Month: May 2019

Vocation series – Differences between Luther and Calvin

If both Martin Luther’s station-based model of vocation and John Calvin’s gift-based model have a high view of vocation (they emphasize the process of vocational discovery) and are based on the belief that God works in the world through our gifts, what is then their major differences? In the gift-based model, of which Calvin can be considered a forerunner, the dichotomy between the active and contemplative life is rejected in favor of a more holistic position. Therefore, it does not exist a separation between two kinds of life: ordinary and religious. This is so because Calvin departs from the Aristotelian/Thomistic …

Vocation series – The nature of the Christian calling

One important principle in the Reformed tradition of the Christian faith is the emphasis on the community in the development of a person’s vocation. Community is important because it helps people to flourish. Without a community, individuals will not be able to experience God’s purposes in their totality. The individual and his/her community are complementary. One needs the other. With this notion of community, the Reformed tradition has usually read the New Testament highlighting the organic character of the church, something which it serves as a framework for Reformed thinking about the nature of Christian calling and work in human …

Vocation series – Luther’s repositioning of the concept of vocation

His disaffection with the monastic ideal strongly shaped Martin Luther’s theology of vocation. What Luther’s view of vocation tries to overcome is the dichotomy of serving our neighbor versus serving God (a dichotomy that Aquinas seems to have borrowed from the Greeks). Luther tries to overcome the idea that serving the neighbor has nothing to do with God at all. For Luther, stations in life are a kind of social roles. They are structures in human life and institutions. Those stations have duties attached to them. For example, being a parent could be a life station, so I would have …

Vocation series – Impact of Greek philosophy on the Christian theology view of work

The Greeks’ attitude towards work in general terms was mainly negative. Because work seems to belong to the order of necessity, the Greeks associated it with animal nature. That is, work was understood in an instrumental sense where human beings had to work to live and satisfy their daily needs. This, in part, led the Greeks to overemphasize the contemplative life, a product of thinking and reflection, instead of labor work. Contemplative life, then, would be superior to the active life because it would allow human beings to achieve happiness and because it is precisely reason that distinguishes us from …