The End of Work

Reviews / Votes

"These two excellent books provide thematic indices of Christianways of understanding both power and work. They also illustrate howprofoundly the repertoire of Christianity and of its Judaic originspermeates contemporary society in spite of the impossibleprescriptions and false descriptions that declare religion confinedto the private realm." (Times Literary Supplement, 29 July 2011) "Adam was expelled from the garden of Eden to till the ground inthe sweat of his face, so the bible says, leaving us with centuriesof theological argument about how to relate the reality for so manypeople of work as toil, drudgery and effectively a curse, to theequally familiar experience of work as creative achievement andpersonal fulfilment. Post-Christian we may now be in Britain, yetin a society still reeling from de-industrialization, withunemployment endemic in certain quarters, with leisure activitiesexpanding vastly, and so on, there is a rich and complex Christiantradition of thinking about the nature of work which John Hughesputs back on the agenda in this provocative book." Fergus Kerr,University of Oxford "John Hughes has written not about work but about the 'end' ofwork. But this is the most far-reaching question imaginable inpractical reason. To what end do we exert ourselves at all? What dowe hope to achieve? Through a tour of reading in nineteenth andtwentieth century thinkers that is as subtle and sympathetic as itis diverse and adventurous he has shown us how the ancient strugglebetween the fine and the useful has been played out dramatically inthe post-industrial West, and holds the key to a great deal that wethink of as modernity. Here is an exciting new voice contributingto the interpretation of our moral predicaments. I cannot imagineanyone putting Hughes' book down without having learnedsomething important." Oliver O'Donovan, University ofEdinburgh "Its strength lies in its illuminating discussions of a fairlywide range of writers." Times Higher Education Supplement "Adam was expelled from the garden of Eden to till the ground inthe sweat of his face, so the bible says, leaving us with centuriesof theological argument about how to relate the reality for so manypeople of work as toil, drudgery and effectively a curse, to theequally familiar experience of work as creative achievement andpersonal fulfilment. Post-Christian we may now be in Britain, yetin a society still reeling from de-industrialization, withunemployment endemic in certain quarters, with leisure activitiesexpanding vastly, and so on, there is a rich and complex Christiantradition of thinking about the nature of work which John Hughesputs back on the agenda in this provocative book." Fergus Kerr,University of Oxford "John Hughes has written not about work but about the 'end' ofwork. But this is the most far-reaching question imaginable inpractical reason. To what end do we exert ourselves at all? What dowe hope to achieve? Through a tour of reading in nineteenth andtwentieth century thinkers that is as subtle and sympathetic as itis diverse and adventurous he has shown us how the ancient strugglebetween the fine and the useful has been played out dramatically inthe post-industrial West, and holds the key to a great deal that wethink of as modernity. Here is an exciting new voice contributingto the interpretation of our moral predicaments. I cannot imagineanyone putting Hughes' book down without having learnedsomething important." Oliver O'Donovan, University ofEdinburgh "Its strength lies in its illuminating discussions of a fairlywide range of writers." Times Higher Education Supplement