Leisure, the Basis of Culture

Leisure, the Basis of Culture. By Josef Pieper. Introduction by Roger Scruton. New translation by Gerald Malsbary. South Bend: St. Augustine's, 1998, xvi + 160 pp., $12.00 paper.

This book was originally published in 1947 in German, containing two essays by Josef Pieper, a German Roman Catholic philosopher. As the preface to the English edition states, the common message of these essays is that culture depends on leisure and, conversely, leisure depends on culture in its ultimate sense of cult or worship.

In his first essay entitled "Leisure, the Basis of Culture," Pieper asks how this dynamic of leisure could be justified, especially shortly after World War II when the rebuilding of life seemed to preclude leisure as a waste of intellectual and physical potential. He notes that the worship of work and the contempt of leisure in its sense of worship was already present in Greek philosophy. This misconception still needs correction because work is not an end in itself but aims at the happiness of existence in a life of worship.

Accordingly, the author explains that idleness is not a state of inactivity as such but the refusal of the busy person to be himself, the person God wants him to be in order to bless him with divine grace. In contrast, leisure is a condition of life in the presence of God with freedom to work as well as to recreate. In this sense, leisure means the participation of man in the Sabbath rest of God at the completion of creation. Therefore, the author pleads for a balanced interplay between leisure and work in order to be human in its true sense.

However, Pieper asks whether it is possible to preserve leisure within the world of work. In the highly industrialized Western world, the concept of the life of work has an almost demonic power since it keeps man from thinking and exposing himself to the ultimate reality, i.e. God. This deprivation of leisure amounts to a spiritual afliction calling for deliverance because the worker is consumed by the working-process that values him only according to his usefulness in production.

In contrast, the author states succinctly: "Worship is to time as the temple is to space" (p. 52). As there is a separate space, there is also a separate time removed from all practical use, providing opportunity for a worshipful celebration. In this sense, leisure is the center of a complete human existence, providing the participation in the Sabbath rest of God. Thus, within a philosophical framework, Pieper advances a convincing argument for the restoration of leisure to its proper place as the center of worship and of human life and work as a whole.

In his second essay entitled "The Philosophical Act," the author emphasizes that philosophy breaks through the canopy of a closed system of the total world of work. The worship of God as creator, like the experience of the margins of existence (for example, love or death), makes man sense the non-ultimate nature of his work-life as these experiences lead him into the experience and realization of "wonder." However, Pieper emphasizes the danger of pseudo-realizations of the margins of existence such as pseudo-philosophy, pseudo-art or pseudo-religion. In contrast, true philosophy is looking at the world out of reverence toward creation in order to understand and to see God himself. This vision of God is the common element between theology and philosophy; therefore, in its true sense, philosophy has to be Christian philosophy.

Pieper concludes that the mysterious character of reality, its inexhaustabilityas accounted for in a Christian world view-saves philosophy from a pretended clarity and systematic closure that no longer corresponds to reality. Therefore, a cheerful acceptance of the limits of our understanding of reality is essential for a Christian philosopher who seeks not only cognitive knowledge but also relational knowledge, as "one who allows the Christian faith to be real in himself" (p. 134). Regrettably, Pieper does not elaborate further on how this relational knowledge may be fulfilled in man's communion with Christ.

Nevertheless, Pieper has convincingly shown that a Christian philosophy can truly serve theology in asking genuinely relevant questions about ultimate reality to which theology is called to respond. Moreover, philosophy emphasizes the need for dedication and surrender, not manipulation and trivialization of the divine. Only by recovering a true sense of wonder of the divine in creation and in God's present work can a meaningful leisure with a theological quality be regained.

The book is well translated, with only minor misspellings in both the German and the English text, and is rounded off with several newspaper reviews from 1952. It is stimulating reading, urging the reader to balance his life anew by focusing on leisure as fellowship with God. As such, I highly recommend it.

Markus Piennisch

Columbia International University, Korntal, Germany

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Sep 2000
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