The Theology of Vocation

In the Reformed tradition, the idea of vocation plays a central role in understanding and assessing the shape a Christian life is to take. This course will be devoted to understanding this idea. It will begin with a review of the basic western attitudes towards work, as expressed in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Bruno, Marx, and Freud. Against this background, the course will then focus on the development of the protestant theology of vocation. The third part will be devoted to various recent critiques of the Reformed idea of vocation.