By Christian Schumacher
Lion . 252 pages. £18.00 (hardback)
ISBN 0 7459 4042 0
This volume is an interesting attempt to produce a basic theology of work. Its author is a man with wide experience of industry and commerce, especially in the area of work planning and organisation. It is written with a deep appreciation that, for many people, the world of work is an intensely unsatisfying and even dehumanising experience. So the author longs to discover from Scripture - or, more accurately, from the nature of God - why this is and how it can be put right.
Schumacher is surely right to start from a consideration of the Triune Creator at work to establish a model for human work. However, while he is always thought-provoking and often both incisive and instructive, some of his analogies are arbitrary and overpressed. Indeed, there are places where one feels that he is looking for justification for his often helpful ideas about work in the nature of God, rather than the other way round.
Overall, I found the value of the book difficult to assess. On the one hand, much of it is refreshing and stimulating. We need the impetus Schumacher gives us to think theologically about work and to challenge the economic assumptions of our day. I have no doubt that if Schumacher's basic conclusions were applied in the workplace, both job satisfaction and productivity would improve.
On the other hand, some of the book is naive, mystical and drab. Its biggest drawback and frustration is that its theology is consistently and depressingly Anglo-Catholic. Schumacher is as likely to quote the apocrypha as the Bible, and more likely to refer to a medieval theologian or papal encyclical than a godly Protestant. He appears to have no concept at all of the need for new birth. That means that the book cannot be recommended to the general reader, who is also likely, thankfully, to be put off by the hefty price tag (£18.00). However, read with discernment and patience by mature Christians concerned to think deeply about God and the workplace, the book will probably prove stimulating and challenging.
