Chapter 2: Can Work Be Redeemed Through Play?: (Or Why Is Playing Not an Option)

I begin with a confession. I experienced something akin to a guilty pleasure and pangs of conscience when I began thinking of the concept of play, especially while enduring a world rife with social, political, and economic turmoil. To put it frankly, we live in perilous times. But it is exactly during such times that a “redemptive spirituality” can be most instructive. The question “Can work be redeemed through play?” is in fact aimed at helping readers negotiate these times.

In my view, the customary framing of the conflict between work and play has produced misinterpretations. The tendency to see play or leisure as the reward of labor or as radically separated from work reveals a failure of insight as to the meaning of theological play. A theology of play, particularly as informed by deeper insight into aesthetics of spirituality, can actually liberate work from alienation in relation to God, human vocations, and self-understanding. To illuminate the significance of theological play, I will first attend to various theologies of play, offer suggestions for how these positions coincide with human labor, and close with what I hope are inspirational insights into the way a redemptive spirituality can redeem work through play.