Concordia Seminary’s Dean of Theological Research and Publication Dr. Kevin Golden sits down with Professor of Systematic Theology Dr. Joel Biermann to discuss Biermann’s published book, “Day 7: For Work, Rest, or Play” (Concordia Publishing House, 2024). When thinking about what prompted him to write the book, Biermann extrapolates insights from Luther’s Small Catechism on the Sabbath and the Third Commandment: “The idea is not simply, ‘Don’t work on Sunday,’ or even ‘Make sure you go to church on Sunday’ … the Sabbath commandment becomes a part of living in tune with God and with creation as recipient[s] of God’s gifts.” Biermann offers the book as a change of perspective to consider, “What am I here to do? Work, but enjoy God, delight in Him and creation … sometimes when a whole afternoon [is] just spent doing nothing, but delighting with the grandkids, flying a kite, going hiking. That’s cool. That’s Sabbath.” Biermann’s hope for his readers is “to rehabilitate ‘Sabbath’ so it’s not just, ‘So what do I do on Sunday?’ … There’s a lot more going on there. I think there is a richness available to us that we should be tapping in to.”
The book is available now through Concordia Publishing House and Amazon.