Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'Lester DeKoster'

April 19, 2013

Before and Beyond the Common Good

I recently argued that although vocation is important, there is a certain something that goes before and beyond it. As Lester DeKoster puts it, “The meaning we seek has to be in work itself.” Continue Reading...
April 12, 2013

A Great Reversal of the Church & the Welfare State

Over at the IFWE blog, Elise Amyx takes a look at Brian Fikkert’s argument about the origins of the modern American welfare state: According to Fikkert, the evangelical church’s retreat from poverty alleviation between 1900 and 1930 encouraged the welfare state to grow to its size today. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2013

Rough Work Must Be Done

Joseph Sunde’s fine post today on vocation examines the dynamic between work and toil, the former corresponding to God’s creational ordinance and the latter referring to the corruption of that ordinance in light of the Fall into sin. Continue Reading...
March 14, 2013

5 TV Shows That Demonstrate the Importance of Ordinary Work

Television is often lamented for its propensity to exaggerate the mundane and the ordinary. Yet when it comes to something as routinely downplayed and unfairly pooh-poohed as our daily work—the “rat race,” the “grindstone,” yadda-yadda—I wonder if television’s over-the-top tendencies might be just what we need to reorient our thinking about the broader significance of our work. Continue Reading...
February 25, 2013

A World Without Work: Where Civilization Slowly Melts Away

In his latest column, Ross Douthat contemplates what a world without work might look like: Imagine, as 19th-century utopians often did, a society rich enough that fewer and fewer people need to work — a society where leisure becomes universally accessible, where part-time jobs replace the regimented workweek, and where living standards keep rising even though more people have left the work force altogether. Continue Reading...
December 18, 2012

Work as Service and Servant

I recently pondered what might come of the global economy if we were to to put God at the forefront of our motives and decision-making. The question came as a reaction to Tim Keller, whose recent book calls on Christians to challenge their views about work. Continue Reading...
August 29, 2012

Is Work the Meaning of Your Life?

The subtitle of Lester DeKoster’s little classic, Work: The Meaning of Your Life–A Christian Perspective, can be a bit off-putting. Is work really the meaning of your life? On the one hand, when we understand DeKoster’s definition of work, we might be a bit more amenable to the suggestion. Continue Reading...
December 15, 2011

Christians Must Occupy ‘All Streets’

Over at the Patheos Evangelical Portal, I write about “How Christians Ought to ‘Occupy’ Wall Street (and All Streets).” My argument is that the occupiers that ought to be foremost in the minds of religious leaders are those who “occupy” their pews on Sunday mornings and jobs in the world throughout the week. Continue Reading...
September 02, 2011

A Thought for Labor Day Weekend

“Work gives meaning to life: It is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others, and thus to God.” –Lester DeKoster, Work: The Meaning of Your Life—A Christian Perspective, 2d ed. Continue Reading...