The Prof Tells All

What The Prof Is Reading Now
The Call

Os Guinness, the Author of The Call writes that, "No book has burned within me longer or more fiercely than this one. The truth of calling has been as important to me in my journey of faith as any truth of the gospel of Jesus."

The China-born, Oxford-educated author, says that our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were placed here on earth. Any other standard (success, wealth, power, position, friendships) grows hollow if we do not satisfy this deepest longing.

As Walker Percy wrote, "You can get all A's and still flunk life."

Reading Guinness is (thus far for me) acknowledging that you are part of the endless human search for the purpose of life. This search, he writes, has been sharpened by the choices offered in modern Western Society, and the fact that ours is the first great civilization in history to have "no agreed-on answer" to the question about life's purpose. Capitalism, politics, science, psychology, etc., fall short when challenged by the ultimate question, "Why?"

Guinness, an Episcopalian and senior fellow at the Washington-based Trinity Forum, writes that the core of our existence is the truth that the Caller calls us to himself so decisively that "everything we are, do, and have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service."

Guinness also writes that the true view of Calling was really publicized in Martin Luther's book, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. "Writing as an Augustinian monk, he recommended the abolition of all orders and abstinence from all vows, contending that the contemplative life has no warrant in the Scriptures, and reinforces hypocrisy and arrogance."

The recovery of the holistic understanding of calling, Guinness argues, was paramount for Luther.

Abraham Kuyper, the great Dutch Prime Minister, once said: "There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, 'This is mine! This belongs to me!'"

Guinness won my approval, not only because I could hear blatant echoes of Lewis (and some MacDonald too), but because he tackles the true questions of Life, and doesn't cut corners. He wants to get down to the pith of why we are here, where we are headed, how we can find meaning in Life, and how we can ultimately fulfill the greatest destiny possible, if we will listen; because he reminds us that a Man from Nazareth says, 'Heed my call; follow me.'