Again, I have just published a third book on vocation: Working for Our Neighbor: A Lutheran Primer on Vocation, Economics, and Ordinary Life
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I thought I should give you the publisher’s description and some of the blurbs to give you a better idea of what it goes into.
From Amazon.com:
The Protestant Reformation was a catalyst for social mobility, universal education, and the rise of modern market economies. In his classic study The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber showed the connections between Protestantism and the new economics. Weber, however, focused on the Calvinists and Puritans and speculated that economic success became a way of proving one’s election. He thus posited, with little evidence, a spiritual self-interest that was parallel to economic self-interest, distorting both Protestantism and capitalism. Weber neglected the specifically Lutheran doctrine of vocation, which emphasizes the spiritual and moral value of economic activity.
According to Luther, God himself is hidden in vocation, as he providentially works through ordinary human beings to care for his creation. In their work—not only in the economy, but also in family, church, and community—Christians live out their faith in love and service to their neighbors.
For Lutherans, the doctrine of vocation is nothing less than the theology of the Christian life. In its social impact, vocation gave a theological basis for the division of labor, social equality, and individual freedom. In this elucidating work, Gene Edward Veith connects vocation to justification, good works, and Christian freedom—defining how the Lutheran contribution to economics can transfigure ordinary life, and work, with the powerful presence of God.
“Ask not what you can do for God, but what God does through you for your neighbor. This statement captures the Lutheran ethos that Veith vividly unveils in this book. What is the Christian life? Is it a self-denying asceticism, an enlightened self-service, or a self-justifying work ethic? What about faith in Christ and love for others? Do I need to be a minister to be holy or can I live a holy life in my everyday callings? If you want to ponder these questions of faith and life in light of Scripture and Lutheran spirituality, read this primer.”
Scott A. Ashmon
Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education
Concordia University Irvine
“Few scholars exceed Gene Veith’s knack for taking complex historical and theological ideas and making them digestible. With deft diligence and without careless reductionism, Veith applies a key notion of the Reformation to our twenty-first century situation. Not only did Martin Luther return the gospel of Jesus Christ to the center of the church’s proclamation, but he and the Reformers also redefined the ethical dimensions of family, business, and education. Veith articulates compellingly in this volume how the Christian faith flows outwardly into the world through channels of God’s love. Learning about and living out one’s vocation will provide a radical alternative to the tempting twins of both the rugged individualism and the irresponsible communitarianIsm that pervade contemporary Western culture.”
John Nunes
President-elect
Concordia College–New York
“Luther’s doctrine of vocation is arguably the most germane doctrine for our era in which an all-embracing narcissism is threatening to obliterate the created order. The doctrine of vocation endeavors to turn the human mind away from the self and toward the neighbor. In this little volume, Gene Veith outlines this doctrine with brilliant clarity. It should be compulsory reading in all Christian communities, Lutheran or otherwise, because it defines humanity’s divine assignment in the secular realm: as masks of the hidden God, you are to serve others with love in everything you do.”
Uwe Siemon-Netto
Founder League of Faithful Masks
I appreciate those kind words, including those of Paul McCain, who wrote the foreword.
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