The Good Work of Non-Christians, Empowerment, and the New Creation

Have you ever considered the ultimate purposes and consequences of good work performed by non-Christians? Have you ever theologically considered the work of non-Christians at all? Is it possible that God would ever give credence to, let alone honor the work of, non-Christians in an ultimate sense? Are you frustrated by theologies of work that are entirely protological in orientation? How do we make sense of biblical excerpts that talk of work being judged towards a particular outcome?The Good Work of Non-Christians, Empowerment, and the New Creation attempts to answer these questions in a manner that also challenges evangelical assumptions about the ultimate outcomes of working life. Drawing strength from eschatologically minded theologies by Miroslav Volf and Darrell Cosden, Weir seeks to replace protology with eschatology in a theology of work about non-Christians. The British evangelical tradition is specifically taken up here so as to make critical assessments of certain airtight theologies regarding human action with reference to the new creation. This book attempts to create a heuristic against unhelpful hermeneutical tendencies that inform evangelical theologies. This is a work that is not only theological, it is biblically, historically, and ethically rigorous.''This book offers an important, fresh, and long-awaited scholarly contribution to ’Theology of Work’ literature, but is no less important for the study of the history of Evangelical theological ideas concerning eschatology, soteriology, and pneumatology. Weir’s proposal opens up, among other things, new possibilities for exploring how to express that Christ really is good news and of direct relevance to a non-Christian, whose life projects ultimately do matter within God’s loving, sovereign, and New Creation purposes.'' --Darrell Cosden, PhD, Professor of Theological Studies, Judson University; author of A Theology of Work: Work and the New Creation; The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work''Thoughtful and thought-provoking, in this lucid book Stuart Weir offers fresh insights on the work of writers such as Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, Thomas Chalmers, Richard Baxter, John Calvin, and John Wesley. Working from within his own tradition, Weir builds towards an original interpretation of the parable of the Sheep and Goats, creatively offering the reader new ways of thinking about theologies of work and the role of the Holy Spirit.'' --Jolyon Mitchell, University of EdinburghStuart C. Weir is the Distance Learning Program Coordinator and Adjunct Lecturer at International Christian College in Glasgow, Scotland.