Religion

Introduction

In October of 1905, Albert Schweitzer wrote letters to several of his teachers, relatives, and friends informing them that he had decided to abandon his present employment in order to begin medical studies that would equip him to become a doctor in central Africa. Schweitzer was almost thirty years old and already the dean of a seminary and a successful scholar, organist, and organ builder. Even though he had a highly regarded job that suited his abili- ties well, he was restless. He longed to do work that would allow him to pur- sue his highest ideals.

Today many young people experience a similar yearning for work that is meaningful and significant. So do millions of somewhat older people who feel that their current employment is not satisfying in this regard. Moreover, many of these find, as Schweitzer did, that their search to discover the work that is right for them stretches over an extended period of struggle and un- certainty.

This anthology is designed for people such as these, people who want to lead lives that matter. The readings gathered here, which include Schweit- zer's own story of his decision to become a "jungle doctor," have been se- lected because they can help us to think with greater clarity and depth about just what that might mean. Although most readers may not aspire to join Schweitzer as winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, in creating this book we have assumed that they do want to "make a difference" in the world, as our own students and friends put it. While creating this book, we have been

tnrroducrion

. the bdief that many people today desire,_ as we ourselves do, to guided by ·ngful but also 51gmficant, lives that manifest b

d r chat are meam oth leJ "-es_ . and social responsibility. per.;onal mteg nty

What We Do and Who We Are

In the Uni ted States, fundamental questions about ourselves and our pur- Po" in life occur to many of us most forcefully when we are wondering what work we should do co earn a living. As many foreign observers have noticed. our.; is a very practical and pragmatic culture. When we make new acquaintances, we ask chem first about what they do, not about what they belie><, or where they live, or what and whom they love. Those questions come later. if at all. Similarly, most of us are impatient to answer this same qu estion for ourselves. Our eagerness to act can even prevent us from slow. ing down long enough co think carefully about what work would truly be best for ourselves and ochers.

Schweitzer's derision, which surprised and confounded many of his friends and family members, was by contrast the result of long and careful reflection. In his lace teens he had decided that he would pursue the arts and scholarly subjects he loved until he was thirty and then he would devote the remainder of his life co humanitarian concerns. Few of us have laid down such daborate life plans. And few of us make such radical alterations in our cartel> by choice rather than by necessity. Even so, we are like Schweitzer in this respect we sense that what we do to earn a living somehow emerges from who we really are, and we also sense that what we do to earn a li vi ng will somehow shape who we 1vill be. A person's thinking about what to do to earn a living, in other words, is entangled with her identity and how she understands iL A person's choice of livelihood is framed by a sense of who be s and whachehop I b . . . wh es o ecome as a particular human bemg. (That JS , en onehos achoic . h th . 1 em t e matter, as many people do not · but more on 1s arer.) '

that =g Lilts Thar Matter seeks to address a pragmatic society in a way s senousregard lo 1 . . a se, ofq . r u ti mate concerns. Thus it invites readers mto ues11ons and d .

sues about h k ocuments that attend both to immediate practical JS· . w atwor we ·IJd ,cal issu es abo

1 .d . WJ O and to underlying religious and philosoph-

u , enury and ranged in a wa th purpose. More important, the readings are ar- kind Y at seeks to s of conce Th overcome the division between these two h rns. e essays d d ere explore fund . ' poems, stories, and biographies inclu e

•mental JSsues f h . 0 uman li fe and its meaning and pur-

Introduction

pose, to be sure. But they are clustered in chapters that respond directly to the practical questions that American s who find themselves at important turning points in their lives most frequently ask.

In a sense, then, this book both yields to and resists Americans' obses- sion with work. Because jobs are such a focus of concern for people in our culture, the anthology considers the other vitally important parts of lives that matter - love and friendship, family and sexuality, leisure and play, study and worship - primarily in connection to paid employment. Yet many of the readings also challenge this way of chinking, leading us to won- der whether our jobs really are or should be such important indicators of meaning and significance. We will find ourselves asking again and again, "Do our jobs really define who we are? And if so, should they?"

Multiple Traditions

This book seeks to overcome another division as well. Popular media in the United States often feature events and stories that pit the religious against the secular, the pious and devout against the skeptical and irreverent. Much that happens in our common life warrants the prominence of these depic- tions of so-called culture wars. Nevertheless, over the course of Western his- tory worldly and religious life, the secular and the sacred, have often in- formed, enriched , deepened , and constructively corrected one another. In this anthology, the readings are arranged in a way that will encourage that same dynamic of mutual correction and enrichment to happen here. Sources from both of these streams arc intermingled, because wisdom and understanding from both arc essential if we hope to explore together what it means to lead lives that matter.

All of the great religious traditions contain abundant wisdom about questions of who we are and what we should do. In this anthology, however, the religious authors and texts that are included come primarily, though not exclusively, from the Christian tradition. In part, the prominence of Christian texts reflects the editors' own home tradition, as well as the limited range of their knowledge. In addition, this imbalance reflects the face that Leading Lives That Maller is a companion volume to another book focused entirely on the hi story of Christian thinking about vocation, William Placher's Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom about Vocation. The editors of both volumes hope that together these books will expand the treasury of wisdom on which contemporary readers can draw. We did not aim to e..'{haust this topic, and we hope that other authors will offer further resources from other traditions.

Introduction

. srriction applies to th_e secular writi~gs. Though secular .A similar .re. nit includes muluple and sometimes discordant C'U].

curt, Jike Chnsna 0

Y•. most of the authors and texts in this v 1

"10<!,, h dre ecnon, ou01, , ofthoug tan h he philosopher Jeffrey Stout has recently ide 'fi oe-

J cow art . nti ed long loose Y racy" Perhaps the dommant voice among th " cl" ' nofDemoc · crn rhe -u-a .'t'. 0

5 that define our common life, the voice of Democracy em illJ

secular vote< f ality self-determination, and self-reliance As pl,,. . -o•, . .. . •~ sizes no . . tradition and the democratic trad1t1on sometirn ._ the Chnsaan . cs c ... sb.

:~rher rimes, however, they have informed one another so closely tha.t th art hard to distinguish from each other._ In any event, we should !>I,

ey t nity in these frequently contentious ttmes to engage peopl of every oppor u h . ' religious conviction with those who do_ not s _are such convtction in tit pursuit of common questions, ideas, and ideals like those that define what i means to lead a life that matters.

Indeed, in one particular case, many Christians share with many secular advocates of Democracy some deep s~spicions _abo ut one of the basic inqtJi. rics that informs this anthology. The utle question that governs Chapte r I Cl Part II, '"Are Some Lives More Significant Than Others?" makes people from both traditions profoundly uneasy, though for different reasons. Many Christians, along with those of other faiths, insist that all human beings art equally valued and valuable in the eyes of God. Protestant Christians hm fervently maintained for centuries that, when we stand before God, we art nor judged on the basis of our deeds but on the basis of our faith. So whom ,;!,? ever to pass judgment upon the significance of the life of another? In~ meanwhile, spokespersons for secular democratic traditions insist that sina ~II arc equal in nature and /or before the law, and since freely chosen paths in hfe are equally "valid" so long as they do not inte r fere with someone else's

~f!ife, we had best refrain from judgmen t. Judgment, on this recko ning, ~. truh idiously hierarchical, based on an implicit ranking of values from the igertothe lowerJ d f I ...

lives _b · u gment o re attve s1gmficance suggests that some \: h etter~ than others, and its practice is therefore undemocratic.

hOY.'cve: 1 .t:r

0

1 r not we are comfortable admitting that we make judgments.

• 1 tsc ear that al fi ds some people more admi~0st everyo~e ~oes this every day; each of us tn ers: We hope that Ltadin . le, and their lives more choice-worthy, than oth· aniculate about th . d g Lives That Marter will help all of us to become more iudgments to be • e JU gments we already make while we also allow LJ1(.5C whom \Ve discu:;;~rrogated by a di verse group of readings and by those with Well rnean that both e;h Even so, part of th e liveliness of this an thology ma)' as Well. Will someti:est e major traditions that inform it and o ther tradi tions

question the book's own impuls;s and assumptions,

Jntroductiori

. about Lives Tha t Matter Fostering Conversattons

. . that infuse American cul t ure, insofar as Th e pragmat ism and impati ence . h s ustained for seve ral decades a these have shaped readers' expec tauodns, ave t say· Readers b eware! This f h I b k An so we mus . la rge market for sel - e p oo s . . read answers or prefabricated exer- is not a self-help book that prov~des I d y ders to k n o w their own minds cises. In stead , the book is designe ~o ~a rea h o have gone before them. To better by encount ering the minds o o\ 1c~s w I n life 's way, as we travel in read this book is to bec~me_ anoth:r h~!:1~f: ie~nd them records of their the company of o ther p1lgnms ,fv oh Moreover as those w h o have read

. neys or the journeys o ot ers. • I d ~;:Jc:~:s Canterbury Tales know. pilgrims like to ta lk while they t~a~e : Rea - ing this book is therefore more like joining a conversation tha~ it t.~tke !f- ing to a paid consultant or therapist. W e hope tha t t he boo , w1 .b~na readers to join an ongoing conversation t hat reache~ ba~k to the Bi e an ancient Greece. But beyond this, we also hope th at It w ill e~gender actual conversations wi th others who s hare the conce rns and questions each p er- son brings to these read ings. Such conversations with others differe nt from ourselves not only help us to refine our opinions ; they a lso help us to e n- large our moral imaginations. As we will learn especia lly in Chapter 7 of Part II, o ur ability to imagine more life-giving future s for ourselves and for the world can sometimes result from an h o nest re sourcefuln ess in interpre t- ing o ur own pas ts.

Happ ily, there is reason to think that readers arc ready a nd eage r to e n- ter the conversation. Leading Lives That Matter has arisen in a context within wh ich multiple conversations and concerns arc already a live. One group of conversations and conce rns belongs to the young men and women in co l- lege s or un ivers iti es and graduate o r pro fess ion al schools who are strug- gling with questions of wh at they s hould do lO earn a living and wha t that may mean for who they will beco me . Those w ho have b een fortunate eno ugh to atten d instil urions of higher ed ucation have long had the oppo r- tunity and burden o f deciding w hat work to pursu e - a privilege d eni ed to most peo ple in the past and o ne s till den ied to m any in t h e U.S. and around the world. O ur syste m of higher ed ucation, however, does no t cons iste ntly en.courage stu dents to exp lore the kinds of ba sic qu estion s this anthology ra ises. The vast majorit y o f those w ho atten d coll eges an d unive rsities d o so ~rimarily in order to pre pare themse lves for jobs of o n e kind or anothe r, not m or~er to gain greater cla r ity abo ut who they a rc o r simply to discover what 1s true abo ut the worlds of nature a nd c ulture. To be s ure, m os t p ost - seco ndary schools do requ ire s tudents to ta ke .. libe ral ed u ca tion " co urses, in

Int roduct ion

. . of meaning, sig nificance, value, justice, identity, and which bJS1C issue~ d d explored, of course. However, these qucsti PUr.

Id be raise an . h ons ar, no..~ shoo . . 1 .00 from rhe main concern t at led most st d r· ·d red m 1s0 au u enrs 0 f,en cons1 e . h first place: preparing for a job. Because of th · d· d llege int e 1 ts J\'j roa[(en co _ d by educators, many students come to belie h · . ·h ·ch is srrucrure . 1 · . ve t at

s1on," _I _ or philosophy or history or re 1g1on are just acad . ur,t5U1hterarure f h .. ·1 h .. I" d em,,

co utments co be ~gotten out o t e way untl t e. rea an more Practi- :~bjrc~ can be studied. We hope that the readings gathered here Will hd stude nts and recent graduates to retrieve the _importance of questions ab:ut meaning and purpose and to include reflection on these questions in their thinking about what they hope to do and become.

Another group of conversations and c~ncerns is taking place Wi thin and about higher education itself, as well as m the many fields of endeavor to which it is related. At colleges and universities , administrators and facul- ties are asking how ~values," religious convictions, and ideals of service should influence education and scholarship. Meanwhile, at some hospitals, doctors and medical students are gathering to discuss literature and philoso- phy, in an effort to clarify and deepen their sense of the important human issuesa1 stake in their profession. Those in other profession s are engaging in ~imilar.cxploration~. In many cases, an effort ro envision the work they do m rdat.ton 10 the kinds of philosophical and religious questions addressed by the readings gathered in this book is at the heart of th e ir concern.

~eyond these arenas, a larger public comprised of serious -minded citi-:ru .15 deeply inrerested in thinking together about how best to spend their -esm orderio bring about a better world both for themselves an d for oth-

;rs· !°\emergence of large numbers of reading groups that focus on chal- _dengmg ftera~ure similar lo the texts gathered in th is anthology provides ev- 1 ence o a widespread h fi what we sh Id d unger or engagement with th e issues surrounding exploring thou . 0 an.d who we should be . Even popular culture has been

ese issues in recent Th Lord of tJu Rings films ma well y~ars, e enormo~s pop~larity ~f th: 1hree amass audience ih t. [ arise from the films capacity to VJSualize for a synthesis ofboih a is ungry for images of strenu ous and significant lives tion, and hop• Th pagan and Christian stori es about vocation dutv devo-

... e recent s ·d • ,1• popularte!evision serie /'k pi ernian movies address similar themes. as do

Though it is far toos e I

le Buffy th e Vampire Slayer and Smallvillc. amount 1 • ar Y to kno h h 0 st raws in th . d" w w et er these several developmenlS ~any 0~ the social, mat:/'1

1 n or a recon figuration of public discourse,

em \\111 pr b b ia' econom· d .. number of O a .ly remain in lace ic. an even medical forces dn~ng

maladies that are j for the foreseeable future. The rising at eaS t to some degree c ul turally induced and

Introduction

. co le (depression. eating disorders, that seem in creasi ngly to affhct youn~ p ~r s h ave come to feel a loss of alcoholi sm) will co ntinue. to sugges t t ~t ml. I 1on·11 continue to res h ape the

d Global cap ita 1sm w1 d sig nificance an purpose. ·d h between rich a nd poor, and sa - wo rkforce, dis pl ace people , w1 .en t e ~:t hoices. The stresses that two- die some with the burden of 1mp~ss1 ~o~ds p lace upon individuals, c hil- career ma r riages and single -pare~t ouse . A d finally the s till-popular dren, and institutions will doubt e~s rc~am . ." e fulfill~ent will continue equation between material prosperuy a~ . genum . wo rst forms of in- to be challenged by the experience of m11!1ons, as will the

di vid ualism.

How Can I Use This Book to Grea;~st Advantage?

This anthology seeks to make easily available to readers of all kinds some of the best thinking and writing that human beings have done over the centu- ries about the very question s that most trouble hu~a~ beings wh en they wonder about how to lead lives of substance and s ignifica n ce. But not a ll readers are the same. Fo r some, chc most important question is, "What makes a life significa nt?" For others , the most urgent matter befo~e them is, "Must my paid employment define who I am?" St.ill others are trying t? so.r t out all of the conflicting a d vice they arc receiving. For them , the quest1o n 1s, HTo whom shall I listen?" For increasing numbers of middle-class people to- day, the m os t perplexing question is, "Is a balanced life possible and pre fera- ble to a life focused primarily upon work?"

Part II of this anthology is organized aro und exactly these quest ions and several more that arc closely related to them. Those readers who come to the book wit h a particular, well-defined question are welcome to t urn directly to the chapter in Part II that addresses just that question. Unders tanding and learning from the readings in any one cha pter do not depend in any major way upon an unders tanding of the readings in another one. Often, however, th e introductions to readings in one chapter will refer to readings in another cha pter. \Ve hope that this will lead rea ders to move in different directi on s away from their first q uest ion to consider ot her issues, which will in all like- lihood set th eir initial question in a h e lp ful. wider contexl.

Other readers will prefer to ponder the "big picture" before they attend to the more immediate a nd practica l m atters explored in Part II. These read- ers should turn to Part I. which add resses a broad and somewhat abstract question: "How Should I Think a nd Ta lk about My Life?" This section of the book addresses a concern that is actually quite urgent: many of us today

lnrrod uction

have difficulty thinking about how to lead lives that matter because we are not able to express ourselves ve ry clearly about what really matters to us. Part I end eavors to help readers make better judgments about their own lives a nd the lives o f ot hers by exploring three distin ct "vocabularies " that peop le have used ove r th e centuries to spea k about lives that are choice- worthy and adm irable. Most of us draw primarily upon one of these three vocabularies today, though many of us find creative ways to combine them. The key terms or ideas in each of the three vocabularies suggest what each of them will emphasize: authenticity and individualism; virtue and charac- ter; vocation and the di vine.

Whether readers are initially drawn to Questions or to Vocabularies, however, we encourage all of them first to read the Prologue . This section be- gi ns, as does eac h chapter, with a brief essay by the editors that sets forth the key issues readers shou ld consider. In th e Prologue, this essay is followed by two wonde rful readings th at explore, in ways that we shall revisit throughout the book, the und erl ying ques tion of what makes a life significant.

The Ep ilogue consists of only one reading , but it is arguably the most importa nt one in th e book: The Dea rh of Ivan Ilych, by Leo Tolstoy. Because this short novel ra ises in a vivid and complete way all of the questions that th e a ntho logy addresses, it can serve readers in at least two ways. First, it can provide a rich opportunity to exercise some of th e capacities for judg- m ent that other readings in the anthology should strengthen and sharpen. And second, it can be itself a rich source of wisdo m about what it means to lead a life that matters. Many readers ,viii want to read this novel more than o nce, even perh aps at both the begin ning and the conclusion o f their en- gagem en t with th e other trea sures in this anthology. Engaging tex ts like The Dearh of Ivan 1/ych in this way will be at one and the same time an exercise in liberal learning and an exercise in vocational preparation. Moreover, as we noted at the ou tset, the anthology as a whole is based upon the assumption that one ca nnot th in k very well or very long about pract ical matters without sustained attention to the fundamental question s that have preoccupied hu- man beings from the time when they first began to think and talk together. We canno t pond er our livelihoods without at one and the sa me tim e think- ing about th e shap e, th e meaning, and the significance of o ur entire lives. We can no t decide what we sho uld do with out considering who we are and what we mig ht become.