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Working for Our Neighbor: A Lutheran Primer on Vocation, Economics, and Ordinary Life
The Protestant Reformation was a catalyst for social mobility, universal education, and the rise of modern market economies. In his classic study The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber showed the connections between Protestantism and the new economics. Weber, however, focused on the Calvinists and Puritans and speculated that economic success became a way of proving one’s election. He thus posited, with little evidence, a spiritual self-interest that was parallel to economic self-interest, distorting both Protestantism and capitalism.
Weber neglected the specifically Lutheran doctrine of vocation, which emphasizes the spiritual and moral value of economic activity. According to Luther, God himself is hidden in vocation, as he providentially works through ordinary human beings to care for his creation. In their work—not only in the economy, but also in family, church, and community—Christians live out their faith in love and service to their neighbors.
For Lutherans, the doctrine of vocation is nothing less than the theology of the Christian life. In its social impact, vocation gave a theological basis for the division of labor, social equality, and individual freedom. In this elucidating work, Gene Edward Veith connects vocation to justification, good works, and Christian freedom—defining how the Lutheran contribution to economics can transfigure ordinary life, and work, with the powerful presence of God.
Weber neglected the specifically Lutheran doctrine of vocation, which emphasizes the spiritual and moral value of economic activity. According to Luther, God himself is hidden in vocation, as he providentially works through ordinary human beings to care for his creation. In their work—not only in the economy, but also in family, church, and community—Christians live out their faith in love and service to their neighbors.
For Lutherans, the doctrine of vocation is nothing less than the theology of the Christian life. In its social impact, vocation gave a theological basis for the division of labor, social equality, and individual freedom. In this elucidating work, Gene Edward Veith connects vocation to justification, good works, and Christian freedom—defining how the Lutheran contribution to economics can transfigure ordinary life, and work, with the powerful presence of God.
140 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
About the author
Gene Edward Veith Jr.
50 books187 followersGene Edward Veith Jr., is the Culture Editor of WORLD MAGAZINE. He was formerly Professor of English at Concordia University Wisconsin, where he has also served as Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals, and God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life.
Postmodern Times received a Christianity Today Book Award as one of the top 25 religious books of 1994. He was named Concordia's Adult Learning Teacher of the Year in 1993 and received the Faculty Laureate Award as outstanding faculty member in 1994. He was a Salvatori Fellow with the Heritage Foundation in 1994-1995 and is a Senior Fellow with the Capital Research Center. He was given the layman’s 2002 Robert D. Preus Award by the Association of Confessional Lutherans as “Confessional Lutheran of the Year.”
Dr. Veith was born in Oklahoma in 1951. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1973 and received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1979. He has taught at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and was a Visiting Professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Estonian Institute of Humanities in Tallinn, Estonia. He and his wife Jackquelyn have three grown children and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Postmodern Times received a Christianity Today Book Award as one of the top 25 religious books of 1994. He was named Concordia's Adult Learning Teacher of the Year in 1993 and received the Faculty Laureate Award as outstanding faculty member in 1994. He was a Salvatori Fellow with the Heritage Foundation in 1994-1995 and is a Senior Fellow with the Capital Research Center. He was given the layman’s 2002 Robert D. Preus Award by the Association of Confessional Lutherans as “Confessional Lutheran of the Year.”
Dr. Veith was born in Oklahoma in 1951. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1973 and received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1979. He has taught at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and was a Visiting Professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Estonian Institute of Humanities in Tallinn, Estonia. He and his wife Jackquelyn have three grown children and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 18, 2021
Veith does a good job gleaning the insights of Weber, while rejecting the silliness (like the thesis that Puritans/Calvinists worked hard in order to strengthen assurance in their election).
I'll post my short paper on Weber on the blog: http://www.thephilosophyte.com/2021/1...
Ron Stark needs interacting with, as his work purports to overturn some of the conclusions (such as that Northern Europe had higher literacy and more economic input than Southern and primarily Catholic Europe.)
Aside from that debate, Veith focuses mainly on the theological implications of Justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers and their applications to a Christian understanding of vocation.
Really good stuff.
I'll post my short paper on Weber on the blog: http://www.thephilosophyte.com/2021/1...
Ron Stark needs interacting with, as his work purports to overturn some of the conclusions (such as that Northern Europe had higher literacy and more economic input than Southern and primarily Catholic Europe.)
Aside from that debate, Veith focuses mainly on the theological implications of Justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers and their applications to a Christian understanding of vocation.
Really good stuff.
June 29, 2025
Thoroughly researched writing
Thoroughly researched writing on Lutheran ethics on “Work”. Biblically sound. Encourages christians to become channels of God’s work and blessings to people through their vocations.
Thoroughly researched writing on Lutheran ethics on “Work”. Biblically sound. Encourages christians to become channels of God’s work and blessings to people through their vocations.
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November 18, 2019Working for Our Neighbor is not currently available at local libraries.
August 10, 2016
All relationships center on one or several vocational callings. Veith makes sense of the vocation issues with great resources to back up his statements!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews