A lot of rich, thoughtful books on faith, work, and economics have been published this year. Here’s five you’ll want to add to your summer reading list.
Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good
Steve Garber
Visions of Vocation is full of deep reflections on two central questions:
- How can we know the world with all its brokenness and still love it?
- Knowing what we know about the brokenness in the world, what will we do?
Garber combines philosophical and theological reflection with practical vignettes of people living out their vocations as they wrestle with these questions. It’s an effective combination of theory and practice, of knowing and doing.
Visions is a profound statement of why Christians need to be engaged in the life of the world. If you’re looking to find deeper meaning in your work, community, or family life, read this book.
The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs
Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert
This book aims to help Christians navigate the twin dangers of idleness and idolatry in regards to work. Traeger and Gilbert write,
Our hope is that this book will help some Christians to see a little more clearly why God has given them work to do and how they might be thinking about work in sinful ways. We hope this book will help some Christians forsake both idolatry and idleness in favor of a more biblical way of thinking about work as service to King Jesus.
A number of everyday workplace issues are covered, from work/life balance to dealing with difficult coworkers to discovering what it means to be a Christian boss.
Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing
Peter Greer and Chris Horst
“Entrepreneurship is the engine of human flourishing” is the argument Greer and Horst make in this succinct little book that makes the connection between “vibrant economies and flourishing communities.” They write,
It is uncommon to find an everyday businessperson at a justice conference…That doesn’t make sense. If we are truly committed to justice and poverty eradication, then we simply must learn to celebrate the powerful impact of “normal” everyday businessmen and businesswomen. This book will show you why.
The book closes with a chapter on how faith impacts entrepreneurship and flourishing, too.
Urban Apologetics: Why the Gospel Is Good News for the City
Christopher W. Brooks
“Maybe the most beautiful aspect of the work that I am doing is the fact that it is taking place in the heart of urban Detroit,” writes Christopher Brooks, senior pastor of Evangel Ministries and Campus Dean at Moody Theological Seminary.
Brooks shared some insights about his work at last year’s Acton Institute Annual Dinner, saying,
God wants to heal these cities, and his medication for healing is heavy doses of things like free economies, virtue, and those things that make for prosperity and self-government.
While Urban Apologetics focuses largely on evangelism and the gospel, it is not divorced from the everyday realities of work and economics. Apologetics, vocation, and economics come together most readily in the chapter on social justice, but the book as a whole is a summation of Brooks’ insight as he and his church seek to provide urban Detroit with a glimpse of the kingdom in every area of life.
The Hyperlinked Life: Live with Wisdom in an Age of Information Overload
Jun Young & David Kinnaman
Are you overwhelmed with information overload in the workplace? In this installment of Barna Group’s FRAMES series, Young and Kinnaman provide a practical, theological, and brief primer on strategies for thinking biblically about digital consumption and the impact it has on faith and behavior. Perfect for anyone seeking to navigate our brave new technological world in a way that honors Christ.
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