I have just finished reading David W. Miller's book God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement. Miller is the executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and a colleague of Miroslav Volf, whose Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work is the best book I have ever read on theology and work. Both men are PCUSA ministers.
I will review Miller's book later but wanted to post the lengthy excerpt below. Chapter Five of Miller's book includes his assessment of the social witness policy of the PCUSA concerning economics, work, and vocation. I think it is very well said:
As to expression through theological statements on public policy issues, there is significant commentary on marcroeconomic issues at the denominational level, particularly by those denominations inclined toward social activism. For instance, in the case of the PCUSA, there is a tradition of social activism and analysis of and commentary on economic matters and vocation, resulting in a steady stream of position papers and policy statements. A useful reference point is the Presbyterian Social Witness Policy Compilation, which covers some fifty years of Presbyterian policy statements. This compilation offers several insights into the pattern that the PCUSA had developed, both in form and substance, in its attitude toward the business community and those called to in it. In terms of substance, the policy papers are largely oriented to macro policy and structural questions, usually pertaining to issues of economic justice, sustainable development, offshore manufacturing, and third world debt forgiveness. However, they seldom speak to the level of individual vocation, accountability, and responsibility in the marketplace. Even the statements that attempt to move to the micro or personal level seldom apply to the average business person or worker in the pew. Notably, little attention is paid to individual accountability, or guidance for those whose economic reality or sense of vocation leads them to work for the very businesses which are the object of the theological critique. Further, these policy statements tend to assume a pejorative attitude toward the fallen, if not unchristian, nature of business itself, at least in its capitalist form. Finally, in terms of substance, they presume the righteousness of certain economic decisions (e.g., consumer boycotts, individual and institutional divestment of certain stock holdings, minimum income levels, and other forms of governmental regulatory intervention) without making the theological case for these actions, or allowing for other legitimate Christian approaches to social and economic problems.
In terms of tone, the statements are also unhelpful. From the perspective of persons engaged in the business community who seek to reform the system from within and to lead their companies in accordance with biblical teachings, these statements often have a patronizing and platitudinous tone that turns away the very people the church should be finding as allies. Statements “calling on U.S. corporations to be responsible and just to workers and the environment” seem to suggest that U.S. corporations prefer to be irresponsible and unjust. This consistent pattern of negativity, in both substance and form, apparently caught the eye of the editor of the Presbyterian Social Witness Policy Compilation, who at one point felt compelled to not, “The Assembly isn’t exclusively a gloomy messenger of prophetic insight. It does not chide corporate society to the exclusion of celebrating significant accomplishments.” While the comment was perhaps well intended, the evidence fails to support the claim.
… The Reformed churches in general, and the PCUSA in particular, have a rich theological tradition of recognizing and honoring the close link between Christian vocation and work. This is evidenced in the Social Witness Policy Compilation’s section on “work as vocation,” which covers several decades of affirming statements of the vocational legitimacy, value, meaning, purpose, and dignity of work. Regrettably, however, these papers seldom move from theory to praxis, or from the structural to the personal. For this reason, similar to most of the other macroeconomic position papers and proclamations, these vocation and work statements often do not dealt with practical issues faced by churchgoers in their daily work.
A notable exception to the macroeconomic policy orientation and the generally negative attitude toward business is the policy paper adopted by the 1995 PCUSA General Assembly entitled God’s Work in Our Hands: Employment, Community, and Vocation. This monograph was designed to move from theory to practice and thereby lead the church to concrete action, implementation, and advocacy. In contrast to most of the other statements, this policy paper acknowledged the complexity of actual marketplace situations, noting, “it is understood that particular circumstances mean that faithful responses may vary.” It is constructive and affirming in tone and is a clear deviation from the antibusiness moralizing and chiding tone evident in the other statements. God’s Work in Our Hands includes twelve principles of vocation and work designed to form a framework for practical decision making and action. Positive as this document is, however, it does not serve to change the direction or overall tone of PCUSA economic policy, as shown by subsequent papers that do not adopt this view. Moreover, the other examples of reasonably positive treatments of business as vocation and issues faced by individuals in the marketplace were not included in the Presbyterian Social Witness Policy Compilation. For instance, consider the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Reformed Faith and Economics (1989), a collection of thirteen essays developed over a three-year period of consultations by various Reformed scholars. It is a carefully complied assemblage of essays on biblical perspectives, the Reformed tradition on economic justice, contemporary policy issues, and church responses. Like many denominational statements of its era, it was prepared in response to Economic Justice for All (1986). Reformed Faith seeks to frame modern workplace issues, largely structural in nature, in theological terms and to offer proposals for improvement. Another omitted text from the Presbyterian Social Witness Policy Compilation is Challenges in the Workplace (1990), a resource paper prepared by the PCUSA Task Force on Issue of Vocation and Problems of Work, addressing the practical dimensions of vocation. For the larger denominational picture, [Robert] Wuthnow’s findings are instructive. He notes:
[C]hurches and religious leaders, more likely, say nothing at all about the material life except to voice an occasional jab at the worship of mammon, adding hastily that there is nothing wrong with money as longs we do not love it too much. Even those concerned about such social issues as peace, poverty, inequality, and economic injustice have been surprisingly blind to the economic realm.
When the church does tend to the economic realm, “An overwhelming share of [its] attention has been focused on government, wanting it to do more, wanting it to do less, lobbying, sending it petitions, and treating it as the way to get anything done. And yet, by comparison, the economy is by far a more powerful institution in our society than government. (85-87)
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