Original scientific paper
THE BIBLICAL AND SPIRITUAL-THEOLOGICAL ASPECT OF WORK
Jure Zečević
; Facultas Theologiae Catholicae Universitatis studiorum Zagrebiensis
Abstract
As a multiform and multidimensional reality, human work can be comprehensively grasped only by uniting the various aspects under which it is studied and observed. The author has no pretension of offering a new systematic theology of work here, but primarily explores theologically the Biblical and spiritual side of work and the relationship between work and prayer with a view to practical application. His ideas and phrasings certainly contribute to furthering the multidisciplinary analysis of human work in a complementary way. Work also has a universal and ecumenical character, which consists not so much of engaging ecumenical topics, as of the whole of work being attuned and impregnated with such an approach. This in turn makes the author’s consideration of the topic of work understandable and relevant outside the boundaries of the Judeo-Christian worldview.
Taking Biblical texts as his point of departure, the author shows that the Biblical attitude to work is to a great extent rooted in the concreteness of life which it sustains. Work itself is not a punishment or a consequence of “original sin,” but God’s will for man which had been made manifest even before the “fall” into sin and whose purpose is the sustenance of creation. Work therefore has an originally positive value and dignity founded in the will of the Creator.
Since all of creation, including man, is from Biblical perspective God’s “handiwork,” man’s work is a continuation of God’s creational and creative work. Thus in his work, “creation” and creativity, man is God’s image. If, according to the Bible, man was put into the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it,” then it is possible to read from that fact messages and lessons relevant for modern man as well.
On the basis of a whole range of New Testament quotations, the author shows that Christ, admittedly, on the one hand warns about excessive work and activism, but on the other hand takes a critical view of idleness, sloth, passivity and mere verbalism without zeal, work and efficacy. Of special importance is Jesus’ criterion for salvation at Last Judgment, which is not mere verbal confessing of the Lord’s name, but exclusively concrete, real action rooted in love and benevolence, i.e. work for the good of one’s neighbor. It becomes clear that what Jesus expects from man is a balance between physical activity and dedicating one’s full attention to God in peace and recollection. The author finally develops a thought about the role and place of work and prayer in man’s life. With regard to the classical maxim of St. Benedict, the co-patron saint of Europe: “Ora et labora” – “Pray and work,” the author points out that this principle has not only the complementary meaning of consecutive prayer and work (one after the other), but also the meaning of simultaneous prayer and work. This is expressed by the paraphrases “work while praying” and “pray while working,” something Christian spirituality accepted already in New Testament times when it taught “permanent prayer,” a doctrine which should be more present in and practiced by all Christian denominations in our
day as well.
Keywords
work; theology of work; spirituality of work; action; contemplation; permanent prayer
Hrčak ID:
22275
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2007.
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