Callings And Consequences

The concept of vocation in an early modern setting calls to mind the priesthood or religious life in a monastery or cloister; to be “called” by God meant to leave the concerns of the world behind. Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, French Catholic clergy began to promote the innovative idea that everyone, even an ordinary layperson, was called to a vocation or “state of life” and that discerning this call correctly had implications for one’s happiness and salvation, and for the social good. In Callings and Consequences Christopher Lane analyzes the origins, growth, and influence of a culture of vocation that became a central component of the Catholic Reformation and its legacy in France. The reformers’ new vision of the choice of a state of life was marked by four characteristics: urgency (the realization that one’s soul was at stake), inclusiveness (the belief that everyone, including lay people, was called by God), method (the use of proven discernment practices), and liberty (the belief that this choice must be free from coercion, especially by parents). No mere passing phenomena, these vocational reforms engendered enduring beliefs and practices within the repertoire of global Catholic modernity, even to the present day. An illuminating and sometimes surprising history of pastoral reform, Callings and Consequences helps us to understand the history of Catholic vocational culture and its role in the modernizing process, within Christianity and beyond.

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How do we know if we're following our true callings? How do we sharpen our senses to cut through the distractions of everyday reality and hear the calls that are beckoning us? is the first book to examine the many kinds of calls we receive and the great variety of channels through which they come to us. A calling may be to do something (change careers, go back to school, have a child) or to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). While honoring a calling's essential mystery, this book also guides readers to ask and answer the fundamental questions that arise from any calling: How do we recognize it? How do we distinguish the true call from the siren song? How do we handle our resistance to a call? What happens when we say yes? What happens when we say no? Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and powerful stories of people who have followed their own calls, Gregg Levoy shows us the many ways to translate a calling into action. In a style that is poetic, exuberant, and keenly insightful, he presents an illuminating and ultimately practical inquiry into how we listen and respond to our calls, whether at work or at home, in our relationships or in service. Callings is a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity.

What does it mean to pursue a calling? According to Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, it may mean ambiguity, uncertainty, and even suffering--but that's what makes it worthwhile. Drawing on over thirty years of research and concrete examples from history, fiction, and her own experience, she delves into the inherent complexities around the pursuit of a calling and the lie that meaning in life is as simple as following your bliss. Instead, the path to meaning is rocky and uncertain--and that is exactly what makes it worth following.

Although religious conversions have been studied psychologically for over 100 years, there are no comparable investigations of religious callings. This inattention on the part of the psychological-psychiatric community is all the more striking in light of the suggestion that, like conversions, callings often have a positive impact on the personalities of those effected. In this book Doctor Lewis presents a first look at some of the psychological antecedents and consequences described by those men and women called to the priesthood or diaconate in the Episcopal Church. As one part of his in-depth interviews with 108 such persons their calling narratives were obtained. All but a handful described one of three developmental trajectories as the psychological context of their callings. One group described growing up in healthy families of origin and normal levels of adjustment during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The calling narratives of the other two groups begin with traumatic experiences in dysfunctional childhood families and the struggle to cope successfully with those adversities. One of the two groups related their callings to a healing marriage, the experience of a new and transformiong romantic relationship. The other group's calling narratives centered about a severe crisis and their successful attempts to overcome such adversities. Finally, Lewis reviews his interview findings that suggest that callings and psychological maturation are intertwined. This book will interest a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life who are fascinated by the interface of religion and psychology. It should be particularly informative for those who are responsible for selecting and educating our future clergy. Psychiatrists and psychologists interested in adult development and maturation will also find much of interest.

"This book presents an examination of the ways in which Renaissance humanism and the Catholic and Protestant Reformations interacted to create the modern state."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When you understand it properly, the doctrine of vocation—"doing everything for God's glory"—is not a platitude or an outdated notion. This principle that we vaguely apply to our lives and our work is actually the key to Christian ethics, to influencing our culture for Christ, and to infusing our ordinary, everyday lives with the presence of God. For when we realize that the "mundane" activities that consume most of our time are "God's hiding places," our perspective changes. Culture expert Gene Veith unpacks the biblical, Reformation teaching about the doctrine of vocation, emphasizing not what we should specifically do with our time or what careers we are called to, but what God does in and through our callings—even within the home. In each task He has given us—in our workplaces and families, our churches and society—God Himself is at work. Veith guides you to discover God's purpose and calling in those seemingly ordinary areas by providing you with a spiritual framework for thinking about such issues and for acting upon them with a changed perspective.

Although religious conversions have been studied psychologically for over 100 years, there are no comparable investigations of religious callings. This inattention on the part of the psychological-psychiatric community is all the more striking in light of the suggestion that, like conversions, callings often have a positive impact on the personalities of those effected. In this book Doctor Lewis presents a first look at some of the psychological antecedents and consequences described by those men and women called to the priesthood or diaconate in the Episcopal Church. As one part of his in-depth interviews with 108 such persons their calling narratives were obtained. All but a handful described one of three developmental trajectories as the psychological context of their callings. One group described growing up in healthy families of origin and normal levels of adjustment during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The calling narratives of the other two groups begin with traumatic experiences in dysfunctional childhood families and the struggle to cope successfully with those adversities. One of the two groups related their callings to a healing marriage, the experience of a new and transformiong romantic relationship. The other group's calling narratives centered about a severe crisis and their successful attempts to overcome such adversities. Finally, Lewis reviews his interview findings that suggest that callings and psychological maturation are intertwined. This book will interest a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life who are fascinated by the interface of religion and psychology. It should be particularly informative for those who are responsible for selecting and educating our future clergy. Psychiatrists and psychologists interested in adult development and maturation will also find much of interest.

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