Working

"… a tool-chest for anyone who wishes to think through the relation between God's calling and our daily tasks." —Vocation

“Working is a treasure of 75 selections from sources as diverse as Aristotle, Xenophon, and the Bible, to Longfellow, Marx, Michael Novak and Josef Pieper. Meilaender deserves our gratitude for bringing together such a workman-like short library of poetry, fiction, and thoughtfulness. Anyone who works or thinks about work will find something here to nourish his soul.” —Pro Ecclesia

“[A] fascinating, instructive and entertaining anthology on the subject. It is a worthy resource for all congregational libraries.” —Church and Synagogue Libraries

“...shining gems of reflection and narrative. It is both a thoughtful and accessible compilation.” —Religious Studies Review

“This volume provides a fine resource for serious reflection—in the context of our Western moral heritage—on how the working life might become a more integral part of the good life.” —Religion and Liberty

“This anthology as a whole will promote important reflections on the ‘ethical’ meaning of work and is highly recommended for undergraduate, theological, and public libraries. A very valuable resource for undergraduate courses in ethics.” —Choice Magazine

“Meilaender is a writer of elegance and power; a thinker of subtlety and grace. He reminds us of the compelling and continuing force of Scriptural and theological understandings of work. Most importantly, in a time when work dominates so much of our lives—or busyness does, at any rate—he asks us, through his commentary and selections, to ponder the meaning and role of work in our lives and to assess work within a wider framework of God’s creation and purpose for us.” —Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, The University of Chicago, and author of Augustine and the Limits of Politics

“Who could have put together a quilt of passages as diverse and imaginatively patterned as the selections Gilbert Meilaender has chosen—from Marx to Mark Twain—for this anthology on working? W. H. Auden perhaps. Meilaender has also favored us with a wise and elegantly written introduction to a volume that should enrich personal reflection and stimulate classroom and public discussion.” —William F. May, Cary M. Maguire Professor of Ethics, Southern Methodist University