what i believe

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« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W h a t W e S h o u ld D o an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

W illiam J ames A lbert Schweitzer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Homer

Frederick Buechner Will Campbell J ohn M ilton Dorothy Day C. S. Lewis

Robert Frost

H.G. Wells Abraham J oshua Heschel

W illiam W orosworth W endell Berry A nnie Dillard

W illiam Butler Y eats M artha Nussbaum

J ames Baldwin J ane A ooams M alcolm X

Willa Cather

Yevgeny Y evtushenko J ohn Steinbeck Thomas M erton

Dorothy L. S ayers Leo Tolstoy A ristotle

M argaret Piercy and many others

What We Should Do and Who We Should Be

M ark R. S c h w e h n and D o ro th v C . Bass

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« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W h a t W e S h o u ld D o an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

Leading Lives That Matter

W H AT WE SHOULD DO

AN D

WHO W E SHOULD BE

Edited by

Mark R. Schwchn 6 Dorothy C. Bass

Leading Lives That Matter

William B. Eerdmam Pubiishing Compaq Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge. U.K.

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« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld D o an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

V o ca t io n

LEE HARDY

"M ak ing the M atch : Career

C h o ice"

In this selection, Lee Hardy, who has taught

philosophy at Calvin College for more than

twenty years, recounts his own somewhat

prolonged struggle to find his vocation — not

only, as he explains at the outset, the "general"

calling to discipleship, but also the "particular"

calling "to do certain kinds of things." Hardy

changed occupations several times before he

discovered his calling as a philosopher. A life that

included several changes of occupation would

have been extremely rare during the period in

which the Protestant idea o f vocation was first

developed in the sixteenth century, but in our

own time, among relatively affluent people in

Western, postindustrial societies, the prospect of

"changing jobs three or four times" has become

increasingly expected. What counsel does Hardy

« Exit Leading Lives that Matter, What We Should Do and who We S hould be

provide to enable us to live through these times of

uncertainty and change with integrity and a sense

of overall purpose?

Hardy suggests that without an understanding

o f and belief in God's providential care for the

world, we are apt to think that our occupational

roles are mere accidents and that our task is

therefore to create a significant life from

circumstances that are arbitrary and without

intrinsic meaning. If, on the other hand, we

believe that our own lives are part of a divine plan

for the redemption and transformation of the

world, our task is to discover what exactly our

role is in that plan. Hardy elsewhere states that

there may not be only one thing we are called to

do. Is our challenge then to discern what our

occupational calling really is, or is it to accept and

interpret whatever we find ourselves doing to

earn a living as part of a larger, perhaps a divinely

ordained, plan?

From Lee Hardy, The Fabric o f This World (Grand Rapids:

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« Exit Leadin g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld D o and w h o We Sh o u ld be

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), pp. 80-93.

How exactly does the Christian concept o f work as a divine

calling bear upon the problem o f choosing a vocation?

Before w e answer this question, w e would do well to make

two preliminary observations, firs t, to those o f us who are

familiar with the language o f the Bible, there is something

odd about the phrase "choosing a vocation." For in the

New Testament the primary, if not exclusive, meaning of

the term "vocation" — or calling (klesis) — pertains to the

call o f the gospel, pure and simple. W e are called to

repentance and to faith (Acts 2:38); we are called into

fellowship with Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9); we are called out

o f the darkness and into the light (1 Pet. 2:9); w e are called

to be holy (1 Pet. 1:15, i Cor. 1:2); indeed, w e are called to

be saints (Rom. 1:7). Here w e are not being asked to

choose from a variety o f callings, to decide which one is

"right" for us. Rather, one call goes out to all — the call of

discipleship. For it is incumbent upon all Christians to

follow Christ, and, in so doing, to become the kind of

people God wants us to be. T he call o f the gospel is not to a

particular occupation, but to sainthood.

Yet w e are also as Christians commanded, and therefore

called, to love and serve our neighbors with the gifts that

God has given to us. Each one o f us, writes St. Peter,

"should use whatever gift he has received to serve others,

faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (1

Pet. 4:10). For each o f us has certain gifts, certain talents

and abilities. Those gifts w ere not given that w e might

heap up fame and fortune for ourselves. Rather, the

possession o f those gifts places an obligation upon us to

use them for the building up o f the community o f faith and

the human community at large (Rom. 12:4-21). We are

called, then, not only to be certain kinds o f persons, but

also to do certain kinds o f things.

Because o f this twofold character o f God's call, the

Puritans used to distinguish between the "general" and the

"particular" calling. The general calling is the call to be a

Christian, that is, to take on the virtues appropriate to

followers o f Christ, whatever one's station in life. St. Paul

refers to these virtues as the "fruit" o f the Spirit: love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). It is not for us

to pick and choose among these virtues. W hen it comes to

being a Christian, the virtues come in one package. They

are the fruition o f the work o f the Spirit in our lives.

The particular calling, on the other hand, is the call to a

« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld Do an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

specific occupation — an occupation to which not all

Christians are called. W ith respect to occupations within

the church, St. Paul refers to such particular callings as the

"gifts" o f the Spirit: to be an apostle, a prophet, a teacher, a

worker o f m iracles, an administrator, and the like (i Cor.

12:28-31). Not all are called to be apostles, prophets, or

teachers. For here the Spirit fits each mem ber o f the body

o f Christ differently for a specific work: w e are not

expected or able to do all things, but only the things which

God has enabled and called us to do. In the discharge of

our various particular callings we together bu ild up the

interdependent society o f the saints, which finds its u nity

in Christ, the head o f the church.

W ith the distinction betw een the general and the

particular calling in mind, talk about "vocational choice" —

in the sense o f choosing a particular occupation in which

we will exercise our gifts — is both biblically appropriate

and religiously important. A t certain junctures in our lives

we are confronted with the need to identify our gifts and

choose an occupation; and an occupation can provide us

with the concrete opportunity to em ploy our gifts in the

service o f our neighbor, as God com m anded us to do. This

holds not only for the occupations w ithin the church, but

in society as well. For although the Bible concentrates on

the spiritual gifts and their employment in the community

o f faith, the Christian tradition has generally extended the

Biblical principle, confessing that our "natural" gifts also

come from G od and are to be employed for the benefit o f

the wider hum an community.

A s a second prelim inary observation, lest w e move too

quickly from the question o f vocation to that o f paid

occupation, w e ought to remind ourselves that vocation is

the wider concept. One need not have a paid occupation in

order to have a vocation. Indeed all o f us have, at any one

tim e, a number o f vocations — and only one o f them might

be pursued as a paid occupation. To put it in Luther's

language, at any given tim e w e occupy a number of

stations: parent, child, citizen, parishioner, and so on.

Each one o f these stations entails a specific vocation. A s a

parent it is m y vocation to love, discipline, and care for my

children; as a child it is m y vocation to honor and obey my

parents; as a citizen it is m y vocation to participate in the

political process and abide b y the decisions and rulings of

the government; as a parishioner it is m y vocation to

exercise m y spiritual gifts for the edification o f the body o f

Christ. I may not have a paid occupation. But that doesn't

mean I have no calling in life.

Furtherm ore, it follows from the broad concept o f

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vocation that w e will always have a number o f vocations as

a result o f certain social relations and historical

circumstances which w e ourselves have not chosen. I, for

instance, w as born in a modern nation state known as the

United States o f A m erica in the mid-twentieth century o f

white Anglo-Saxon Protestant parentage. I did not ask or

choose to be so born. I ju st was. From the purely hum an

perspective it seems almost accidental that I should be

w ho I am. Could I not ju st as well have been a Chinese

w om an born during the M ing dynasty, or a Nicaraguan

campesino born during the glory days o f W illiam Walker?

W hy was I b o m o f this particular race and nationality,

w ith this particular body and temperament? It's hard to

say.

Existential philosophers o f atheist persuasion have

dwelt upon the apparently accidental nature o f our

identities, and refer to such as the brute "facticity" or

"thrownness" o f human existence. W e find ourselves

thrown into a particular situation with no apparent rhyme

or reason, and ou r task as hum an beings is to appropriate

our absurd circumstances into a m eaningful life project

which w e ourselves freely choose.

But from a theistic point o f view things look quite

different. That I am who I am is not a result o f chance, a

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mere cosm ic accident. Rather it is the result o f God's

intention. There is a reason w hy I am who I am, although

that reason m ay not be immediately apparent to me. I was

placed here for a purpose, and that purpose is one w hich I

am, in part, to discover, not invent. The facts about me are

indicators o f the divine intent for m y life, indicators which

are to be interpreted in the light o f God's revealed Word.

Perhaps, through no choice o f my own, I inherit a vast

fam ily fortune and suddenly find m yself w ealthy to the

point o f embarrassment. A n absurd event? No. A

providential one in which I am to discern God's will for the

shape and direction o f m y life. For the rich have at least

one divine vocation ju st b y virtue o f being rich, nam ely to

use their money to benefit others. M any things about me I

did not choose. But that does not mean that they are not

meaningful, o r that th ey have to be made meaningful

through other choices that I make.

Even a vocation as a paid occupation m ay not be a

m atter o f choice. In fact, for m ost people it never has been.

Down through the ages and in m any parts o f the w orld

today people did and do not have much choice in the kind

o f w ork they do. Their w ork w as and is sim ply imposed

upon them b y circumstances beyond their control: the

econom ic niche o f the fam ily into which they were born, or

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a combination o f financial necessity and the existing job

market. One is born a rice farmer or becomes a factory

worker because that is the only line o f w ork open at the

time. "Today w e consider it an imperfection o f society for

people to be fixed in their opportunities and jobs by class

and birth," management theorist Peter Drucker observes,

"where only yesterday this w as the natural and apparently

inescapable condition o f mankind." Freedom o f choice

regarding occupation is a relatively novel social

phenomenon. T hose o f us who are faced w ith such a choice

are, historically speaking, a v ery small minority indeed.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that guidelines for

the responsible choice o f an occupation have not been

thoroughly w orked out b y the Christian com m unity at

large. The fact that in m any parts o f Christendom today

w ork is still considered a secular matter, with little or no

connection to religion, h as not helped either.

But an initial attempt to formulate the principles o f

vocational choice was made by the Protestant reformers of

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. T hey w ere, on the

one hand, firm ly convinced that all o f life, even the life o f

everyday w ork, ought to be lived to the glory o f God. On

the other hand, they were aw are that in their tim e people

were being granted a greater measure o f freedom in the

choice o f occupations. The rigid structures o f medieval

society w ere crum bling around them and social life was

opening up, differentiating, and becoming m ore flexible.

Higher education was no longer the prerogative o f the

aristocracy alone. A s a direct result, an increasing number

o f people had access to an increasingly w ider range o f

occupational options. Thus it was given to them to work

out the principles o f vocational choice in the light o f the

W ord o f God.

H ow did they go about this? Taking their initial bearings

from the biblical witness together w ith a reflection upon

the hum an condition, th ey began w ith a definition o f w ork

that w ent something like this: w ork is the social place

w here people can exercise the gifts that G od has given

them in the service o f others. For God did not create us as

self-sufficient individuals. W e all have needs which we

alone cannot meet. By necessity we live in communities of

interdependent individuals. And w e are to make use o f

w hat talents w e do have to serve others as they, in turn,

serve us. Together w e build up society as a mutual support

system.

W ith this concept o f w ork, two practical items

im m ediately arise: the gifts God has given me, and the

exercise o f those gifts for the sake o f others. The first step

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« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld Do an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

then, in making a responsible choice o f vocation, is

ascertaining precisely which gifts G od has bestowed upon

me.

This in itself can be a difficult, painful, and protracted

process. We w ere not born w ith jo b descriptions taped to

our backs. O ur vocational aptitudes have to be discovered

in that process b y which w e come to know ourselves. But

the road to self-knowledge can be a long one, and often we

don't possess a clear idea o f exactly w hat our talents are at

the tim e w e m ust make vocational decisions. I f w e are not

sure w hat we are good at, it often pays to reflect upon our

past experience with precisely that question in mind. What

have I done, and done well? W hat kind o f skills did I make

use of? Plannin g, investigating, im plem enting, building,

repairing, creating, w riting, teaching, supervising? W hat

kind o f knowledge did I acquire? Knowledge about cars,

computers, finance, administration, food, flow ers, music,

mathematics? W hat kind o f objects did I w ork with?

Numbers, words, people, mechanical things, living things,

programs, institutions? In what capacity w as I relating to

others? A s a team member, team leader, lone ranger,

coach, manager, expert? Was I in a position w ith a lot of

freedom and responsibility, or w as I working in a highly

structured situation, where m y activity w as thoroughly

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specified? W ith an autobiographical grasp o f m y talents I

can begin, perhaps with som e additional guidance, to see

w hat kind o f w ork I could do well.

Beside reflecting on past experience, remainin g open to

future experience is equally important. For self-knowledge

is an open-ended process, a fact twentieth-century

theologian Karl Barth underscored in his Church

Dogmatics:

In relation to the personal presuppositions which

he him self brings, the action o f man m ust be one

which alw ays and in all directions is open, eager

to learn, capable o f modification, perpetually

ready, in obedience to the exclusively sovereign

command o f God, to allow itself to be orientated

afresh and in very different w ays from those

which might have seemed possible and necessary

on the basis o f man's own ideas o f his ability and

capacity. In the last analysis man has no more

knowledge o f him self than mastery over himself.

A gain and again he must let him self be shown

who he is. His faithfulness to himself, then,

[consists] only in constant attention and

openness to that which, as G od claims him, will

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Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld D o an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

last word. T h e validity o f the results depends upon how

well the test w as designed, how accurately and honestly

you w ere able to answer the questions, and how carefully

the results are interpreted. But a vocational test can at

least do this: it can com fort you b y confirming what you

already thought you knew about yourself, but weren't sure;

or it can challenge you b y suggesting occupational

possibilities you had never considered before.

A n honest lack o f self-knowledge is not the only problem

in m aking a career choice. The sins o f greed, pride, envy,

and fear can enter into the picture too, clouding our vision

o f w ho w e are and w hat w e w ere cut out to do. We might

have our eye on a certain career because o f the salary. We

approach our career as a m eans to untold riches and

material delights. O r perhaps w e find ourselves attracted

to a certain career because o f its social prestige. W e want

to prove to others — and perhaps to ourselves — that we

are m uch m ore talented and capable than either thought.

W e treat our prospective career as a w and to wave before

the crowds to command their respect, awe, and

admiration. O r perhaps w e are unhappy with the way God

has made us, and w e are envious o f another person's gifts

and accomplishments. In the course o f our prospective

career, w e resolve to becom e ju st like her and excel where

she has excelled. O ur career becom es the tool o f our

covetousness. O r w e begin b y being aim ed at certain

careers due to fam ily expectations about w hat we are going

to do w ith our lives, and w e are afraid to disappoint our

parents. W e live in fear o f what others w ould think o f us

were w e to strike out on ou r own. O ur career becomes a

place where w e hide from others, and especially ourselves.

On the basis o f these and sim ilarly errant m otives, w e can

convince ourselves that w e are qualified for certain

careers, while w hat led us to choose those careers had very

little to do w ith our particular gifts or the human needs

around us.

Perhaps I have been raised in a community where

intellectual prow ess is held in high esteem. Perhaps other

features o f m y upbringing led to an overwhelming

psychological need to be highly esteemed b y others. Or, I

m ay have been raised in a com m unity with a substantial

anti-intellectual bias and, due to other features o f my

upbringing, I have an overwhelming psychological need to

distinguish m yself over against that community, thereby

establishing m y social independence. A t any rate, on the

basis o f som e subterranean motive o f which I am not fully

aware, I find m yself quite naturally draw n in the direction

o f intellectual pursuits. W hen I get to college I might even

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« Exit Le a d in g L iv e s that Matter, W hat W e S h o u ld D o an d w h o W e S h o u ld be

boldly stage a direct assault on the very pinnacle o f mental

achievement, su rrounded b y the chill, thin air o f

theoretical abstraction — I declare a philosophy major.

Thus I becom e convinced that in philosophy I have

found m y true calling. But have I? Has G od really given me

the appropriate intellectual gifts and a genuine zeal for the

truth? Or am I ju st fooling myself? These are difficult

questions to answer on the basis o f private self-

examination. The opportunities for self-deception along

these lines are almost limitless. Even if I received lousy

grades in all m y philosophy courses — enough to

thoroughly discourage the average m ortal — I could still

convince m yself that this failure w as w holly due to the

clum sy pedagogy o f m y professors, or their inability to

detect the secret genius o f m y w ork. Resolute in purpose, I

go on to graduate school against the advice o f m y mentors.

No one w ill deny me the glory associated w ith m y chosen

field — and I proceed to make a total fool o f m yself trying

to prove to everyone else that I am not a complete idiot.

Because o f the innate hum an talent for self-deception, it

is a good idea to seek the advice o f others known for

m ature and balanced ju dgm ent. I may be convinced that

God has especially called m e to a particular occupation.

But do others recognize in me the gifts I think I possess?

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Can my friends detect in the pattern o f m y life the

passions, the interests, and the concerns I claim to have?

Do m y teachers take me to be mentally competent and

personally well-suited for the career o f m y own choosing?

Their counsel m ay be encouraging. O r devastating. But it

must be sought. O ften I m ust seek the help o f others if I

am to be honest with m yself before God.

It seems, then, that perceived social status combined

with certain psychological needs can push people into

occupations for which th ey are not at all qualified. But it

can w ork the other w ay too. Low social status plus similar

psychological needs can drive people aw ay from an

occupation for which they are em inently qualified. I m ay

have formidable mechanical abilities and a genuine love

for the automobile as an engineered system o f intake and

exhaust manifolds, regulators and alternators, camshafts

and crankshafts. In the world o f car repair, infested as it is

by rip-off artists, I m ay be able to perform a genuine

service to the community as a mechanic. But I chafe at the

suggestion. After all, who wants to be a "grease monkey"?

W hat would m y parents think? M y friends?

Finding our niche in life m ay not only require that we be

honest with ourselves. It m ay also require a stiff dose of

humility. Yet, as John Calvin said, "No task will be so

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sordid and base ... that it will not shine and be reckoned

v ery precious in God’s sight." An occupation held to b e of

no account in the eyes o f the w orld can nonetheless be

important to God. The ranking o f occupations in our

society and in the kingdom o f G od are often two very

different things. A nd it's im portant to keep the difference

in mind. T he garbage collector performs an infinitely more

valuable social service than the advertising executive about

to launch a campaign to convince the American

hom em aker that Pink Froth dish detergent is

indispensable to gracious living. But the latter, for reasons

difficult to fathom, enjoys m ore social status.

The first step, then, in responsible vocational choice is to

identify the abilities and talents G od has given us. Those

talents and abilities, however, w ill probably not be unique.

For that reason they will not, by themselves, lead a person

to a unique job. That is especially true if we consider such

things as the ability to grasp objects between the thumb

and fingers. That ability is regularly exercised b y the

dentist, the electrician, and the surgeon — as well as the

paperboy. Even rarer gifts, like a lightning-quick analytical

mind, do not suggest only one profession. One could use

such a m ind in law, philosophy, o r the CIA.

Although the absence o f a unique gift m ay leave us in

the lurch when it com es to choosing a specific career, we

can take positive com fort in the fact that as generic human

beings we already possess a wide range o f abilities. A nd we

can meaningfully put these ordinary abilities to use in a

number o f perfectly acceptable occupations. W hat is lost

b y way o f unambiguous guidance is made up b y flexibility.

A nd w e are thereby relieved o f the frustrating and

ultim ately self-defeating quest for "the right job ," as if

there w ere only one per person. A s a simple m atter o f fact,

w e are qualified to do a number o f things. A nd a number o f

the things w e are qualified to do w ould be good things to

do.

Nonetheless, G od can give us two other things that will

narrow down the field considerably. First, he can give us a

concern. O f course, we are all concerned about ourselves

and how we will fare in this life. No special work o f God is

required for that. But if w e can detect w ithin a growing

concern for others, then w e can be sure G od is at work

w ithin us. But not all o f us will be concerned for others in

the sam e way. Som e m ay be concerned for their health.

Others may be concerned for their emotional well-being,

their spiritual condition, or the integrity o f their natural or

cultural environment. Once w e becom e aware o f the

specific concern G od has given us, w e can go about

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cultivating the skills required to follow through on that

concern effectively.

Furtherm ore, God may have endowed us with certain

lively interests apart from any other-directed concerns —

interests in m athem atics, music, or m icrobiology. Those

interests lead us to cultivate skills which we can in turn use

in the service o f others. For example, based on an innate

love o f literature I might acquire the skills o f appreciation

and criticism that would later qualify me, as an English

teacher, to introduce others to the wonders o f the written

word. Or I might becom e a w riter myself, and proceed to

open up God's world to others through the medium o f

language.

The assumption behind these recommendations is that

discovering God's will for one's life is not so much a matter

o f seeking out m iraculous signs and wonders as it is being

attentive to who and w here we are. It is not as if our

abilities, concerns, and interests are ju st there, as an

accident o f nature, and then G od has to intervene in some

special way in order to make his will known to us in a

com pletely unrelated manner. Rather, in m aking a career

choice, we ought to take seriously the doctrine o f divine

providence: G od him self gives us w hatever legitim ate

abilities, concerns, and interests w e in fact possess. These

are his gifts, and for that very reason they can serve as

indicators o f his will for our fives. In com ing to know

ourselves and our situation, w e come to know God's will.

The Protestant theologian Em il Brunner claims, in fact,

that "the id ea o f the Calling and o f the C all is unintelligible

apart from that o f Divine Providence. The G od w ho says to

me here and now: A ct w here you are, as you are,' is not

One who comes on the scene after all that has been done

previously has been done w ithout His knowledge. Nothing

can happen apart from Him.... To Him it is no accident

that you are w hat you are here and now, an accident with

which H e m ust come to terms. He H im self places you

w here you are.” Too often our search for God's will in our

fives has been skew ed by a highly secularized view o f the

world. W e don't really believe that God is present and at

w ork in the concrete events and circumstances o f this

world. Rather we think o f Him as distant, removed,

putting in only occasional appearances here on earth. If

God speaks to us a t all, h e m ust speak to us in the freakish

and m iraculous, but not in the normal, everyday course o f

affairs.

A t this point, however, we might step back and w onder

if doing what God is calling us to do is alw ays a m atter of

doing that for which w e are best qualified. Certainly the

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Bible records numerous instances in which this was

emphatically not the case. A re w e developing a truly

bib lical approach to career choice? A fter all, a stuttering

M oses was called b y G od to speak before Pharaoh; Jonah

w as instructed to call the city o f N ineveh to repentance, a

city he him self w ould have liked to see burn under God's

judgm ent; and the personally unim pressive Paul was

prevailed upon to present the gospel to the entire Gentile

world. It seems unlikely that a m odem vocational

counseling agency would have directed these biblical

characters to their respective tasks on the basis o f their

native interests and talents.

True. And the point is well taken. God does sometimes

call people to do that for which they are outstandingly

unqualified; and sometim es he calls people to do what

they are entirely disinclined to do. But when he does that,

it is because h e is about to give a special demonstration of

his power. That is, he is about to perform a miracle —

which is, b y definition, a departure from the normal course

o f affairs. A s a rule people are to do that for which they are

qualified. O f course, there are exceptions to the rule. And

we must remain open to the possibility o f an exception in

our ow n case through prayer and awareness o f G od’s

leading hand.

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DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

"T h e P l a c e o f R e s p o n s i b il i t y "

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German

Lutheran pastor and theologian who was

executed by the Nazis in the last days o f W orld

W ar II in Europe. He grew up in a very

accom plished extended family, and he inherited

from his parents a deep sense o f social

responsibility. During the course o f his ministry

in the 19305, the Nazis relentlessly persecuted

those churches and seminaries that were critical

o f their regime, including the Confessing Church

sem inary that Bonhoeffer headed in

Finkenwalde. Because o f his own public

statements and affiliations, the Nazis withdrew

his authorization for academ ic teaching in 1936,

prohibited him from speaking publicly anywhere

in the German Reich in 1940, and forbade him to

write for publication in 1941.

The Nazis' suspicions o f Bonhoeffer w ere not

w ithout foundation. A s all avenues o f more

conventional protest and opposition were closed

off, he became involved in a conspiracy to kill

Hitler. He did so in full recognition that such an

action w as a lesser evil, but an evil nonetheless.

He wrote the m any papers later assembled as his

Ethics during the period o f the m ost intense

m ilitary engagements o f W orld W ar II, from 1941

through 1944, when he was him self m ost active in

the conspiracy. For him , questions o f vocation

and responsibility were urgent matters o f life and

death. Did his calling as a pastor and theologian

require him to attend first and last to his

im mediate, circumscribed duties to his

parishioners and students, he wondered, or did it

require something more o f him?

From Ethics, in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, volume 6

(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), pp. 289-297.

Because Bonhoeffer's understanding o f

vocation w as forged in the mid st o f a hideous

regime that had incorporated almost all o f those

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slavery, marriage, or singleness as su ch. Instead, those

who are called may belong to G od in one state or the other.

Only by the call o f grace heard in Jesus Christ, by which I

am claimed, m ay I live ju stified before God as slave or free,

m arried or single. From Christ's perspective this life is now

m y vocation; from m y own perspective it is my

responsibility.

... People do not fulfill the responsibility laid on them by

faithfully performing their earthly vocational obligations

as citizens, workers, and parents, but b y hearing the call of

Jesus Christ that, although it leads them also into earthly

obligations, is never synonymous w ith these, b u t instead

always transcends them as a reality standing before and

behind them. V ocation in the N ew Testament sense is

never a sanctioning o f the w orldly orders as such. Its Yes

always includes at the sam e tim e the sharpest No, the

sharpest protest against the world. Luther's return from

the monastery into the world, into a "vocation," is, in the

genuine spirit o f the N ew Testament, the fiercest attack

that has been launched and the hardest blow that has been

struck against the w orld since the tim e o f early

Christianity. N ow a stand against the world is taken within

the world. Vocation is the place at which one responds to

the call o f Christ and thus lives responsibly. The task given

to me b y m y vocation is thus limited; but m y responsibility

to the call o f Jesus Christ knows no b o u n d s....

The question o f the place and the lim it o f responsibility

has led us to the concept o f vocation. However, this answer

is valid only where vocation is understood simultaneously

in all its dimensions. The call o f Jesus Christ is the call to

belong to Christ completely; it is Christ's address and

claim at the place at which this call encounters me;

vocation comprises w ork with things and issues [sachliche

Arbeit] as well as personal relations; it requires a definite

"field o f activity," though never as a value in itself but only

in responsibility to Jesus Christ. By being related to Jesus

Christ, the "definite field o f activity" is set free from any

isolation. The boundary o f vocation has been broken open

not only vertically, through Christ, but horizontally, with

regard to the extent o f responsibility. Let us say I am a

medical doctor, for example. In dealing with a concrete

case I serve not only m y patient, but also the body o f

scientific knowledge, and thus science and knowledge o f

truth in general. Although in practice I render this service

in m y concrete situation — for example, at a patient's

bedside — I nevertheless remain aw are o f my

responsibility toward the whole, and only thus fulfill my

vocation. In so doing, it may come to the point that in a

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particular case I m ust recognize and fulfill my concrete

responsibility as a physician no longer only at a patient's

bedside, but, for example, in taking a public stance against

a measure that poses a threat to medical science, or human

life, or science in general. Vocation is responsibility, and

responsibility is the whole response o f the w hole person to

reality as a whole. This is precisely w hy a m yopic self­

lim itation to one's vocational obligation in the narrowest

sense is out o f the question; such a lim itation w ould be

irresponsibility. The nature o f free responsibility rules out

any legal regulation o f when and to w hat extent human

vocation and responsibility entail breaking out

[Durchbrechen] o f the "definite field o f activity." This can

happen only after seriously considering one's im mediate

vocational obligations, the dangers o f encroaching on the

responsibilities o f others, and finally the total picture of

the issue at hand. It will then be m y free responsibility in

response to the call o f Jesus Christ that leads me in one

direction or the other. Responsibility in a vocation follows

the call o f Christ alone—

But now is it not the case that the law o f G od as revealed

in the Decalogue, and the divine mandates o f marriage,

w ork, and government, establish an inviolable boundary

for any responsible action in one's vocation? W ould any

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transgressing [Durchbrechung] o f this boundary not

am ount to insubordination against the revealed will o f

God? Here the recurring problem o f law and freedom

presents itself with ultim ate urgency. It now threatens to

introduce a contradiction into the will o f God itself.

Certainly no responsible activity is possible that does not

consider with ultim ate seriousness the boundary that God

established in the law. Nevertheless, precisely as

responsible action it will not separate this law from its

giver. O nly as the Redeemer in Jesus Christ will it be able

to recognize the G od b y w hose law the w orld is held in

order; it w ill recognize Jesus Christ as the ultim ate reality

to whom it is responsible, and precisely through Christ it

will be freed from the law for the responsible deed. For the

sake o f God and the neighbor, which means for Christ's

sake, one m ay be freed from keeping the Sabbath holy,

honoring one's parents, indeed from the entire divine law.

It is a freedom that transgresses this law, but only in order

to affirm it anew. The suspension o f the law must only

serve its true fulfillment. In war, for exam ple, there is

killing, lying, and seizing o f property solely in order to

reinstate the validity o f life, truth, and property. Breaking

the law must be recognized in all its gravity — "blessed are

you if you know what you are doing; however, if you do not

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know w hat you are doing you are cursed and a

transgressor o f the law." W hether an action springs from

responsibility or cynicism can becom e evid ent only in

w hether the objective guilt one incurs b y breaking the law

is recognized and borne, and whether b y the very act o f

breaking it the law is tru ly sanctified. The w ill o f G od is

thus sanctified in the deed that arises out o f freedom.

Precisely because w e are dealing w ith a deed that arises

from freedom , the one who acts is not to m apart b y

destructive conflict, but instead can w ith confidence and

in ner integrity do the unspeakable, namely, in the very act

o f breaking the law to sanctify it.

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FREDERICK BUECHNER

" V o c a t io n "

Frederick Buechner is a contemporary novelist

and theologian whose facility with the English

language and w hose ability to condense complex

issues into m em orable aphorisms have made

many o f his theological formulations especially

quotable. Indeed, his special gift for verbal

econom y may have encouraged him to produce a

kind o f dictionary o f Christian theological terms

in the book from which the selection below has

been taken, Wishful Thinking: A 'Theological

A BC . The term that appeared under the letter V

in that volum e was, o f course, "vocation."

The conclusion o f Buechner's short discussion

o f vocation is perhaps the most w idely quoted

formulation o f vocation among contemporary

Am erican Christians. "The place God calls you to

is the place w here you r deep gladness and the

world's deep hunger meet." By "deep gladness,"

do you suppose that Buechner means

"contentment," or does h e m ean the kind o f jo y

that can be present even in the m idst o f

suffering? W hich o f those two understandings

w ould be m ore consonant w ith the ideas o f

vocation set forth b y the other w riters in this

anthology?

From Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological

A B C (New York: H arper and Row, 1973)- P ■ 95

[Vocation] com es from the Latin vocare, to call, and

means the w ork a person is called to b y God.

There are all different kinds o f voices calling you to all

different kinds o f work, and the problem is to find out

which is the voice o f God rather than o f Society, say, o r the

Superego, or Self-interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this: The kind

o f work G od usually calls you to is the kind o f w ork (a) that

you need m ost to do and (b) that the world most needs to

have done. I f you really get a kick out o f you r work, you've

presumably met requirement (a), but i f your w ork is

writing cigarette ads, the chances are you've missed

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requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a

doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met

requirement (b), but i f m ost o f the tim e you're bored and

depressed b y it, the chances are you have not only

bypassed (a), but probably aren't helping you r patients

much either.

N either the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The

place G od calls you to is the place w here you r deep

gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

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WILL CAMPBELL

" V o c a t io n a s G r a c e "

W ill Campbell, w ho lives on a farm in Tennessee,

has been upsetting Christian complacencies for

many years as a preacher, activist, essayist, and

novelist. Like Bonhoeffer, Campbell believes that

"when Christ calls a man, he bid s him come and

die." Campbell therefore has no patience for the

idea o f vocation as something that sim ply gives a

spiritual gloss to what w e have chosen to do for

ourselves by ourselves in any case.

In the story that h e recounts below, Campbell

challenges the conventional Christian notion that

vocation is a purely individual matter. He

suggests that our callings are best negotiated in

community with others, through a process that

leads us to discern not only our own gifts but also

our own needs and weaknesses, not only the rich

potentials o f the w orld but also its poverty. Do

you agree with Campbell in thinking that we

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cannot rightly hear ou r ow n call unless and until

we recognize both others' dependence on us and

our dependence on them?

From William D. Campbell, "Vocation as Grace," in Callings!

ed. James Y. Holloway and Will D. Campbell (New York:

Paulist Press, 1974), pp. 279-280.

Long before the process o f m y vocational self-examination

(justification) began I once cornered and talked to a high

w ire artist in a sm all traveling circus. I asked him w hy he

chose that particular w ay o f m aking a living. The first few

minutes were filled with circus romance — the thrill o f

hurling through space, feeling at the last instant that pasty

flesh o f two always welcomed hands pressing around the

wrists, sw inging you forward to the next set o f pasty hands

which in turn deliver you safely back to the starting

platform; the jo y o f laughter and approval and applause in

the eyes o f "children o f all ages," the clanking o f train

w heels m oving you on to the next city; even the part about

it being a comfortable life w ith good pay. But finally he

said what I had not expected him to say. "N ow you really

w ant to know w hy I go up there on that dam ned thing

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night after night after night?" I said I did. "Man, I would

have quit it a long tim e ago. But my sister is up there. And

m y w ife and my father are up there. M y sister has more

troubles than Job. M y w ife is a devil-may-care nut and m y

old m an is getting older. I f I wasn't up there, som e bad

night, m an . . . smash!" His foot stom ped the floor with a

bone cracking thud.

"H'mmm."

He started to w alk aw ay but I had one m ore question to

ask and ran after him . "But w hy do they stay up there?" He

looked like h e didn't w ant to answer, wasn't going to

answer. But then h e did. Turning from the door o f the

boy's locker room in the county seat high school, w ith a

brown craft cardboard box and heavy crayola sign: M EN'S

COSTUM ES above it for the evening's performance, he

looked me up and down and then, as he disappeared,

blurted it out: "Because I drink too much!"

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