From Library Journal
"To live well is to work well," wrote Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, yet many people are reporting to jobs every day that provide little satisfaction. Fox, a former Catholic priest and widely published author (Creation Spirituality, LJ 5/1/91), asserts that life and livelihood are about spirit. He contrasts the machine era, when the universe was perceived as a machine, with the green ("sheen") era, when the universe is seen as a mystery and where God is in all things. Arguing that all work should have dignity, Fox envisions a work world in which intellect, heart, and health harmonize to celebrate the whole person. Though Fox achieves his aims of providing an essay in "deep ecumenism," his philosophy of work seems to have little practical relevance to the work world. Recommended for libraries with modern philosophy and creation spirituality collections.Ravonne A. Green, Emmanuel Coll. Lib., Franklin Springs, Ga.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.



"Impassioned...life-affirming."



"A big step toward a new, promising age of human scale and sacred context."



"A sweeping, enticing vision, pulsing with Fox's unrelenting passion."


Book Description
In The Reinvention of Work, radical priest Matthew Fox draws on a rich legacy of great mystics and philosophers and proposes a spirituality of work. As Thomas Aquinas said, "To live well is to work well," and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony--a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic "soul work."


About the Author
Matthew Fox (left) is a priest and director of the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality in Oakland, California. Silenced by the Vatican in 1989, he was formally dismissed by the Dominican order in the spring of 1993 after a five-year struggle over his radical views. Fox is the author of many books, including The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Creation Spirituality, and Sheer Joy.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

How many of us can really say that our work life is in balance with our personal life - that our values and desires are reflected in our daily vocation, that our personal life and professional life are integrated, or that we find satisfaction, not a crushing defeat of the spirit, in our workday existence? According to most polls and reports, very few of us do. Now controversial author and radical priest Matthew Fox shares his thoughts on one of the focal points of our lives - work. Like E. F. Schumacher before him, Fox has a unitive vision of the world. He urges us to overcome our feelings of isolation, insecurity, and alienation in our work lives and to embrace a vision of the world where the self is not sacrificed for a job, but is sanctified by authentic "soul work." He envisions a world where intellect, heart, and health come together in a harmony of essential life experiences that celebrates the whole person. Fox shatters industrial-age models of work by applying the principles of the new cosmology, calling on the prophetic voices from an array of professions - people who are asking critical questions about the way they work. Drawing on the rich legacy of great mystical teachings - from Hildegard of Bingen to Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart, and the Bhagavad Gita - Fox proposes as a foundation for true work a spirituality rooted in the interconnectedness of all things. Like Thomas Aquinas before him, Matthew Fox believes that "to live well is to work well" and sets out to reconnect the postindustrial world to the Great Work of the universe. He addresses our unemployment crisis and our work crisis with a whole new model of livelihood for our time.

FROM THE CRITICS

Thomas Moore

A big step toward a new, promising age of human scale and sacred context.

San Francisco Chronicle

A sweeping, enticing vision, pulsing with Fox's unrelenting passion.

New Age Journal

Impassioned...life-affirming.

National Catholic Reporter