Faith at Work: Overcoming the Obstacles of Being Like Christ in the Marketplace

Zigarelli, author of Management by Proverbs, again explores biblical principles for keeping Christian faith alive from 9 to 5. Drawing heavily on the Beatitudes, he encourages workers to forsake worldly values such as money, prestige and power, concentrating instead on cultivating Christlike humility in the office. He generally assumes that readers hate their jobs and must overcome a sense of ""Monday Mourning"" to drag themselves to work. He also seems to presuppose that his worker-readers will all be male; his examples overwhelmingly feature men successfully responding to various career challenges. The women he depicts are without exception either victims (such as the secretary whose boss made her sit in a bar and beep him if she saw a woman he might find attractive) or victimizers (such as the malicious academic colleague who tried to deny tenure to the author, a self-described ""na ve . . . father of three""). The book is often marred by Zigarelli's snide tone; in the chapter on meekness, for example, he sarcastically attacks Yale Divinity School, painting YDS students as goddess-worshippers and Bible-corrupters. Zigarelli offers up some helpful statistics on the changing workplace--for example, we are working 120 hours longer per year than we did 20 years ago--and some fine suggestions for cultivating compassion for co-workers and a habit of gratitude. But the book's overall tone is harsh and very audience-specific: only white-collar Christian males who despise their jobs need apply. (July)