing different yet inter-connected aspects of the theme. Some of these chapters, and indeed sections are stronger than others. The final section is stronger than the preceding ones perhaps because this is the one which contains most practical application.

The more theological section on Our Problems with Work is at points a more problematic read. This is, in part, because of the difference in style which can be seen in some of the writing. This second section of the book has the feel of a set of lecture or sermon notes which are slotted in here, but which have not been specifically produced for this purpose. It is also less nuanced than other parts of the book which seek to take a more complex approach to both theology and contemporary society.

Is it worth reading?

Yes, because if you want to start thinking about how faith and work relate to each other and about the ethics around our attitudes to work how that shapes our education system it provides a lot of helpful material. It also goes back to the early reformers, particularly Calvin and Luther, and reflects on their writings. In doing so one might argue that it seeks to restate what the 'Protestant Ethic' and indeed the 'Spirit of Capitalism' should look like for us today, as Christians in the digital age.

It is also worth reading because Keller and the Redeemer brand, (because that what the book clearly identifies it is in its description - although it seeks to remove the language of the marketplace from the church), provide an interesting insight into a particular type of evangelical church which is emerging which is both similar to and distinct from the more reformed and conservative churches which have largely dominated the evangelical right. The similarities come in the their use of Augustine, Luther and Calvin as the main theological influences and their understanding of sin and the fall. These are most clearly reflected in the second part of the book. Yet in the third part they make it clear they have no time for those who have sought to engage in fundamentalism and culture wars and seek to isolate themselves into a Christian ghetto to give protection from the polluting influence of the world. Rather in this part of the book they have more in common with the more theologically radical progressive evangelicals.
Below is a You Tube clip of a lecture Alsdorf has given explaining Redeemer and their approach.

 

Can it easily be applied?

On one level yes. The principals within the book about how to engage in a more holistic and Christian approach to work can be understood and applied. For example the importance of taking a Sabbath, (which is something Charlotte Norton has recently blogged about very articulately), is well discussed and theoretically easy to apply.

There is, however, only limited practical advice given on what application may look like and whilst seeking to be an inclusive book most of the examples focus on industries like finance. This is unsurprising bearing in mind Redeemer's Manhattan base and the recognition that this is one of the sectors which many young professionals find themselves working in. Whilst appearing a drawback this is not necessarily a problem. What it encourages the reader to do is either individually or more helpfully working with others in similar occupations is to work through what being a Christian in their specific industry and context would look like.

Are there any shortcomings with this book?  

A few, some of which were things I found niggles and some were more fundamental.

The first niggle I had was with the front cover and the acknowledgement of authorship. This book was by Timothy Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf who assisted him with the book. It may be to reflect different levels of contribution that Alsdorf's name will be smaller but the size of font with her name was tiny. This is a problem for me because as somebody who has read reports such as Guest, Sharma and Song's report on Gender and CareerProgression in Theology and Religious Studies and Maggi Dawn's post on "There are no women on my theology bookshelf" I understand the importance of female role models and the visibility of women's involvement in work such as this.

The second niggle I had was with some of the language. It was a book which was clearly seeking to be accessible and in large part was but words such as sin and grace were used with an implicit understanding that the reader would understand what these meant. Whilst I don't think these parts of the text should have been dumbed down and acknowledging the majority of the reader would be Christian, American and familiar with these terms, I still think that there were assumptions about biblical literacy being made which are problematic.

One big problem I had with the book was the way in which the gospel and Christianity as narratives were put forward as different to other philosophical and economic approaches without any acknowledgement of how Christianity and our interpretation of the bible is shaped in part by our understandings of those other stories and approaches. This was particularly relevant to a discussion of The Gospel and Other Worldviews in chapter nine, A New Story for Work which sought to position the gospel and faith as something unique and isolated which had one interpretation. Reading this book it was clear that there was an interplay going on between Functionalist sociological understandings of the world and broadly reformed evangelical theological understandings of The Word. Now, don't get me wrong I am not saying these interpretations are wrong but I am saying they are particular understandings and readings. To say there is one Christian reading and approach is I think, on one level, problematic.

Related to this problem was the subtext of some of the examples used in the first part of the book which were seeking to underline and promote a particular reading of Genesis and thus to feed in to non-related debates going on within and beyond the church. Pages 87-88 underlined the basic sub-text being promoted when it said, "Genesis 3 shows how sin warps every part of our nature, every aspect of human living. It begins by distorting the areas of sex, gender, love and marriage."

The most problematic thing for me though was how the very real problems people face of not being able to find work, or finding unfulfilling work or having to work several jobs for low wages to make ends meet were not given practical discussion. They were referred to and it was, rightly, acknowledged that they are one product of us living in a sinful world. However, there was no practical advice to given to help those living in this reality.

For me it would have been useful if there had been additional material on our role as consumers, purchasing goods and services and the impact we have upon other people's work. A chapter on a Christian approach to economics and a discussion of our approaches to taxation and wages may also have been one positive area which could have been looked at.

Final conclusions

Whilst I have underlined some of the things which for me were short comings in this book I did think it was a useful book. I doubt anybody could read it without being challenged in some way and that is always a good thing. It also provides some sound thinking and is clearly based on an excellent understanding of theology, sociology, philosophy and cultural studies. It is a book which seeks to develop practical discipleship and to motivate people to go back to the gospel in developing a holistic approach to life, and work within that. Most of the book is written in a clear, contemporary style which is easy and enjoyable to read. Thus, I would recommend it to anybody BUT I would say if you expect it to provide you with easy answers you may be disappointed.
ISBN: 978-1-444-70260-6

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