Sabbath as Resilience: Spiritual Refreshment for a Stressed-Out World
Ebook
Overview
People everywhere are feeling the stress of modern life in ways not seen for generations. Emerging from the fog of the first pandemic in one hundred years, they face economic uncertainty, political acrimony, war and the threat of war, environmental degradation, and technological advances that amaze and frighten in equal measure.
Time and space condense as unrelenting "connectedness" blurs the lines between work and play, fact and fiction, need and desire. The devices meant to improve lives dominate them in what theologian Walter Brueggemann calls "the tyranny of now." People are looking for accessible solutions to complex problems. People need resilience but are ill-equipped to find it.
In this book, the Fellows of the Mockler Center at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary offer a solution not from the well-trodden psychological disciplines or the lure of New Age mysticism but in a concept as old as the Scriptures themselves--the divine gift of Sabbath. The authors explore in detail Jesus' words, "Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath," proposing five areas (values, time, space, people, and faith) where a more comprehensive understanding of Sabbath can build resilience by reshaping personal and professional identities in accord with God's will and purpose.
“A wonderful collection of essays on the importance of Sabbath as a discipline of rest in the Christian life. A time to rest from our work so God can work in us. Filled with biblical reflections and contemporary applications, the contributors call us to a time of redemption, resilience, and renewal that Christians from all walks of life will benefit from following.”
—Michael F. Bird, Deputy Principal at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
“Sabbath as Resilience boldly engages an area of theological, philosophical, and economic neglect in contemporary capitalist societies. The restlessness of these comes from an intrinsic aspect of capitalism in its urgency to undercut and kill its own creations. The book is not a mere follow-up to Barnes’s earlier Redeeming Capitalism but a promising research project of Mocker scholars with great credentials and an impressive sense of cohesion in tackling the task very expansively. In their hands Sabbath rest offers a whole new perspective on how to live with resilience no longer relegated to a mere bit part in the weeks of our lives, but a whole orientation to life.”
—Gordon Preece, Director, Ethos Centre for Christianity and Society
Kenneth J. Barnes is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds the Mockler-Phillips Chair in Workplace Theology and Business Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Previously Dr. Barnes both taught theology and served as a chaplain to graduate students at Oxford University.
C. Sara Minard earned a doctorate in economics (highest honors) for her work on social capital and informal entrepreneurship in Senegal, where she served as a Peace Corps volunteer. She is the Associate Director of the Mockler Center at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Adjunct Professor in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She and her family raise cattle and miniature donkeys on Wawonaissa Farm in New Jersey.