The Fabric of This World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work by Lee Hardy. Eerdmans. 231 pages. 1990
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The author, now Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Calvin College, based this book on a course he and others taught at Calvin College titled “Christian Perspectives on Work and Vocation”. He writes that the book, readings from which were on the syllabus for one of my seminary courses, might be read as an attempt to help revitalize the concept of work as vocation – or calling – at least within the professing Christian community. He states that his primary intent is “to flesh out the concept of vocation, to delineate its historical background, to mark out its place in the array of possible attitudes towards the meaning of work in human life, to illuminate its full religious content, and to explore its practical implications, both personal and social.”
The author begins the book with a history of the philosophy of work, looking the teaching of Aristotle, Plato, the philosophers of the Renaissance, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. He then looks at vocation, calling and career choice. The author then gives us a historical overview of the development of American management theory from Frederick Taylor’s scientific management, the Hawthorne Experiment, Chris Argyris, Frederick Herzberg, Douglas McGregor, Peter Drucker on responsible work, to Robert Levering on workplace quality. After looking at recent (the book was written in 1990) advances in work design, he states that in all situations the aim of the appropriate design of human work remains the same: making a job the kind of place where a vocation can be pursued.
I really enjoyed reading this book, but can understand that not all will appreciate the lengthy historical overviews included.

Below are 15 of my favorite quotes from the book:

• Our work can count as a vocation only if it occurs in the kind of social structures that make it a genuine service to others through the responsible use of our talents and abilities.
• Work itself, then, is a divine vocation.
• By working we affirm our uniquely human position as God’s representatives on this earth, as cultivators and stewards of the good gifts of his creation, which are destined for the benefit of all.
• All work, provided it contributes to the common good, possesses an inherent religious dignity, no matter how mean or low it may be in outward appearance. For the divine intent for human life is that we be employed in mutual service.
• Human life is to be lived out in a society of mutual service and support, each member contributing according to his specific talents and receiving according to his need.
• One need not have a paid occupation in order to have a vocation. Indeed, all of us have, at any one time, a number of vocations-and only one of them might be pursued as a paid occupation.
• In making a career choice, we ought to take seriously the doctrine of divine providence: God himself gives us whatever legitimate abilities, concerns, and interests we in fact possess. These are his gifts, and for that very reason they can serve as indicators of his will for our lives.
• As Christians we are obliged to evaluate a job by its actual social content-the way in which it benefits, or harms, others.
• An occupation must be first considered in terms of how it provides a fitting place for the exercise of one’s gifts in the service of others.
• The most important things we do in life may not be those for which we are paid.
• Work and vocation are not the same thing. Work may be a part of my vocation, but it is not the whole of my vocation; work may be one thing that I am called to do, but it is not the only thing I am called to do.
• Our work, then, is just one facet of our overall vocation, and it must be integrated with the other facets of our vocation if we are to hear and heed the full scope of God’s call within our lives.
• Work ought to be a social place so structured that it is possible for people to serve others through the free and responsible use of a significant range of their gifts, talents, and abilities.
• Work is a social place where we can employ our gifts in service to others. God calls us to work because he wants us to love our neighbors in a concrete way.
• Jobs ought to be designed so that we can in fact apply ourselves-our whole selves-to our calling.