Working. We spend most of our waking hours doing it but rarely consider its theological meanings or implications. Is work a punishment or curse, an avenue to human flourishing or something else? Is there a distinctively Christian approach to working? Darby Ray, whose work on Christology and ethics has emphasized the surprising breadth and elasticity of the Christian past, lifts up key insights from Christian scripture and tradition and considers their implications for today's complex, globalized world of work.

Theologian Darby Ray suggests turning Christian behavior from the compliant to the prophetic through "christic imagination." "Part of what it means to be a Christian," Ray says, "is to live creatively and courageously, using 'christic imagination' to confront evil in ingenious, unexpected ways." Ray's ethic of incarnation and ingenuity therefore imbues resistance and cunning with the power of the sacred and "recognizes ingenuity, imagination, cunning, surprise, and parody as appropriate and responsible responses to certain contexts and quandaries."