Historically, Christians have thought about ‘calling’ in terms of salvation in Christ as well as a particular calling to an ecclesial vocation, whether to some monastic order or office of the church. With the Protestant Reformation, many of the Reformers, including Luther and Calvin, sought to expand the meaning of ‘vocation’ to include everyday, mundane professions, as all of life was to be considered sacred. What are we moderns to make, then, of ‘vocation’ today?
Empirical research on work as a calling has grown exponentially over the last two decades; it is now a global and vibrant area of scholarship within the fields of psychology and organizational behavior. On Thursday, 15 May 2025 at 1400 UTC, Prof. Bryan Dik, Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University (USA), will discuss the results emerging from this research on calling from a Christian worldview and address questions of major interest to Christians, yet remain almost entirely overlooked within contemporary Christian discourse on calling and vocation.
In preparation for the webinar, take some time to read his 2023 article, ‘Understanding Work as a Calling: Contributions from Psychological Science’ in Christian Scholars Review.
