"Storied Work: The Eschatology Turn and the Meaning of Work"

by Saucy, Mark (2017)

Abstract

This essay engages the conversation about the significance and meaning of work in the present time by framing it within the Bible’s new covenant meta-narrative. Over- or underrealizing the new covenant’s phases, which are centered in the two comings of Christ, has bearing on how one will see the purpose of work in culture-making in the present time. The article will sketch the Bible’s plot line for work beginning with the cultural mandate for Adam, then move to the compromised state of this mandate evident from Noah to the present. Finally, Israel’s prophets will chart the course through the NT documents for a possibility of our work's impact on culture that will ultimately dominate the nations of the world when the Lord's anointed Servant-Prince returns in glory. This narrative calls for us to be sober in our claims for the cultural impact of our work in the present time but also not to see our work now as merely futile background for "spiritual" victories while we wait for heaven.

Citation

Share

How to contribute.