Workview

  • I was challenged by some questions posed in an article published in the December 2008 edition of eg by The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. "In the aftermath of the credit crunch, Mark Greene wonders what lessons we will have to learn about transforming our society and the organisations we engage with."

  • "This website offers insights and resources to help you prepare to represent Christ where you work."

  • "The purpose of education is to equip the next generation to govern well over this physical, material world."

    Christian Overman

  • Christian Overman’s excellent Friday blog, Worldview Matters, reminded me of an article by David Hill Scott, “A Vision of Veritas: What Christian Scholarship Can Learn from the Puritan's "Technology" of Integrating Truth.” The title might discourage you from reading further, but David Scott has some very worthwhile ideas to consider. I hope the exerpt below will stimulate you to read the whole thing

    “Mark Noll has said that the scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is none. Perhaps an even greater scandal is that a widespread flowering of the Christian mind was well under way in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but has since been largely forgotten. Evangelicals often pine over the synthetic intellectual genius of Jonathan Edwards, but—beyond his puritan faith and his background in the Enlightenment—few evangelicals have any idea of the intellectual foundations on which his comprehensive approach to theology, philosophy and science rested. We have so neglected our minds that we have lost our own philosophical history.

    In light of the current emaciation of Christian thought, is it really surprising that the modern academy views the believing scholar as a freak specimen? How can Christian scholarship be taken seriously when it presents itself as just a lens, without an identifiable paradigm. The Christian perspective is not perceived as an intellectually serious alternative because it lacks an organizing framework, a comprehensive methodology. As a result, it is dismissed as a merely distorting bias.

    While Christian scholars have made headway in the academy, there still is no such thing as a discipline of Christian scholarship. Granted, there has been much discussion about the history of anti-religious discrimination within the university. Resources have even been developed to educate Christians in academia concerning their academic freedom in the classroom. Increasing numbers of scholars are being emboldened to speak out about their faith. In a few fields, such as philosophy, Christian scholars have even begun to earn a hearing by relating the perspective of their faith to certain specific points of their respective disciplines. Most of these efforts, however, tend to be apologetic in character. It is one thing to show that the post-modern mind is intellectually untenable. It is yet another thing to produce is a viable alternative. So far Christian scholarship have failed in this crucial constructive task.

    There is no identifiable body of thought which articulates in an intellectual and practical way the Christian view of the integrality of all of knowledge, all of learning and all of life. Think of the next lecture on which you are developing or the article you are in the middle of writing. In that project, what methodology are you using to articulate the linkage between your personal devotion and that piece of work? Furthermore, how would explain the relationship of your current specialized focus of scholarship to that of your colleagues on the other side of campus and to the larger enterprise of truth as a whole? These are the crucial unanswered questions facing Christians scholars today. While this conference has offered a some general guidelines and a few philosophical perspectives, the point is that there is no paradigm or methodology of Christian scholarship.

    The Puritans, our intellectual ancestors, on the other hand, were galvanized by the intellectual vision of Veritas: all the arts and sciences—revealed theology included—synthesized into a comprehensive view of truth based on "encyclopedia," the circle of knowledge with the intended result being "eupraxia," the practice of right living. This vision was implemented in their scholarship through a methodology of meta-disciplinary intellectual integration which they called Technologia. Christian scholarship today lacks the cosmic scope of the Puritan mind, because it does not have an intellectual technology of synthesis and application. The thrust of this presentation is that Christian scholarship needs to visualize and begin to develop a similar vision and method for the integration of all knowledge. In order for the faith informed perspective to gain and maintain a significant place in the academy, we believing scholars need to reinvent a technology of intellectual integration. In order to illustrate what such a philosophical framework might look like, the first portion of this paper examine the historical case study of the Puritan mind. It will explain the Puritan method of technologia, recount the story of the historical movement of "Integrationism" that produced it, and will illustrate the Veritas vision under which this school of thought was originally embodied in American higher education. The second half will draw from this case study suggested parameters for the development of a similar intellectual infrastructure for Christian scholarship today.”

  • “What does “Christian” mean on Monday morning? Some answers from hundreds of videos, book chapters, and articles.”

  • As Christians, how do we define the Great Commission? This task, given by the risen, victorious Christ to his disciples, is correctly understood to be the definitive mission statement for the Church. As such, rightly understanding the Great Commission is of utmost importance for every Christian. Yet there are significant differences on how it is understood. How, for example, do we know when it has been accomplished? Christians don't measure the completion of this task in the same way, and the differences aren't trivial.

  • Preparing students for everyday work is one of the practical reasons for education. Parents and students alike are interested in knowing whether what is taught will help get a "good job." If a teacher hasn't thought carefully about the meaning and purpose of work, it is unlikely that they will be able to equip the next generation for the jobs of the future. If teachers don’t communicate a Christ-centered view of work, their students will be inadequately prepared for the good work God has prepared for them (Ephesians 2:10). The required skills will undoubtedly change, so it is essential to consider basic principles of work from God's perspective.

    An article by Robert Alexander, February 25, 2016 in The Gospel Coalition addresses some of these essential truths.

  • “The greatest tool God has given you to impact the world: your work.”

  • Exploring or learning about anything in God’s world without considering God’s revelation of His plans and purposes for His creation is foolishness. But of course, you know that the Bible, God’s word, is important. Obviously, anything that claims to be Christ-centered must be Bible-based or it is merely the figment of our imagination. But what exactly is the role of the Bible in education? Why do many students struggle to see the relevance of the Bible? Why do many teachers find transformational interactions with their students so much easier outside the classroom, rather than in the midst of studying the details of what God has made, where Romans 1:19-20 says His power and nature are clearly seen?

  • supporting-christians-at-work-mark-greeneI rarely remember exactly when an idea is planted in my mind even if it eventually produces huge shifts in my thinking, but I remember reading the “red book”---Supporting Christians at Work by Mark Greene. I’d been thinking about how education related to the to God’s Word and plan–I was a teacher, after all. However, I really hadn’t thought about all the other vocations that God also wants to use to honor Him and serve others. This book and a subsequent visit to the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity began a paradigm shift that has huge implications for the educator who has the responsibility/opportunity to introduce their pupils to so many vocations and their place in the big picture of God’s kingdom building work using ordinary people made new by Christ’s redeeming and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling work.

    I’ve been reading and thinking about the importance of our “workview”—our perspective of one of the most significant portions of our lives—so was excited to hear about a new six-session DVD resource for small groups to inspire and equip Christians to make a difference on their Frontlines.

    To get a taste of the content, check out

  • "…exists to help the next generation know truth, pursue goodness and create beauty, and to equip those who teach and train them—parents, youth workers, pastors and educators—to do the same"

  • The GOD factor:

    How is God present in this activity? In this place?

    What does God really think about this activity?

    What joy might God receive through my involvement in this activity?

  • I am consciously aware of God’s presence everywhere in my workplace. Psalm 139:8, 46:1

    I realize God knows all the thoughts of myself and my co-workers, and is fully aware of the life, needs and desires of each individual connected with my work. Luke 8:17; 12:6-7; Psalm 7:9

    I think about the fact that God wants a personal relationship with me at work, and He wants a relationship with all of my co-workers and customers, too. 2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4

  • McKay AlexanderIn 1878, when Scotsman Alexander Mackay arrived in what is now Uganda to serve as a missionary, he first set up a blacksmith forge among a tribe ruled by King Mutesa. Villagers gathered around this stranger who worked with his hands, puzzled because everyone “knew” that work was for women. At that time, men in Uganda never worked with their hands. They raided other villages to capture slaves, selling them to outsiders. Yet here was this foreign man at work forging farming tools.

  • child labor 934900 640
    suvajit / Pixabay

    As servants of the Lord, we are called to work for His kingdom. At our core, we seek to follow scripture’s command to love God above all, and our neighbors as ourselves. Within this body of believers, we have each been given different gifts. As a result, we live out these commands in a host of ways such as: sharing Christ’s word, working to ease suffering caused by sin, and exercising a dominion that develops and conserves the Lord’s creation. Within this diversity of callings, there is unity as each one of us seeks to shine Christ’s light in this world.

    Christian education has long held an important role in equipping citizens of Christ’s kingdom for this work. Opportunities for such learning occur across many educational levels (preschool to doctoral) and subjects (theology, humanities, sciences, and professional callings). However, the continuum of Christian education is not without gaps, noticeably in associate’s-level/two-year technical degrees.

  • “The faith and work movement as you’ve never thought about it before”

  • Many things have changed since 1721. Some things, like men's white powdered wigs and women's corsets, we can live without. But some things have gone out of fashion that we really need to recover.

    1721 was the year Jonathan Edwards was graduated from the Collegiate School at New Haven, known today as Yale University.[2] But before Edwards and his classmates could exit Yale, whether to work as pastors or merchants, they were all tested in a particular field of study that has since disappeared from virtually every school in America: the practical art of God-centered work.

  • I contend that not seeing this as the purpose for education is why so many pastors don't believe in Christian schools, why we lost the "culture war" in this country, and why so many young people are leaving the church. We lost the very meaning and purpose for living—and thus our purpose for learning.

  • "Work was one of the first and primary blessings that God built into this world, and into our very design."

  • “A Biblical perspective on work used by workplace Christians, pastors, scholars”

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"The philosophy in the classroom of this generation is the philosophy of government in the next."

Abraham Lincoln

 

 

 

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