Digniity Of Work By Ken Keller

Keller starts his book out with the fact that work was destined in the very beginning. It was something that God had done when he created the earth during the seven days of creation. God had worked to create the things on earth instead of simply willing it into existence. He had created everything and saw that it was good, which leads to Keller’s second point. Work is something that God views as good. Contrary to today’s society’s view on work as a necessary evil, work in the Bible from the beginning is viewed as good. It is as Keller says, “part of paradise,” (23) which is seen when God worked and cared for Adam in the Garden of Eden before the fall. He then proceeds on in the chapter stating that work is “foundational to our makeup” (24)

The Greeks viewed work as a necessary evil and, in fact, believed in non-attachment to the physical world. They promoted the idea of being uninvolved and un-invested in the world as much as possible and valued cognitive and non-physical work. While time has passed, the influence of Greeks is still prevalent in Western society as Keller points out. Though the focus of work is making money, the disdain of service or low paying jobs (janitor, gardener, and etc) compared to knowledge or high paying jobs (CEO, manager, and etc) is still apparent and common, Service jobs are viewed as lower status due to its low pay, thus it is deemed insulting and beneath one’s level. Despite society’s view, Keller states that there is dignity in all kinds of work because God sees all work as equal. There is no difference between “secular” work and “sacred “work; work was given to mankind by God. “Work has dignity because it is something that God does and because we do it in God’s place, as his