Christian Vocation throughout Life’s Seasons
Kathleen A. Cahalan and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, editors (Eerdmans, 2017)
A uniquely comprehensive discussion of vocation
from infancy to old age
Do infants have a vocation? Do Alzheimer’s patients? In popular culture, vocation is often reduced to adult work or church ministry. Rarely do we consider childhood or old age as crucial times for commencing or culminating a life of faith in response to God’s calling.
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This book addresses that gap by showing how vocation emerges and evolves over the course of an entire lifetime. The authors cover six of life’s distinct seasons, weaving together personal narrative, developmental theory, case studies, and spiritual practices.
Contents:
- Callings over a Lifetime—Kathleen A. Cahalan
- Childhood: The (Often Hidden Yet Lively) Vocational Life of Children—Bonnie Miller-McLemore
- Adolescence: Vocation in Performance, Passion, and Possibility—Katherine Turpin
- Younger Adulthood: Exploring Callings in the Midst of Uncertainty—Katherine Turpin
- Middle Adulthood: The Joys and Paradoxes of Vocation—Matt Bloom
- Late Adulthood: Seeking Vocation Once Again—Kathleen A. Cahalan
- Older Adulthood: Vocation at Life’s End—Joyce Ann Mercer
- Nine biblical interludes on vocation—Jane Patterson
Calling All Years Good is an important resource for ministry students, pastors, chaplains, and spiritual directors who serve in congregations, church camps, campus ministries, retreat centers, schools, and health care facilities.
“Another great book from the Collegeville Institute! Cahalan and Miller-McLemore have drawn together a circle of wise and reflective conversation partners who have much to share. The chapters widen our vocational vision beyond that crucial time of young adulthood in order to contemplate the many ways God calls each of us at every moment of our lives. I know of no other book that takes such a serious and sustained look at the life stages of vocation. It offered insight into the life of my children, my parents, and myself.”
—Edward P. Hahnenberg, Ph.D., is the author of Awakening Vocation: A Theology of Christian Call (Liturgical Press, 2010) and Theology for Ministry (Liturgical Press, 2014)
Meet the Editors
Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of practical theology at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary, Collegeville, Minnesota. Her previous work includes Calling in Today’s World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives and The Stories We Live: Finding God’s Calling All around Us.
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Christian Theology in Practice: Discovering a Discipline.
