Our Secular Vocation: Rethinking the Church’s Calling to the Marketplace
Charles, J. Daryl. Our Secular Vocation: Rethinking the Church’s Calling to the Marketplace. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2023. Pp. 324. $32.99.
J. Daryl Charles has written extensively about human social interaction, including topics related to war, labor, and wisdom. He is an affiliate scholar of the Acton Institute and has taught at Union University and Taylor University along with serving as a visiting fellow at Princeton University and Baylor University. In Our Secular Vocation, Charles seeks to eliminate the sacred versus secular dichotomy that haunts the Christian understanding of vocation, particularly as it relates to “the ministry” or “the marketplace.” His concern is that this distinction has created a hierarchy that divides Christians into various classes where clergy have a higher calling than those who work in office buildings, fields, or factories.
Charles encourages churches and Christian institutions of higher education to place more emphasis on the doctrine of vocatio, assisting believers to seek God’s calling rather than simply seeking a career path. When Christians have a greater recognition of God’s providence within the workplace, they will be more diligent in their witness, more effective in their work, and will experience greater joy as they follow what they believe God has called them to do. This mindset will serve to further human flourishing within creation.
Charles begins by urging the church to more intentionally equip people to enter the marketplace mindful of their responsibilities to witness through their work ethic. He cautions that, too often, the church’s teaching in this area serves to call believers away from the marketplace rather than recognizing God calling people into the marketplace. Just as God’s calling into occupational ministry is a gift of grace, so is the calling into the marketplace “a high and noble calling” (7).
Charles, undergirding his appeal, rehearses a theology of work, vocation, and the marketplace. He implies that the church’s failure to prepare her congregants to live fully aware of a divine calling to the marketplace is largely due to the forgotten doctrine of vocation. Charles’s primary argument is that humans can only enjoy the gift of work as they are obedient to the calling that God has placed upon each person. It is only when one responds to God’s divine calling that he or she will live a life that is infused “with wondrous meaning and significance” (163). Regaining a proper theology of vocation will correct Christian cultural trends that separate faith and work. Indeed, this may provide hopefulness to those who are seeking joy apart from God and serve to lead many to faith in Christ in a post-Christian world.
Charles skillfully integrates biblical, theological, and pastoral exposition. His commentary on Ecclesiastes is helpful though brief. He is obviously aware that the best theology must translate into usefulness for daily living. He helpfully illustrates many of his claims with an appropriate amount of personal testimony. He deftly handles issues of human psychology regarding work and enjoyment.
Furthermore, Charles keeps a healthy balance between the objective and subjective elements of God’s calling. Subjectively, one discerns calling through the inner witness of the Spirit as they wait upon the Lord in a listening and humble posture. Though discovering one’s calling is not limited to an individual’s psychological disposition or inner desires, fulfilling what God has called one to do should bring an existential sense of joy. Objectively, the believer who desires to find their divine vocation should seek the affirmation of a healthy Christian community. This will prevent an overly individualistic and pietistic approach that may leave believers following their own inner desires rather than God’s guidance by his Spirit.
Charles reminds the reader that faith in Jesus Christ is referential to more than the moment of justification. It is also a daily response to the leading of the God who guides his people to dwell within the world as witnesses to his manifold grace. As grace leads believers to the fullness of joy that awaits us in eternity, it also allows us to enjoy God’s gifts within this world. Among these gifts is the call to serve God through work and thereby enjoy God’s good creation.
John Mann
Associate Professor of Business and Theology | Texas Baptist College
Assistant to the President for Constituent Relations | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary