ETHICS 381S
Vocation: Christian Origins, Contemporary Practice
Derek Joel Witten
Description from DukeHub
This course guides students in exploring the concept of vocation and their own sense of purpose. We'll trace the intellectual history of vocation from its Christian origins in vowed religious orders through its expansion in the Protestant Reformation to modern secular ideals of following your passion and doing what you love. We'll address major domains in which a person may feel called by God: explicitly religious ways of life like those of a nun, pastor, or missionary; fields of work such as medicine, education, and business; relationships such as marriage, singleness, and parenthood; and conditions such as disability, persecution, and injustice. A capstone project gathers, applies, and critically evaluates religious and philosophical resources relevant to students' own callings.
Skills
No skill passed the confidence bar. Weak matches go to review instead of this page: an AI pass that has to quote the description, then a person.
AI-resilient: 2 of 5
- No: Physical, lab or field work
- No: Live work with people
- Yes: Judgment someone is accountable for · "injustice"
- No: A craft you practice with your hands or body
- Yes: Small, in-person format · seminar, 18 seats per section
The checks lean on Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025), which found generative AI applies least to physical work and hands-on work with people. A signal, not a promise. How the score works
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