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Worth Doing: Fallenness, Finitude, and Work in the Real World
A Hopeful Invitation to Reimagine Faith and Work
Conversations about faith and work often miss an important your limitations are not a problem; they’re a key part of what it means to be human. Work has always been part of our purpose, but we’re no longer in the perfect Garden of Eden, nor are we in the future new heavens and new earth. To truly address the challenges of work, we need a new perspective.
In Worth Doing, David Buschart and Ryan Tafilowski, embrace the realities of limitations, challenging the myths of “You are what you do” and “Do what you love.” Instead, they invite you to rethink work, proposing a theology of work that affirms the goodness of your limits while addressing the realities of fallenness, offering hope for those who may not find deep fulfillment in their daily jobs.
Buschart and Tafilowski provide a vision of work that resonates with all workers, recognizing that every job has value, even when it doesn’t align with our idealized notions of purpose or calling. By embracing this perspective, you can find new ways to approach your daily labor, even when it doesn’t feel deeply fulfilling.
In Worth Doing, you'
Gain a theology of work that moves beyond only ideas of productivity or calling; Learn how to embrace human limitations as part of God's good design; Address your own challenges with work with renewed hope.Worth Doing encourages you to see your limitations as gifts and offers hope for navigating the challenges of work. Whether you're a leader in the faith and work space; a Christian educator; a theologian exploring the intersections of work, faith, and rest; or a thoughtful Christian seeking to integrate your faith and work more deeply, this book is your invitation to move beyond popular ideas of faith and work to a hopeful, new theology of work that embraces your limits—get your copy today!
Conversations about faith and work often miss an important your limitations are not a problem; they’re a key part of what it means to be human. Work has always been part of our purpose, but we’re no longer in the perfect Garden of Eden, nor are we in the future new heavens and new earth. To truly address the challenges of work, we need a new perspective.
In Worth Doing, David Buschart and Ryan Tafilowski, embrace the realities of limitations, challenging the myths of “You are what you do” and “Do what you love.” Instead, they invite you to rethink work, proposing a theology of work that affirms the goodness of your limits while addressing the realities of fallenness, offering hope for those who may not find deep fulfillment in their daily jobs.
Buschart and Tafilowski provide a vision of work that resonates with all workers, recognizing that every job has value, even when it doesn’t align with our idealized notions of purpose or calling. By embracing this perspective, you can find new ways to approach your daily labor, even when it doesn’t feel deeply fulfilling.
In Worth Doing, you'
Gain a theology of work that moves beyond only ideas of productivity or calling; Learn how to embrace human limitations as part of God's good design; Address your own challenges with work with renewed hope.Worth Doing encourages you to see your limitations as gifts and offers hope for navigating the challenges of work. Whether you're a leader in the faith and work space; a Christian educator; a theologian exploring the intersections of work, faith, and rest; or a thoughtful Christian seeking to integrate your faith and work more deeply, this book is your invitation to move beyond popular ideas of faith and work to a hopeful, new theology of work that embraces your limits—get your copy today!
232 pages, Paperback
Published November 25, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 27, 2025
Buschart and Tafilowski argue against what they term the "faith and work movement", which they argue "has been devised by and for the creative class" and does not resonate with "blue- and no-collar workers". They seek to put forward a "realistic theology of work", which is rooted in "the middle" (between Eden and the new Jerusalem) – a "quotidian theology of work". The authors dedicate four out of five substantive chapters to expounding the finitude of mankind, the fall and its consequences, and the implications for work.
While I generally agree with the broad points, the authors paint a generally negative picture of work (excessively so, in my view). For example, in arguing that sin infects work and makes it tragic, they argue: "while it is surely true that "Christians should not work in the sin industries," such an assertion raises the question: What, exactly, is not a sin industry?" (ch 5). I am not sure about the utility of flattening sin to such an extent – is nursing as much a "sin industry" as production of pornography? Doubtful.
The authors also argue that "the great cultural mandate of cultivating the ground and filling the earth through fruitful multiplication-is, by definition, not directly accessible to humans living on this side of the fall." (ch 5) The authors do not address (and I wonder how they would) the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9, where the mandate is renewed with Noah after the flood and, crucially, after the Fall. I do not argue that the Fall left creation or human work untouched – surely it had an effect. I am just sceptical that the mandate is completely lost following the Fall, which would warrant the negative view of work that the authors paint.
In the final substantial chapter of the book (ch 6), titled "The Goodness of Finite and Fallen Work", the authors argue that work is instrumental – "something that must be done" – and this view of work "can supplement (but not replace) an intrinsic view of work" – that is, that "work [has] intrinsic dignity and value". The book thus ends by encouraging the reader: "constrained though it is by finitude and haunted as it is by the curse, work is nonetheless a good gift from the good God and therefore worth doing." (ch 7) While I agree with the conclusion, I got a slight sense of backlash from this ending. Throughout the book, the authors have not given a single argument on the goodness of work, nor explained how the goodness of work fits in the theology of work that they are proposing, yet in the final chapters they assert that work is good while maintaining the negative tone of work they spent the entire book building towards. Puzzling.
At the end of the book, I am still not sure of the authors' view of work and where the Fall and the intrinsic worth of work fall within it. For the lack of clarity (and not just because of my critiques of their pessimistic view of work), I would not recommend this book.
While I generally agree with the broad points, the authors paint a generally negative picture of work (excessively so, in my view). For example, in arguing that sin infects work and makes it tragic, they argue: "while it is surely true that "Christians should not work in the sin industries," such an assertion raises the question: What, exactly, is not a sin industry?" (ch 5). I am not sure about the utility of flattening sin to such an extent – is nursing as much a "sin industry" as production of pornography? Doubtful.
The authors also argue that "the great cultural mandate of cultivating the ground and filling the earth through fruitful multiplication-is, by definition, not directly accessible to humans living on this side of the fall." (ch 5) The authors do not address (and I wonder how they would) the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9, where the mandate is renewed with Noah after the flood and, crucially, after the Fall. I do not argue that the Fall left creation or human work untouched – surely it had an effect. I am just sceptical that the mandate is completely lost following the Fall, which would warrant the negative view of work that the authors paint.
In the final substantial chapter of the book (ch 6), titled "The Goodness of Finite and Fallen Work", the authors argue that work is instrumental – "something that must be done" – and this view of work "can supplement (but not replace) an intrinsic view of work" – that is, that "work [has] intrinsic dignity and value". The book thus ends by encouraging the reader: "constrained though it is by finitude and haunted as it is by the curse, work is nonetheless a good gift from the good God and therefore worth doing." (ch 7) While I agree with the conclusion, I got a slight sense of backlash from this ending. Throughout the book, the authors have not given a single argument on the goodness of work, nor explained how the goodness of work fits in the theology of work that they are proposing, yet in the final chapters they assert that work is good while maintaining the negative tone of work they spent the entire book building towards. Puzzling.
At the end of the book, I am still not sure of the authors' view of work and where the Fall and the intrinsic worth of work fall within it. For the lack of clarity (and not just because of my critiques of their pessimistic view of work), I would not recommend this book.
April 19, 2026
Summary: Addresses unrealistic theologies and ideas of work that do not reckon with our finitude and fallenness.
During seminary, I studied the theology of work. I remember discussions with a good friend who worked on an assembly line at an auto plant. When I talked of the dignity and intrinsic value of work, he wasn’t buying it. As it turns out, I was talking about the world of Genesis 1 and 2, where many of our theologies of work are based. He lived in Genesis 3. He found ways to serve God in his work, but not through the work itself. And he used his earnings to support family and church and pursue mission. But he wasn’t buying my talk of “dignity” and “intrinsic” worth.
Our conversation exemplifies the theme of this book. The authors of this work believe our theologies of work focus heavily on the creational intent of work. Even so, they ignore human finitude, something true of us prior to the fall. More egregiously, most treat lightly the effects of the fall on human work. Instead, we indulge sub-biblical slogans like “You are what you do” and “Do what you love.” We are far more than what we do, and many do not have the option of doing what we love, and none of us does that all the time in work we love.
First of all, they address the idea of creational finitude both more generally and then as it pertains to work. They discuss how finitude is a gift and not a limit and precedes the fall. In work, we are limited in both space and time, including the span of lives in which we work, or work for paid compensation. The chapter includes helpful insights on retirement, challenging the “Bible knows nothing of retirement” narrative.
Then, they turn to our fallenness. They focus on the phenomenology of sin, addressing the conditions it creates: absurdity, enmity, and tragedy. Then they show how this works out in the real world of work. They offer examples of the bad, absurd, enmitous, and even tragic work that is the lot of too many.
The final two chapter explore how we may constructively and realistically engage the world of work, reckoning with our finitude and fallenness. They call this a quotidian theology of work, a theology for the everyday, not the eschatologically ideal, whatever that is. Often, what we achieve in work is the “good enough,” what my friend Steve Garber, calls the proximate. They note how Paul speaks of work as simply a means of support, calling his own work “toil.” The authors also helpfully differentiate work and vocation, often collapsed into the same thing.
In addition, an appendix offers a helpful history of the faith and work movement, including many of the books I read on this over the years. They follow David Millers division of the movement into three waves: 1890-1940, the social gospel; 1946-1985, the rise of lay involvement and parachurch movements; 1985- present, the faith at work era, integrating faith and work. I found that a helpful framework.
More than that, I found the whole book helpful in addressing the lacuna in theologies of work, mine included. We address finitude in spiritual formation, but not in workplace theologies, where we live it out. And the discussion of the ways the fall manifests in work will hopefully prepare the rising generation not to be gob-smacked by the workplaces they encounter. Rather, it is hoped they might be better equipped to engage redemptively. This book is a refreshing, original contribution to the theology of work conversation!
_______________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
During seminary, I studied the theology of work. I remember discussions with a good friend who worked on an assembly line at an auto plant. When I talked of the dignity and intrinsic value of work, he wasn’t buying it. As it turns out, I was talking about the world of Genesis 1 and 2, where many of our theologies of work are based. He lived in Genesis 3. He found ways to serve God in his work, but not through the work itself. And he used his earnings to support family and church and pursue mission. But he wasn’t buying my talk of “dignity” and “intrinsic” worth.
Our conversation exemplifies the theme of this book. The authors of this work believe our theologies of work focus heavily on the creational intent of work. Even so, they ignore human finitude, something true of us prior to the fall. More egregiously, most treat lightly the effects of the fall on human work. Instead, we indulge sub-biblical slogans like “You are what you do” and “Do what you love.” We are far more than what we do, and many do not have the option of doing what we love, and none of us does that all the time in work we love.
First of all, they address the idea of creational finitude both more generally and then as it pertains to work. They discuss how finitude is a gift and not a limit and precedes the fall. In work, we are limited in both space and time, including the span of lives in which we work, or work for paid compensation. The chapter includes helpful insights on retirement, challenging the “Bible knows nothing of retirement” narrative.
Then, they turn to our fallenness. They focus on the phenomenology of sin, addressing the conditions it creates: absurdity, enmity, and tragedy. Then they show how this works out in the real world of work. They offer examples of the bad, absurd, enmitous, and even tragic work that is the lot of too many.
The final two chapter explore how we may constructively and realistically engage the world of work, reckoning with our finitude and fallenness. They call this a quotidian theology of work, a theology for the everyday, not the eschatologically ideal, whatever that is. Often, what we achieve in work is the “good enough,” what my friend Steve Garber, calls the proximate. They note how Paul speaks of work as simply a means of support, calling his own work “toil.” The authors also helpfully differentiate work and vocation, often collapsed into the same thing.
In addition, an appendix offers a helpful history of the faith and work movement, including many of the books I read on this over the years. They follow David Millers division of the movement into three waves: 1890-1940, the social gospel; 1946-1985, the rise of lay involvement and parachurch movements; 1985- present, the faith at work era, integrating faith and work. I found that a helpful framework.
More than that, I found the whole book helpful in addressing the lacuna in theologies of work, mine included. We address finitude in spiritual formation, but not in workplace theologies, where we live it out. And the discussion of the ways the fall manifests in work will hopefully prepare the rising generation not to be gob-smacked by the workplaces they encounter. Rather, it is hoped they might be better equipped to engage redemptively. This book is a refreshing, original contribution to the theology of work conversation!
_______________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
December 17, 2025
"Worth Doing" is a good read on having a more realistic view of work in our fallen world. Indeed, some books seem to try to convince the reader that total fulfillment in life can be found in a great job while other titles seem to be totally negative about work and its value to people.
Around 200 pages, some of the many points made in the book include:
- While there are limits to work, we can still live in a relationship with our Creator.
- The frustration of not having enough time to do all the work we want to do.
- Experiencing retirement after work.
- The effects of sin on the workplace.
- How humanity's rebellion against God affects life and the workplace.
- Proposed criteria of what defines good work.
- The reality that many people today live and work without a sense of vocational fulfillment.
- Results of bad work in the workplace and the world.
- Whether we acknowledge it or not, God is involved in our work.
- While work and its results are not perfect in a fallen world, it can be good enough.
What I like about this title:
- Has a realistic view of work and includes the limitations of human nature in the workplace.
- Very well-organized - in the introduction the authors clearly state how the book is organized and what is covered in each chapter.
- Includes a thorough scripture and general index.
- Written from a Christian perspective that deals with the reality of work instead of trying to inspire the reader with motivational hype.
- While an academic read, the book can be challenging to read but not overwhelming with academic jargon that may confuse or turn off the reader.
Overall, a good read and recommended. I was given a review by IVP in exchange for a fair review and appreciate the opportunity.
Around 200 pages, some of the many points made in the book include:
- While there are limits to work, we can still live in a relationship with our Creator.
- The frustration of not having enough time to do all the work we want to do.
- Experiencing retirement after work.
- The effects of sin on the workplace.
- How humanity's rebellion against God affects life and the workplace.
- Proposed criteria of what defines good work.
- The reality that many people today live and work without a sense of vocational fulfillment.
- Results of bad work in the workplace and the world.
- Whether we acknowledge it or not, God is involved in our work.
- While work and its results are not perfect in a fallen world, it can be good enough.
What I like about this title:
- Has a realistic view of work and includes the limitations of human nature in the workplace.
- Very well-organized - in the introduction the authors clearly state how the book is organized and what is covered in each chapter.
- Includes a thorough scripture and general index.
- Written from a Christian perspective that deals with the reality of work instead of trying to inspire the reader with motivational hype.
- While an academic read, the book can be challenging to read but not overwhelming with academic jargon that may confuse or turn off the reader.
Overall, a good read and recommended. I was given a review by IVP in exchange for a fair review and appreciate the opportunity.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews