ST
3425 S6: Ethics I1: Labor and Christian Theology
Second Half Spring Term 2005
Time: Monday:
2:10-5:00 p.m.
Room: Northwestern
Hall 230
Professor: Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali
Office: 210 G Northwestern Hall, ext. (641-3)523
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday
10:40-12:00 only
Course Description
It is critical to understand
that though this course is about labor it also covers the issues of work.
Though these two are clearly two distinct words we tend to conflate the two.
Hannah Arendt in The
Human Condition, points out the fact that every Indo-European language,
ancient and modern, includes two etymologically unrelated words which sustain a
distinction between “labor” and “work,” though modern industrial societies tend
to combine their meanings. She distinguished between “the labor of the body,” which serves simply to put bread in the
laborer’s mouth through repetitive motions, and “the work of the hands,” by which the worker puts something into his
world through inventive activity which secures and qualifies his own existence.[1]
In all contemporary
discourses on politics, economics, and social concerns, and this is
particularly true of theology, the issue of labor and work are most audibly
visible by the absence. We have a very high emphasis on capital, the market and
especially on consumers but little or no mention is made of labor and work. We
are told over and over again to accumulate capital because of the two
milestones in an average family’s life, i.e., children’s education and
retirement. Both are high on contemporary political and economic agenda given
the inflation in education and debt being carried by students and the whole
issue of social security and its impact on retirement. We are reminded in every
form, from the most subtle to the most bizarre and abrasive, and through every
possible media instrument that we are consumer and that we need to consume to
fulfill our vocation in the current social configuration. What we are not told
is that for all this to happen there is a prerequisite of labor and work. These
to aspects of our lives have been castigated to the dark shadow life where we
are all unhappy and we do what we do simply to meet these real requirements. So
work and labor are treated as private life and pleasure, consumption and
capital are the public persona we need to reflect.
The course will argue that
while the scriptural evidence clearly locates work and labor in “the Fall” (Gen
3:16ff ) as is usually argued, it is not its only location since the human was
given the vocation to subdue dominate the earth and all that is in it or to be
involved in its stewardship (Gen. 1:28ff) entails labor or work. Whether we
take labor and work as either exclusively a product of the Fall, or part of
human vocation upon its creation, what is clear is that it does not ever leave
it as a private matter. Rather, the clearest implication of labor is that it a
matter of public concern and of Christian ministry[2]
and especially its ethical witness. Since both ministry and witness are also
located in the Gospel and they are also related to labor for harvest and the
invitees (Matt 9: 37, see also 11:30) and waiting upon others, these together are
aspects of labor and not of capital. Thus the market paradigm currently in
vogue and constantly in use for both are either irrelevant or ontologically
contradictory. We will therefore examine the various ways labor has been looked
at and where does the metaphors and witness of Christian faith stands on this
issue.
Course Objectives
To achieve the following list
of issues which Christian Ethicists face especially in the context of
Issues related to Labor and Work:
1. To enable students to identify, recognize and use
idioms and vocabularies appropriate to the discipline of Christian and
philosophical ethics.
2. To be able to identify and differentiate key theories
and methods in Christian and philosophical ethics.
3. To be fully aware of the contribution by disciplines
other than Christian theology to the development of theological and Christian
ethics.
4. To appreciate the socio-political, historical and
other contexts which have an impact on the different ethical approaches.
5. To be methodologically clear on the practice of
ethical reflection in the context of societal and human issues and how Christians
go about making such ethical choices as well as being able to state with
clarity why a particular choice is made.
6. To be sensitive to the complexity and ambiguity that
leads to authentic disagreements in Christian and philosophical ethics.
7. To be able to see the role of Christian life in
broader global and religious contexts and to appreciate the contribution of at
least one other religious perspective to these larger ethical questions.
Expectation, Assignments and Grading
1. Students are expected to attend lectures and
discussions regularly, keep up with the reading assignments and participate
actively in discussions.
This will count for 20% of the grades.
2. Each student will be part of a group of four (or five
if necessary) students responsible for introducing one of the texts which is
recommended below. Starting from week three we will have two presentations by these
groups of four (or five) students with thirty minutes for each group.
3. Each student must write up her/his individual response,
no more than 2-3 double spaced pages to be handed over to the professor after
chapel (11:00 a.m. latest) before their respective session in the class. The
idea behind the first individual evaluative paper is to give an opportunity to
each student to evaluate critically the position of different people on the
issue of labor and work in the context of Christian Ethics.
4. A written collective text of no more than 4-5 pages
should also be handed over to the professor after chapel (11:00 a.m. latest)
before their respective session in the class. Copies of these presentations
should be made for the rest of the class and distributed before presentation.
5. The joint public presentation will develop the skills
and abilities required to work in a collective group, protecting one’s own
rights while respecting those of the others, to undertake a common project
where this plurality and respect is recognized and is then performed before
colleagues who will undergo, or have already undergone, the same experience.
The individual papers and the collective presentations
should first reflect the problem(s) (or problematique) that
a particular issue contains and how the author struggles with them and then how
s/he goes about dealing with it or them. Then the ideas and concepts as
presented by the author(s) should be articulated as honestly as possible. Once
these two tasks are achieved then and only then should a critical evaluation of
the work be undertaken both in terms of its own internal logic and then from
your own theological and philosophical perspective.
This
part of the requirement constitutes 50% of the course.
6. There will be a final paper of 8-10 double spaced
pages which may deal with any of the issues we have already covered during this
course and developed further from other readings and through your own personal
theological and ethical perspective.
These papers are due on May 16 latest, except for the
graduating students for whom it is due on May 11 for their graduation
requirement.
This
part of the requirement constitutes 30% of the course.
Course Outline:
Week 1
Week 2
Please fill your name legibly (preferably print)
Week 4
April 25: Gregory Baum, (was professor of theology at
Week 5
May 2: Karen L. Bloomquist,
The
Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of the Working Class (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1990) {Former parish pastor and seminary professor, was
Director of Studies for the Commission for Church and Society, of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and now occupies a similar position in
the LWF}
Week 6
May 9: Conclusion
and Concerns
Bibliography (I
have given all the call numbers related to you being able to access these books
from the consortium library – this especially applies to the groups tackling a
particular text – since the books in our library will all be on reserve):
Primary texts:
1.
Thomas O. Nitsch, Joseph M. Phillips, Jr., Edward L. Fitzsimmons,
eds., On the Condition of Labor and the Social Question one Hundred Years
Later: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Rerum
Novarum, and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Association
for Social Economics (Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen
Press, 1994).
Bethel 261.8 057
John
Ireland HN37.C3 054
1994
2.
Dietmar Mieth and Lisa Sowle Cahill, eds., Migrant and Refugees, Concilium
Series 1993/4 (London: SCM Press & Maryknoll, New
York: Orbis Books, 1993)
Luther
Seminary HD5855.M537
John
Ireland BT3.C7 1993/4
United HD5855 M5.37 1993
1.
George W. Forell and William H. Lazareth,
eds., Work as Praise (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979) {Two Major
Lutheran Theologians}
Bethel 248.88 W926
Luther
Seminary BT738.5 .W67
United BT738.5 W6.7
2.
Gregory Baum, THE
PRIORITY OF LABOR: A Commentary on Laborem exercens,
Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II (New York/Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1982)
Bethel 262.91 J65La 1982
Bethel
West 262.91 J65LA
Luther
Seminary HN37.C3 B3
John
Ireland HL6338 .B33
1982
3.
John H. Redekop, Labor Problems in Christian Perspective
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1972) {Associate Professor of Political Science, Waterloo
Lutheran University, Ontario, Canada.}
Bethel 261 .85 L123
Luther
Seminary HD6338 .L2
4.
Karen L. Bloomquist, The Dream Betrayed: Religious Challenge of
the Working Class (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990) {Former parish
pastor and seminary professor, is Director of Studies for the Commission for
Church and Society, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America}
Luther
Seminary BV2695.W6 B66
John
Ireland BV2695.W6 B66 1990
United BV2695 W6 B6.6
Secondary
Texts:
5.
Rev. Patrick J.
Sullivan, C.S.C., Blue Collar—Roman Collar—White Collar: U.S. Catholic Involvement in
Labor Management Controversies, 1960-1980 (Lanham, Maryland: University
Press of America, Inc., 1987) {Professor Department of Sociology University of
Notre Dame}
Luther
Seminary HD6338.2.U5 S85
6. Wade H. Boggs, Jr., All Ye Who Labor: A Christian
Interpretation of Daily Work (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press,
1961) {Professor at Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond,
Virginia}
Bethel 241 B674
Luther BV4740.B634A
United BV4740
B6
7.
Lester De Koster, All Ye
That Labor: An Essay on Christianity, Communism and the Problem of Evil (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1956) {Director of the Library, Calvin College and Seminary, Michigan}
Luther
Seminary HX536.D32
United HX536.D3.2
.
8.
Norman G.
Anderson, Church and Labor (Moorhead, Minnesota: Melberg
Printing Company, Inc., 1953) {Lutheran Pastor and Associate Professor of
Religion and Sociology at Concordia College, Moorehead,
Concordia.}
Luther Seminary BV627.A2
9.
Lester deKoster, Communism and Christianity (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: W. b. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1962)
Bethel 261.215 D328
Bethel
West 261.215 D328
Luther
Seminary HX536.D33
United HX536 D3.2 1962
10. Department of Social Action of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference, Bible and Labor
(New York: Macmillan, 1924)
John
Ireland BS675.H8
11. Capital and Labor: An Analysis of and Commentary on
the Encyclicals of Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI (Huntington, Ind., Our Sunday Visitor, 1939).
John
Ireland HD6338 K7
12. H.W. Cadman, The Christian Unity of Capital and Labor
(Philadelphia/New York: American Sunday-School Union, 1888)
Bethel 261.85
C124
13.
Christianity
and Labor (Boston: Sherman,
French, 1912)
Luther Seminary BV627.B18
14. Lillemor Erlander, Faith
in the World of Work: On the Theology o Work as Lived by he French
Worker-Priest and British Industrial Mission (Uppsala, Sweden: Acadmiae Upsaliensis; Almquist Wiksell International,
1991)
John
Ireland BT738.5.E75 1991
15. Church and Labor in West Germany (Evangelical Social Academy in Germany, 1954)
Luther
Seminary BV627.H4
16. Ed Marciniak, Ethical
Guidelines for a Religious Institution Confronted by a Union (Chicago:
Institute of Urban Life; National Center for he Laity, 1984)
John
Ireland HD6338.2.U5 M37 1984
17. Charles Stelzle, The
Church and the Labor Movement (Philadelphia: American Baptist
Publication Society, 1910)
Bethel MF 261.85 S824
18. David J. Dallin and Boris I.
Nicolaevsky, Forced Labor in Soviet Russia (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1947).
Luther
Seminary HV8931.R8 D3
John
Ireland HV8931.R8 D3
19. John P. Windmuller, ed., Current
Issues in International Labor Relations (Philadelphia, 1957).
Bethel 309.173 A512 v.310
20. Chas E. Coughlin, Eight Lectures on Labor, Capital and Justice
(Royal Oak, Michigan: The Radio League of the Little Flower, 1934)
Bethel
West 261.8 C854E
21. Ethical Standards in Government. Report of a
Subcommittee of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States
Senate. Proposals for Improvement of Ethical Standards in the Federal
Government Including Establishment of a Commission on Ethics in Government (Washington: U.S. government Printing Office, 1951)
Luther
Seminary JK468.E7 US1E
22. Ethics in Business and Labor with an Introduction by Ralph Hernley
(Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1977)
Bethel 174.4 H586
Bethel
West 174.4 H586
United HF5387 H4.7
23. The Gospel for an Age of Labor (New York: no publisher and no date, only 7 page
document)
Luther
Seminary HD6338.K78G
24. Labor and Religion (Washington, D.C. : C.I.O., 1944)
Bethel 261.85 C749
25. Alice S. Cheyney, The
International Labor Organization (Philadelphia: No Publisher 1933)
Bethel 309.173 A512 v.166
26. Daphne Spain, Gendered Spaces (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1992)
United
HQ1150 S6.8
27. Social Vision for the Church and Labor (New Haven, Conn.: National Religion and Labor
Foundation, 1948)
Luther
Seminary BR115.E3 N3
28. Philip S. Foner, ed., We
the Other People: Alternative Declaration of Independence by Labor Groups,
farmers, Woman’s Rights advocates, Socialists, and Blacks, 1829-1975
(Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois press, 1976)
Bethel 322.2 W361
29. Seven Great Encyclicals (Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist
Press, 1963)
John
Ireland BX860.A4
[1] Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), pp. 28-49, 79-96 (emphasis added).
[2] Ministry is a much misused and wrongly perceived word and in recent times get associated with leadership which is then modeled on the market and corporate paradigms. The word ministry itself comes from the Greek verb “diakonein” and the noun “diakonos” and “diakone,” and “diakonia” – the service itself, all entails serving and waiting upon, or working for others, rather than the lording over others and managing like corporate executives.