In this important study, Dr. Gift Mtukwa investigates the relationship between work and community in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. Utilizing an African biblical hermeneutic, he provides a theology of work that takes seriously the communal nature of Paul’s context and its parallels with a traditional African worldview. He combines cultural and historical insight with biblical analysis to demonstrate that work has a critical role to play in community formation. It is neither a burden nor an individual pursuit but a purposeful communal activity done to benefit self and neighbor.
This fresh look at Paul’s work exhortations from a contextualized African perspective offers a powerful reminder that work – like all human endeavors – should have the glory of God and love of others as its goal.