Excellence As Engagement

Bahnsen's New Book, Jazz Virtuosity, &tc.

Image generated by Bing Artificial Intelligence in response to the query: “Visualize ten thousand hours.” AI still has the hardest time with analog clocks, I see!

Dear Friends,

I think I have been a bit derelict and tardy in promoting or telling you about David Bahnsen’s new book, Full Time: Work & The Meaning of Life. It’s been officially “out” for a couple of weeks and while I’ve mentioned it on social media in a few places, I haven’t yet written anything about it in this space.

So, first things first: Click on this link to go to the book’s dedicated website, where you will find excerpts, blurbs (including one from yours truly), reviews, and David’s outstanding podcast limited series “On The Hook.” If you missed it, David has added two excellent bonus episodes you’ll want to hear.

Full Time is a timely book. Just last week I was participating in an academic colloquium on Faith & Work and cannot tell you how many times I thought, Hmm. I think all these people really should read David’s new book. He addresses so many issues in compelling ways. But the thing I most appreciate about it is that there is no hint, not even a whiff, of “setting aside” his deepest convictions about Jesus and theology in order to make some kind of “value neutral” case—you know, to argue without all the religious stuff. Why can’t you make the argument in ways that are more palatable to the skeptical or agnostic crowd? David often gets challenged about this (most recently by Jonah Goldberg on his podcast), and he always has a great answer that I have taken the liberty of perfecting in a more pithy way:

“Why would I make an argument I don’t believe?”

The Christian religion and all that it entails is simply what David believes and, further, he believes that Christianity provides the very metaphysical, moral, and intellectual foundations for his premise: that we were made to work. In sum: Full Time is a full-throated promotion of work and labor from a distinctly Christian point of view. It is in light of this that I found the following photograph simply amazing.

That, my friends, is a window display at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 5th Avenue in New York City. I am reliably assured that nobody got paid a dime to do this. When was the last time an overtly Christian theological book was displayed in such a way in New York City? Think about it for a second. I don’t think they did this for Tim LaHaye and his Left Behind series. I doubt they did this for Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life. They don’t do this for Joel Osteen. They might have done this for Tim Keller a time or two, given his notoriety in New York, but I doubt it.

I frankly find it shocking to see my friend’s almost ridiculously unapologetic “faith-based” book displayed like this. And I daresay it ought to be example and inspiration to the rest of us. This is what cultural engagement ought to look like. To be so excellent, so hard-working, so compelling in the actual marketplace of ideas—not smaller subculture marketplaces—that the actual wider world takes notice. We are so often too comfortable in our little subcultures and ghettoes. We don’t work and produce for the wider world, just our little “faith-based” niches.

If he were of a mind, David could practically mint his own money if, at his level of success and expertise, he built a platform as a “faith-based finance guru” (he’d make Dave Ramsey’s income look like pocket change—well, actually, to be honest, he probably already does that by way of his current day job). But no; instead, he’s just a faithful finance guru who goes on Fox Business and CNBC and Bloomberg to speak to everybody, not just his “tribe.” And whether it’s boldly telling Stuart Varney on air about the 4th Commandment (!) or insisting to Charles Payne that we are made in the image and likeness of God, he does not tailor his message to what his audience wants to hear or what they are presumably comfortable with. This ought to be an inspiring lesson for anyone in any field or industry. Be faithful, wise yet unapologetic, hard working, and great at what you do. The world might be forced against its will to notice.