1. The Call Os Guinness 1998 Chapters 10-18

2. 2 Our Utmost for His Highest Still (Chapter 10)  “…there is no higher or more ultimate passion than a human being ablaze with a desire for God.” (p. 75)

3. 3 Our Utmost for His Highest Still (Chapter 10)  “…God’s calling is the key to igniting a passion for the deepest growth and highest heroism in life”--Pascal (p. 78)

4. 4 Our Utmost for His Highest Still (Chapter 10)  The Fall of Heroism  Debunking—Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud  Fewer Heroes—media creations  “A big name rather than a big person, the celebrity is someone for whom character is nothing, coverage is all” (p. 78).  “Death of God”

5. 5 Our Utmost for His Highest Still (Chapter 10)  The Secret of Growth & Key to Heroism  The Challenge of God’s Call  Singled out -> sent out -> standing up  Imitating God  “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”--Paul (p. 81).  Is NOT self-help spirituality  God is Original; we are imitations  Imitation is real, live action

6. 6 Where the Buck Stops, There Stand I (Chapter 11)  “The notion of calling is vital to the modern search for a basis for moral responsibility and to an understanding of ethics itself” (85).

7. 7 Where the Buck Stops, There Stand I (Chapter 11)  R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y  for or to?  our life = response to God  = obedience (p. 86-87)

8. 8 Where the Buck Stops, There Stand I (Chapter 11)  Morality  Community standards  Anonymity  Audience of One (p. 88-89)

9. 9 People of the Call (Chapter 12)  “…the call of Jesus is personal but not purely individual; Jesus summons his followers not only to an individual calling but also to a corporate calling” (p. 93).

10. 10 People of the Call (Chapter 12)  Community in Modernity  shift from voluntary to involuntary  bias against institutions  voluntary associations  shift from moral agency from institutions to individuals (p. 93-95)

11. 11 People of the Call (Chapter 12)  Called to Community  “the people of Israel” (p. 96)  denominationalism

12. 12 People of the Call (Chapter 12)  Challenging Individualism  attend worship services  The “Christian Way”  Reformation (p. 97-99)

13. 13 Followers of The Way (Chapter 13)  “Calling reminds Christians ceaselessly that, far from having arrived, a Christian is someone who in this life is always on the read as a ‘follower of Christ’ and a follower of ‘the Way’” (102).

14. 14 Followers of The Way (Chapter 13)  Objections to Christianity  Formalizing and Routinizing  Christians  “Jesus, save me from your followers” (p. 102).

15. 15 Followers of The Way (Chapter 13)  Life as Journey  Followers only when we follow  “Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?” (p. 105).  Life is a Journey  Different stages of the Journey (p. 105-108)

16. 16 There But for the Grace of God Goes God (Chapter 14)  “The reverse side of calling is the temptation of conceit” (p. 112).

17. 17 There But for the Grace of God Goes God (Chapter 14)  “All truth in a fallen world is vulnerable to distortion” (p. 113).  Chosen, Gifted, Special

18. 18 There But for the Grace of God Goes God (Chapter 14)  PRIDE  vice or virtue?  Synonyms:  “egotism, arrogance, hubris, selfishness, vanity, haughtiness, presumption, boastfulness, big-headedness, self- satisfaction, self-centeredness” (p. 116).  There is no “I” in Grace

19. 19 What is That to You? (Chapter 15)  “The truth of calling touches closely on the link between giftedness and desire and the almost inescapable temptation of envy” (p. 122-123).

20. 20 What is That to You? (Chapter 15)  Revenge of Failure  “if we are not inclined to submit to the rigors of the discipline, we destroy the standards and pass ourselves off as acceptable”—Henry Fairlie (p. 123)

21. 21 What is That to You? (Chapter 15)  Envy  Cancer of Envy  Envy changes the question  Envy meets at the crossroads of gift/desire/call  Competition  Distorts the perception of the call of others (p. 124-125)

22. 22 What is That to You? (Chapter 15)  Follow ME  “Comparisons are idle, speculations about others a waste of time, and envy as silly as it is evil” (p. 126)

23. 23 What is That to You? (Chapter 15)  Follow ME  John 21 John 21

24. 24 More, More, Faster, Faster (Chapter 16)  “…calling, which played a key role in the rise of modern capitalism, is one of the few truths capable of guiding and restraining it now” (p. 129).

25. 25 More, More, Faster, Faster (Chapter 16)  “…unless there was vigilance, a sense of calling would bring forth prosperity, only to result in prosperity’s destroying the sense of calling” (p. 128)—Cotton Mather  “Originally…the menace of unrestrained economic impulse was held in check by the Protestant ethic—people worked in response to their calling. But now, with this ethic dissolved, including its moral attitudes toward hard work and saving, only hedonism remains” (p. 128-129).

26. 26 More, More, Faster, Faster (Chapter 16)  “No one can master money without mastering the meaning of money” (p. 129).  Mammon Mammon  Avarice  Single-mindedness  Other “needs”  Being consumed  Commodity  Inability to purchase desires  “Just a little bit more”—J.D. Rockefeller, Sr. (p. 132)

27. 27 Combating the Noonday Demon (Chapter 17)  “…calling is the best antidote to the deadly sin of sloth” (p. 139).

28. 28 Combating the Noonday Demon (Chapter 17)  Sloth  4 th deadly sin  Most misunderstood  Characteristically modern

29. 29 Combating the Noonday Demon (Chapter 17)  Sloth  Spiritual dejection  Inner despair  Noonday demon

30. 30 Combating the Noonday Demon (Chapter 17)  The Modern Sloth  Loss of Faith in God  Bartleby’s “dead-end passivity” (p. 141).  Cultural—creature comforts  “Better barbarism than boredom!” (p. 142)— Theophile Gautier

31. 31 Combating the Noonday Demon (Chapter 17)  Discouragement through failure  Success/significance  Not secular v. religious but inspired gifts & calling v. career

32. 32 A World With Windows (Chapter 18)  “…calling directly counters the great modern pressure toward secularization because the call of Jesus includes a summons to the exercise of the spiritual disciplines and the experience of supernatural realities” (p. 148)

33. 33 A World With Windows (Chapter 18)  Science and Technology (p. 148)  Managing without God  Call v. Secularization  Kingdom life  Spiritual Discipline  Busy Lives  Sustaining the Call  Work, Play, Worship ???

34. 34 Coming up... November 15: Guinness chapters 19-26 On the horizon: 11/22: Critical Essay #3 (PPT format)