Work and Leisure

20 A. J. Vealthem. Are ye not much better than they? . . . And why take ye thought forraiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all hisglory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, take no thought,saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shallwe be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of allthese things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness:and all these things shall be added unto you.(Matthew 6: 24–33)While such teaching appears to advise against a concern for work, it is arguablymore a sermon against materialism. Christ’s followers were not to beconcerned with earthly wealth, but were to focus on rewards in heaven. Godand heaven were brought into the material goods, work and leisure equation.In fact, far from scorning work, Christians came to see it as virtuous when itserved God or helped others, although the Jewish idea of work as expiationfor sin also remained. The spiritual life was revered: to spend one’s life inprayer and contemplation, particularly as priest, monk or nun, was the ultimate‘calling’. These values were enshrined in many of the rules of existence ofmonastic orders, in which life for the monk or nun consisted of a rigidlyprescribed round of prayer and work, including manual work. Spending nonworktime in the contemplation and worship of God, which all Christianswere exhorted to do, can be seen as a harnessing of many non-work activities(music, art, storytelling, drama, ritual) to a single religious purpose.The cloistered approach to virtuous work and worship changed with therise of Protestantism in sixteenth-century Europe. Martin Luther rejectedmonasticism as being unworldly and saw every occupation, not just thereligious one, as a ‘calling’.Luther swept away the idea of the superiority of one type of work overanother. As long as work is done in a spirit of obedience to God, everyvariety of work has equal spiritual dignity and each is the service to Godon earth. All work contributes to the common life of mankind. Hence noone is more necessary than another to piety and blessedness . . . Hebelieved that, if all activity of all types is divine, then there is no basis formaking distinctions between the work of clerics in ‘God’s work’ and thework of everyday tradesmen, craftsmen, and peasants.(Applebaum 1992: 322)Nevertheless, certain forms of work were considered undesirable: Luther sawthe world of trade, banking, credit and capitalist industry as part of the‘kingdom of darkness’. Calvin, however, while preaching that wealth was notto lead to material self-indulgence and that any surplus should be used for thepublic good and philanthropy, ‘saw the profits of trade and finance as being