Leading Lives That Matter draws together a wide range of texts -- including fiction, autobiography, and philosophy -- offering challenge and insight to those who are thinking about what to do with the
Leading Lives That Matter draws together a wide range of texts -- including fiction, autobiography, and philosophy -- offering challenge and insight to those who are thinking about what to do with their lives. Instead of giving prescriptive advice, Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass approach the subject of vocation as an ongoing conversation. They include in this conversation some of the Western tradition's best writings on human life -- its meaning, purpose, and significance -- ranging from ancient Greek poetry to contemporary fiction. Including Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilych as an extended epilogue, this volume will help readers clarify and deepen how they think about their own lives.
Congregations
"Humanizes the sometimes daunting task of self-discovery and the work required to live a life of purpose."
Critique
"We recommend Leading Lives That Matter to parents, pastors, Sunday school teachers, and small group leaders. The book is centered on a topic of perennial importance and instead of purporting to tell us how to live meaningfully, it invites us to join a conversation in order to develop wisdom in living."
Amy and Leon Kass
-- University of Chicago
"Leading Lives That Matter speaks directly to the universal desire and urgent need to know what one should do and who one should be. Its broad range of texts, each aptly chosen and engagingly introduced, arms readers with a richer, more deeply textured vocabulary for thinking about these matters and with stunning models and examples of lives wonderfully lived."
Miroslav Volf
-- Yale Divinity School
"We are overwhelmed, we are self-absorbed, we feel melancholy emptiness -- most of us and more often than we like. Yet we long for our lives to contribute to something truly great, something that transcends our individual selves. Here is an excellent tool that helps us reflect on how our lives acquire depth and weight, that offers guidance about who we should be and what we should do if we are to lead lives that truly matter."
Sharon Daloz Parks
-- author of Leadership Can Be Taught
"An elegantly crafted anthology and a treasure trove for the soul. Nuggets of insight, a gem of a story, or a strand of meaningful argument will capture your eye, reshape your heart and mind, and strengthen your resolve to listen more attentively -- in the good company of these many authors -- to the haunting, healing, creative sense of calling that yields the gift we call vocation -- a life of meaning, purpose, and significance. Claim this book for yourself -- and several more copies for the people you love."
Mark U. Edwards Jr.
-- Harvard Divinity School
"How can I earn a living while living a worthwhile life? Leading Lives That Matter includes some of the most insightful authors to write about this question in a contemporary (or timeless) idiom. . . Highly recommended."
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