Calling All Years Good: Christian Vocation throughout Life's Seasons

by Kathleen A. Cahalan, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore

Overview

A uniquely comprehensive discussion of vocation from infancy to old age
Do infants have a vocation? Do Alzheimer's patients? In popular culture, vocation is often reduced to adult work or church ministry. Rarely do we consider childhood or old age as crucial times for commencing or culminating a life of faith in response to God's calling.
This book addresses that gap by showing how vocation emerges and evolves over the course of an entire lifetime. The authors cover six of life's distinct seasons, weaving together personal narrative, developmental theory, case studies, and spiritual practices. Calling All Years Good grounds the discussion of vocation in concrete realities and builds a cohesive framework for understanding calling throughout all of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467447867
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	07/05/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	519 KB

About the Author

Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of practical theology at Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary, Collegeville, Minnesota. Her previous work includes Calling in Today's World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives and The Stories We Live: Finding God's Calling All around Us.
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Christian Theology in Practice: Discovering a Discipline.
Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of theology at Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary, Collegeville, Minnesota.
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt University.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: Finding Life's Purposes in God's Purposes Kathleen A. Cahalan 1

2 Callings over a Lifetime: In Relationship, through the Body, over Time, and for Community Kathleen A. Cahalan 12

Introducing Biblical Interludes: Vocation in the Family of God Jane Patterson 33

Childhood: One Such Child Jane Patterson 36

3 Childhood: The (Often Hidden yet Lively) Vocational Life of Children Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore 38

Siblings: Am I My Brother's Keeper? Jane Patterson 63

Adolescence: Gad Looks on the Heart Jane Patterson 65

4 Adolescence: Vocation in Performance, Passion, and Possibility Katherine Turpin 67

Younger Adulthood: A Voice from Within Jane Patterson 92

5 Younger Adulthood: Exploring Callings in the Midst of Uncertainty Katherine Turpin 95

Points of Decision in Adulthood Jane Patterson 119

6 Middle Adulthood: The Joys and Paradoxes of Vocation Matt Bloom 123

Elders: Ultimate Values Jane Patterson 148

7 Late Adulthood: Seeking Vocation Once Again Kathleen A. Cahalan 150

Blessing the Next Generation Jane Patterson 171

8 Older Adulthood: Vocation at Life's End Joyce Ann Mercer 174

Resurrection and God's Vindication Jane Patterson 198

Notes 200

Contributors 227

Editorial Reviews

Dorothy C. Bass 
coeditor of Leading Lives That Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be
— Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith
“Calling All Years Good brings a genuinely new and remarkably helpful set of perspectives to today's lively conversation about vocation. By focusing on the distinctive character of vocation in different seasons of life, the authors help us to understand and appreciate the gifts and challenges of each. Their work will inform and inspire those who minister with a specific age group, such as children, youth, or the elderly. Further, it will encourage intergenerational communities of faith—especially congregations—to cultivate relationships across age-group lines, strengthening the capacity of all to respond to God's call.”

Edward P. Hahnenberg
author of Awakening Vocation: A Theology of Christian Call
— John Carroll University
“Another great book from the Collegeville Institute! Kathleen A. Cahalan and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore have drawn together a circle of wise and reflective conversation partners who have much to share. These chapters widen our vocational vision beyond that crucial time of young adulthood in order to contemplate the many ways God calls each of us at every moment of our lives. I know of no other book that takes such a serious and sustained look at the life stages of vocation. It has offered insight into the life of my children, my parents, and myself.”

Douglas J. Schuurman
author of Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life
— St. Olaf College
“Calling All Years Good develops an insightful and theologically rich understanding of vocation, a nuanced and textured interpretation of the stages of the life cycle, and a brilliant fusion of the two. Cahalan, Miller-McLemore, and other leading scholars combine the best social-science research on the stages of life with cutting-edge practical theology focusing on vocation to create a volume that is must reading for pastors, church leaders, and thoughtful Christians. There is no other book that treats this subject with such excellence, clarity, and insight.

From the Publisher