Chapter Operosi e sabbatici. Lavoro e non-lavoro negli scrittori cristiani antichi

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a carefully selected body of representations from ancient Christian writers concerning both work and non-work (in the sense of inoperativity). Spanning almost four centuries (i.e, from Paul to Augustine), the chapter consists of two parts. The first brings together statements pertaining to six different strategies of legitimization and valorization of labor (doxic, analogical, apologetic, polemical, soteriological, apocalyptic). The second concentrates on the intrinsic limits and constraints imposed on the emergence of a Christian ideology of inoperativity.