Dr. Steven Garber to present lecture “Meaningful Work for the Common Good” Nov. 1 at Ouachita
October 30, 2018
- Rachel BrutonOuachita Baptist University will host author Dr. Steven Garber for a guest lecture
titled “Meaningful Work for the Common Good” on Thursday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in
McBeth Recital Hall, located in Mabee Fine Arts Center. This lecture is free and open
to the public.
Garber is the author of “Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good,” which
seeks to inspire readers’ understanding of life and the meaning of vocation. The lecture
is a continuation of Ouachita’s campus-wide focus on “Lives of Meaningful Work,” a
phrase from the university mission statement.
In June of 2018, Ouachita was awarded a professional development grant from the Network
of Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE). Ouachita’s funded proposal, “Articulating
Vocation as Story for the Common Good,” brings Garber to Arkadelphia. Through the
lecture, he will encourage Ouachita students, faculty, staff and other attendees to
see their work, no matter the field, can help others flourish.
“Garber encourages everyone to consider working as more than pulling a paycheck,”
said Dr. Amy Sonheim, professor of English and leader of the grant project. “Especially
for college students in the audience, Garber wishes they regard their present coursework
as intrinsically valuable. He claims that the work of ‘knowing’ and ‘being known’
is one of the chief purposes in this life. In that light, studying in college could
be more than preparation for a future occupation. Studying could be the discovering
of multiple ways to relate and collaborate with others.
“While the work at Ouachita diversely takes place in laboratories, practice rooms,
gymnasiums, offices and pulpits, some students might judge some professions as more
significant than others,” Sonheim said. “Dr. Garber, however, offers his view of meaningful
work as less compartmentalized, allowing for ‘those who serve the marketplace of ideas
and commerce . . . those whose creative gifts nourish us all’ to claim their callings with zest.”
Garber is professor of marketplace theology and leadership at Regent College in Vancouver,
where he also serves as director of Regent’s new graduate program, the Master of Arts
in Leadership, Theology and Society.
Garber completed his Ph.D. in the philosophy of learning at Pennsylvania State University.
His dissertation led to the publication of his first book, “The Fabric of Faithfulness:
Weaving Together Belief and Behavior.” During his service as a faculty member of the
American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., he contributed to the book, “Faith Goes
to Work: Reflections from the Marketplace." Garber's work at the Washington Institute
and years of thinking about the nature of calling and career inspired him to write
“Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good.”
This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Amy
Sonheim, professor of English, at sonheima@obu.edu.
By Rachel Bruton
October 30, 2018
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