Resisting "the totalitarian regime of industry"

Chris Erdman considers the sinfulness inherent in the modernist work ethic, its repercussions for life and ministry, and the counter-movements afoot to resist it:

Many Americans are growing suspicious of the modern assumptions that drive us to work harder, produce more, and spend more time at work; Modernity has not freed us but has made us captives of the totalitarian regime of industry. What’s more, we no longer have the reflective space to do the mental and spiritual work necessary to form the kinds of communities whose intellectual and moral life can sustain us through the “new dark ages which are already upon us” (Alastair McIntyre) . . . .

It saddens me that the church is slow to lead in this revolt and even slower to lead us into a recovery of the kind of life that can save us. Significant to the problem of the Modern church’s malaise is its failure to be reflective, to enter and practice the grace of Sabbath, a holy stillness. It saddens me more that I am a huge part of the problem.

Chris looks squarely at his own co-option into the cult of "herculean labor" and the toll it takes on his ministry and his life. All Christian leaders would do well to do likewise.