Ergasia
Episodes
Tuesday May 15, 2018
Tuesday May 15, 2018
In this epsode of Ergasia, we continue our exploration of the book The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class by Karen L Bloomquist (Fortress Press, 1990). What are the theological perspectives that have attempted to address the realities of modernity and the dilemma of the working class? Is it even possible for theology to successfuly undertake this project? What are the counterveiling declarations about human life which are made by the idolatrous ideology of modernity?
References
Bloomquist, Karen L The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
Tuesday Mar 27, 2018
Episode 14 - The Dream Betrayed, Part II: Religion and the Realities of Class
Tuesday Mar 27, 2018
Tuesday Mar 27, 2018
In this epsode of Ergasia, we continue our exploration of the book The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class by Karen L Bloomquist (Fortress Press). What are the ways in which the Church deepens the wounds of classism as they are inflicted by the failed dream of neoliberalism? What does the "religion" of the working class look like, and to what hopes and griefs does it give voice? How does the idol of neoliberalism continue its hold over the working class despite their experience of its frustrations and failures?
References
Bloomquist, Karen L The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
Monday Feb 12, 2018
Episode 13 - The Dream Betrayed, Part I: The Dilemma Of The Working Class
Monday Feb 12, 2018
Monday Feb 12, 2018
In this episode of Ergasia, we begin an examination of the relationship between the Church and the working class through the book The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class by the Lutheran pastor and theologian, Karen L Bloomquist. Bloomquist begins by identifying the central dilemma of the working class in modernity: their betrayal by the neoliberal dream of upward social and economic mobility in return for a lifetime of hard work. But she also begins setting the scene for how the Church often fails to respond to the reality of that dilemma; and how it can develop a theology of incarnational ministry that propetically challenges the prevailing order, instead of merely helping individuals in distress.
References
Bloomquist, Karen L., The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
Monday Dec 04, 2017
Episode 12 - Dead Man Working, Part V: A (Further) Theological Reflection
Monday Dec 04, 2017
Monday Dec 04, 2017
In this episode of Ergasia, we conclude our exploration of Dead Man Working by Carl Cederstrom and Peter Fleming (Zero Books, 2012). Does Cederstrom and Fleming's idea of the child as the helpless but ultimate subversive of the zombie apocalypse of post-industrial capitalism have merit? What is the response of a Christian theology of work to this idea? What do either suggest about how humanity can liberate its essence - and the essence of human work - from the clutches of an oppressive and controlling paradigm?References
Cederstrom, Carl and Fleming, Peter Dead Man Working. Alresford: Zero Books, 2012.
Saturday Sep 02, 2017
Episode 11 - Dead Man Working, Part IV: A Theological Reflection
Saturday Sep 02, 2017
Saturday Sep 02, 2017
In this episode, the host of Ergasia, Brendan Byrne, offers a theological reflection on the book Dead Man Working by Carl Cederstrom and Peter Fleming (Zero Books, 2012). In particular, he focuses on Cederstrom and Fleming's characterisation of the world of post-industrial work as a "land of the living dead", one in which human life has been appropriated in the interests of an oppressive and self-sustaining system; and views their analysis through the lens of the Christian understanding of work's role and meaning in human life, and Jesus' own critique of secular and religious powers that exist absent the human need they are meant to serve.
References
Cederstrom, Carl and Fleming, Peter Dead Man Working. Alresford: Zero Books, 2012Sedlacek, Tomas The Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
Quiggan, John Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us. Revised Updated Edition. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2012
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
Episode 7 - What Is Work? Part V
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
In this episode, we conclude our investigation of the question What Is Work? by reviewing the theologians whose work we've been examining in the last three episodes, by drawing some conclusions of our own, and proposing what a Christian definition of work might look like.
Friday Jun 16, 2017
Episode 6 - What Is Work? Part IV
Friday Jun 16, 2017
Friday Jun 16, 2017
In this episode, we continue our exploration of the question What Is Work? by examing the argument for the "threefold nature of work" set out by the theologian Darrell Cosden in his book A Theology of Work. What does Cosden's conception of the "ontological character" of work tell us about work itself, and how does it relate to the views of work articulated by Volf and Jensen?
References
Cosden, Darrell A Theology of Work: Work and the New Creation. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2004.
Sunday May 28, 2017
Episode 5 - What Is Work? Part III
Sunday May 28, 2017
Sunday May 28, 2017
In this episode, we continue our exploration of the question What Is Work? by examining the concept of work as "obligation", as proposed by the theologian David H Jensen in his book Responsive Labor. We unpack Jensen's conception of obligation, examine its similarities and departures from Volf's understanding of work as instrumental activity, and analyse whether it progresses our understanding of work's nature and place in human life.
References
Jensen, David H Responsive Labour: A Theology of Work. Louisville & London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006
Friday May 19, 2017
Episode 4 - What Is Work? Part II
Friday May 19, 2017
Friday May 19, 2017
In this episode, we continue our exploration of the question What Is Work? by examining the definition of work articulated by the theologian Miroslav Volf in his book Work In The Spirit. We'll examine the characteristics which Volf assigns to work, and debate the extent to which Volf' definition does - or does not - further our understanding of what work is.
References
Volf, Miroslav Work In The Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001
Tuesday May 09, 2017
Episode 3 - What is Work? Part I
Tuesday May 09, 2017
Tuesday May 09, 2017
In this episode, we begin our exploration of the question What is Work? Along the way, we'll discover it's not as straight-forward a question as we might imagine, and that many caveats and complexities make finding an answer a tricky business indeed!ReferencesBottomley, John Hard Work Never Killed Anybody: How the Idolisation of Work Sustains this Deadly Lie. Northcote: Morning Star Publishing, 2015.
Cosden, Darrell A Theology of Work: Work and the New Creation. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2004.
Fleming, Peter Resisting Work: The Corporatization of Life and its Discontents. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2015.
Hannam, James God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science. Duxford: Icon Books Ltd, 2010.
Jensen, David H. Responsive Labor: A Theology of Work. Louisville & London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006
Volf, Miroslav Work In The Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work. Eugene: Wif and Stock Publisher, 2001