The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work (aftermath 2)

Posted by Paul | Filed under work

OK, still on Darrell Cosden’s book and a couple of points where I would come back for further discussion…

First, the start of the book looks at the implicit ‘heirarchy of callings’ in the church — based on whose work is assumed to have eternal value. The underlying assumption is that such a heirarchy is wrong. I don’t want to disagree with that, but perhaps the assumption could have been explored more. After all, maybe it is the case that some vocations have a greater eternal value & we just have to live with that. Or perhaps we have to accept that the eternal value of my work is indirect, in that I support those who have a more obvious impact. Not a big issue, but one that perhaps should have been given some space.

Second is a slight lack of satisfaction with the exegesis in the book. Obviously the problem Cosden has is that no New Testament writers are aiming to deal with this issue in particular, so you don’t have nice explicit passages. I felt like the book got a little unclear in finding a way through — in trying to take a normal systematic approach it’s possible to get lost in the detailed discussion.

An interesting contrast is an article by Douglas Moo on ‘New Testament Eschatology and the Environment‘. This covers a not unrelated issue (is there continuity between nature now and the new creation) and has a similar problem. However, it seems to me that Moo takes a more helpful approach. He starts head-on, with the observation that there is no clear statement on the issue, but aims to survey the underlying theology.

I think Cosden is trying for more — building a clear case for the inclusion of our work in new creation — but ends up with a less robust result.

Not that the discussions aren’t helpful — for instance the parts on Romans 8 and Revelation 21/22 are great. But it was not completely satisfying.

Maybe I was hoping for more than is possible! Or need to sit and think about it more…

Tags: , , ,

Permalink | September 3rd, 2007

2 Responses to “The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work (aftermath 2)”

  1. jonnyjpg Says:
    jonnyjpg September 5th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

    >”After all, maybe it is the case that some vocations have a greater eternal value & we just have to live with that. Or perhaps we have to accept that the eternal value of my work is indirect, in that I support those who have a more obvious impact.”

    i’m not convined that talking in terms of vocations is the answer – but perhaps we can think in temrs of the way one carries out there work/vocation.

    Paul talks bout Love being the eternal action. And the pastor can do this as much as the engineer, and the artist can forget to do this as much as the evangelist.

    That does leave us with what heppens to what we produce, make, create. And I know other commentor have talked about how the scriptures start in a Garden and end in a city [although it is a city that 'decends from heaven']

    Are any vocations eternal? We just don’t know the nature of work in the age to come, but we do have clue about the continuity of creation. Surely evangelists are going to have to take up gardening? [slightly tongue in cheek there]

    does the author cover this
    - or did i miss that in your review

  2. Paul Says:
    Paul September 5th, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    Hi Jonny, Thanks for the thoughts. Cosden is more interested in whether what we do now has lasting impact as part of the continuity of creation, rather than whether vocations themselves are eternal.

    So, by ‘eternal value’, I guess I meant that the products last not the vocations themselves.

Leave a Reply