Danielle Corple

Flourishing Amidst a Mixture of Callings

“Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean
task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in
the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is
most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because
that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.”
– Martin Luther, The Estate of Marriage

In my Senior Seminar course at Wheaton College, we discuss Martin Luther’s view that vocation
encompasses far more than a job—vocations are callings to serve family members, our churches,
and others in our communities. At the CACE seminar on Gender and Mutuality, I was reminded
how organizations designed to support the “male breadwinner” inevitably fail not just women but
also men who embrace multiple callings and a holistic vision of flourishing.
 
In her book, Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity, Nobel Prize-
winning economic historian, Claudia Goldin, chronicles the rise of “greedy work,” professions
that demand long hours and little flexibility. If, for instance, a man and woman meet in law
school, take corporate jobs, and start having children, the “greedy” nature of most corporate law
firms can make caregiving a challenge. If the couple feels that “something’s gotta give”—it’s
typically the woman’s work.
 
Goldin writes, “Men are able to have a family and step up because women step back from their
careers to provide more time for the family. Both are deprived: men forgo time with family;
women forgo career.” As I am surrounded by women and men whose vision of flourishing
involve a robust mixture of callings—to parenting, to meaningful work, to church life—fixing
“greedy” organizational structures and norms is essential.
 
As men are more able to fulfill their vocations at home, their partners are freed to pursue gifts
and callings that go beyond the domestic sphere. This form of mutuality creates a virtuous
cycle—one that can benefit employers as well. When employers offer flexible working
arrangements, for example, employees perform better and demonstrate higher organizational
commitment.
 
However, I don’t mean to paint a purely Edenic picture of life with multiple callings. As Jason
Mahn argues in his piece, “Conflicts in our callings: The anguish (and joy) of willing several
things”, sometimes callings compete with each other. And despite our efforts to perfectly
reconcile all of our responsibilities, life is flawed, humans are finite, and sacrifices must be
made. (I am literally writing this reflection with one hand while holding my 8-month-old baby.)

But for too long the “work and family” tradeoffs have been framed as a feminine dilemma. In my
Senior Seminar class, my students are often concerned about the complexities of navigating
multiple future callings, especially when desiring to be parents. Yet the anxiety radiates from the
women, not typically the men. I want all of my students to know that—yes, navigating multiple
callings can be complex, messy, agonizing, beautiful, joyous—but this is true for anyone who
wills several good things. For true mutuality, we must change our organizational structures and
change our imagination about what it means to flourish.