Overview

Lived Vocation is a collection of short reflective essays based on stories of contemporary work. Together these reflections offer a window into the struggle to find meaning at work today. These stories explore how we come to our work and jobs, the hardship and ""toil"" of our working lives, and the surprisingly small but powerful ways in which God may nonetheless be at work in these stories. Author Tim Snyder asks: What if vocation were less about being certain that you're following God's master plan for your life and more about noticing the presence of God as we tell our stories from everyday life? The book challenges congregational leaders to listen to the stories of actual Christians putting their faith into action. It offers ordinary Christians the assurance that they are not alone in their struggle to make sense of faith in everyday life. The book provides congregational leaders with an accessible window into the lives of ordinary Christians trying to put their faith into action at work. It helps such leaders empathize with the difficulties of integrating faith in everyday life today and inspires them to listen to and tell more stories of their own.

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9781506481340

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""Timothy Snyder's Lived Vocation challenges both religious professionals and those without any formal theological training to rethink our assumptions about what it means to work. By centering the real stories of everyday people, Snyder invites readers into a thoughtful and necessary reflection on our theological assumptions about vocation. In a time when the very idea of vocation is regularly debated, this work offers a grounded interlocutor who helps us collectively and prophetically reimagine one of our most fundamental practices."" --Rev. Dr. Timothy L. Adkins-Jones, assistant professor of homiletics, Union Theological Seminary, and senior pastor, Bethany Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey ""Not only does Snyder reenvision a theology of vocation that fits with our present ways of working; he gives life to a way of doing theology that involves listening to people's stories with openness and humility. I love the room Snyder leaves to say, 'I don't know.' I love his suggestion that theology needs to learn the art of improvisation. Lived Vocation inspires the reader to author their own narrative rather than submit to scripts imposed from the top down. A compelling and excellent read."" --Rev. Debbie Blue, pastor, House of Mercy, St. Paul, Minnesota, and author of Sensual Orthodoxy, Consider the Women, and From Stone to Living Word ""Snyder is a theological Studs Terkel. He has crafted a compelling interpretation of work that pays close attention to the promise and pain of work as well as to the people who do the work. The result is a beautiful interweaving of story and theology, testimony and tradition. A model of how theology is done in community, always connected to Christian life."" --David H. Jensen, academic dean and professor in the Clarence N. and Betty B. Frierson Distinguished Chair of Reformed Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and author of Responsive Labor: A Theology of Work ""Snyder's book is a testimony to the power of story to create lives of meaning. In and through this testimony he encourages the reader to focus on the 'how' and the 'why' of work more than the 'what,' and challenges the church (especially those of us whose work is that of doing theology) to move toward a descriptive theology that sees our individual and collective stories as the source material we need to see God's ongoing creative activity in the world."" --Rev. Dr. Mindy Makant, director, Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose, Lenoir-Rhyne University ""Alive with stories, Lived Vocation offers a rare glimpse into the beautifully complex lives of people in diverse forms of work. The stories are rich in detail and practical wisdom, based on interviews with farmers, teachers, merchants, health care givers, hairdressers, homemakers, and more. Snyder uncovers patterns and differences in human understandings and practices of work, and thus expands on Christian theologies of vocation. The book is a joy to read, and it will, as Snyder promises, change you."" --Dr. Mary Elizabeth Moore, dean emerita and professor emerita of theology and education, Boston University School of Theology ""Snyder shares the multifaceted lived experiences of real people at work, challenging our default understanding of the vocations of others. Meanwhile, he models how their witness unveiled for him the complexity of his own sense of vocation."" --Rev. Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones, director of the Lay School of Ministry for the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin; pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and author of The Word of the Cross in a World of Glory"

Timothy Snyder's Lived Vocation challenges both religious professionals and those without any formal theological training to rethink our assumptions about what it means to work. By centering the real stories of everyday people, Snyder invites readers into a thoughtful and necessary reflection on our theological assumptions about vocation. In a time when the very idea of vocation is regularly debated, this work offers a grounded interlocutor who helps us collectively and prophetically reimagine one of our most fundamental practices. --Rev. Dr. Timothy L. Adkins-Jones, assistant professor of homiletics, Union Theological Seminary, and senior pastor, Bethany Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey Not only does Snyder reenvision a theology of vocation that fits with our present ways of working; he gives life to a way of doing theology that involves listening to people's stories with openness and humility. I love the room Snyder leaves to say, 'I don't know.' I love his suggestion that theology needs to learn the art of improvisation. Lived Vocation inspires the reader to author their own narrative rather than submit to scripts imposed from the top down. A compelling and excellent read. --Rev. Debbie Blue, pastor, House of Mercy, St. Paul, Minnesota, and author of Sensual Orthodoxy, Consider the Women, and From Stone to Living Word Snyder is a theological Studs Terkel. He has crafted a compelling interpretation of work that pays close attention to the promise and pain of work as well as to the people who do the work. The result is a beautiful interweaving of story and theology, testimony and tradition. A model of how theology is done in community, always connected to Christian life. --David H. Jensen, academic dean and professor in the Clarence N. and Betty B. Frierson Distinguished Chair of Reformed Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and author of Responsive Labor: A Theology of Work Snyder's book is a testimony to the power of story to create lives of meaning. In and through this testimony he encourages the reader to focus on the 'how' and the 'why' of work more than the 'what,' and challenges the church (especially those of us whose work is that of doing theology) to move toward a descriptive theology that sees our individual and collective stories as the source material we need to see God's ongoing creative activity in the world. --Rev. Dr. Mindy Makant, director, Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose, Lenoir-Rhyne University Alive with stories, Lived Vocation offers a rare glimpse into the beautifully complex lives of people in diverse forms of work. The stories are rich in detail and practical wisdom, based on interviews with farmers, teachers, merchants, health care givers, hairdressers, homemakers, and more. Snyder uncovers patterns and differences in human understandings and practices of work, and thus expands on Christian theologies of vocation. The book is a joy to read, and it will, as Snyder promises, change you. --Dr. Mary Elizabeth Moore, dean emerita and professor emerita of theology and education, Boston University School of Theology Snyder shares the multifaceted lived experiences of real people at work, challenging our default understanding of the vocations of others. Meanwhile, he models how their witness unveiled for him the complexity of his own sense of vocation. --Rev. Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones, director of the Lay School of Ministry for the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin; pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and author of The Word of the Cross in a World of Glory

Author Information

Timothy K. Snyder is assistant professor of contemporary spirituality and associate dean of digital learning at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. As a practical theologian and a scholar of American religion, he researches and teaches about the changing landscape of religious practice in the US. His work has appeared in academic and popular publications such as CrossCurrents, The Other Journal, Ecclesial Practices, Religion Dispatches, and the Washington Post. As a Lutheran lay minister, he has served congregations in Texas, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.

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