Reviews

"Half a century ago I sat in the lectures of Josef Pieper in Munster/Westphalia. You could buy his book, Leisure: The Basis of Culture, in drugstores, yet in those heady activist days, only a handful of students attended his long, learned lectures. But maybe the worm of history has turned! Jeffrey Crittenden's book makes one think so--and gladly!"

- Douglas John Hall, professor emeritus of theology, McGill University

"Jeffrey Crittenden's book opens up a whole new 'window' through which we can view the earliest Christian communities. Until now, 'leisure studies' has never figured on the horizon of New Testament/Early Christian studies. This book demonstrates that how the first followers of Jesus viewed leisure is an important insight into their discipleship and practice--and ours."

- Thomas O'Loughlin, professor emeritus of historical theology, University of Nottingham

"In the skilled hands of Jeffrey Crittenden, leisure becomes something surprising and brilliant. It is not just free time, it is an attitude towards life, a transformational way of being, the product of thoughtful decisions about how we want to live. Most importantly, from a Christian perspective, it is a resurrection activity, centered around a meal to which all are invited by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in true community, one with another."

- Paul Scott Wilson, professor emeritus of homiletics, College of Victoria University, University of Toronto

"In an age when we badly need to recover of a good theology of work and leisure, Jeffrey Crittenden's Leisure Resurrected takes us back to the early centuries of Christianity to seek alternative insights and recover views from a variety of settings, particularly liturgy. This excellent book challenges us and offers ways in which we can re-examine a theology of leisure."

- Robert Gibbons, professor of Eastern Christianity, Graduate Theological Union

"Jeff thinks the church should play more" 

Seriously?  As we (I minister with a Christian congregation) process the unravelling of the ways church used to be, before secularity invaded our social status, COVID emptied our pews and collection plates, and political divisions rent us asunder, Crittenden wants us to play?  

In summarizing why, I hope that you will be provoked to read this eloquent, intriguing, and convincing case for recovering something of the Spirit’s energizing of the early churches. Theyfaced indifference and hostility in the world they had been sent to as ambassadors of our Creator’s joy-filled redemption.  We have inherited that mandate in a world that is very different, yet seems strangely similar.

This missioning of the early church proceeded from and was sustained by their worshiping practices.  The forgiving and reconciling love nourished in those Lord’s Day gatherings was then taken into the world through the daily contributions participants made in all their networks.   Crittenden wants us to recover/resurrect for our times and places these kinds of response to the work of the Spirit through creative forms of life-giving leisure/play.

Crittenden notes that these gathering were small and varied greatly in their formats, but that they held 5 qualities in common – bread and wine (the Eucharist in thanksgiving), the witness of the cross (to the triumph of life in the midst of death), a towel and basin (inclusion and service), the Scriptures (the grand story of God’s blessing us with freedom, joy and meaning), and oil (for healing and a remembering that we are anointed as beloved friends of God).   

Crittenden is convinced that this focus on a playful leisure grounded in worshiping together will help us “remember, rediscover, and recover” the essence of the church’s missioning. That essence is “to affirm that humanity is made in the image of God and is blessed … with joy, hope, belonging, and profound and deep love.” (p.13)  

He encourages us to revive our practice and understanding of the Greek concept of schole, a concept of leisure that embraces “a freedom from necessity, is a freedom for leisure and is realized in contemplation, in virtue, and in a lifetime of happiness.” (p.26)  He describes, in fascinating detail, how the early church incorporated Roman, Jewish ideas of leisure with the Greek idea and formulated a practice of leisurely worship that rooted this freedom in God’s redemptive act in Jesus, the Christ.

This vision of leisure - to cultivate flourishing -is very different from the concepts of leisure that dominate in Western culture today.  At their worst (my bias), they cultivate lives of conflict, efforts to dominate and destroy, fears of being defeated.  You fight for your side on the sports fields and stands.  You devise ways of killing those who have harmed you in the video games.  

Crittenden takes us on an intriguing journey through the various meanings our Western culture has given to leisure through Greek,Roman and Jewish thinking.  He concludes thatearly Christian insights into the work of the Holy Spirit establishes the foundation for true Christian leisure.  The Creator provides, through the Holy Spirit, what is needed “to experience the freedom and joy that leisure aims for.”(p.56)  This freedom, with all of its fruits, getsnourished most fully in our worshiping.

This book provides an inspiring and instructive guide to navigating the church’s current situations.  It’s not a ‘how to’ manual.  It’s awise and provocative invitation to pay attention to the Spirit and resurrect a playful flourishing.  I encourage you to read it and digest it.

- Rev. Dr. Brian Fraser of Brentwood Presbyterian Church