Telling the difficult truths about calling—that calling involves bliss and sacrifice—provides a revolutionary way to approach it, not as some idealized or glorified notion but as a complicated, ambiguous even painful reality that deserves to be understood in all its complexity and glory. p.16

Bonnie Miller-McLemore’s latest book begins with a bit of a confession: she doesn’t much like the term calling. It is too lofty, too loaded. An emerita professor of religion and practical theologian at Vanderbilt University, Miller-McLemore has authored, co-authored or edited more than 18 multi-disciplinary books and her latest is all about calling.

The book is frank and refreshing. Miller-McLemore uses stories from her own experience and interweaves material from memoirs as well as narratives of people she’s encountered to demystify and problematize the more simplistic and idealistic conceptions of calling. Her goal is to offer a heavy dose of realism. Miller-McLemore is a master story-teller and the book is an easy, engaging read.

Miller-McLemore begins with three premises about calling. First, callings develop and change over a lifetime. Second, callings are deeply relational and communal. Third, callings are not abstractions; they are grounded, material and practical. The core of the book is then divided into six main chapters, each outlining a different calling challenge: missed, blocked, conflicted, fractured, unexpected and relinquished. Though she acknowledges there are surely others, including unknown or undesirable callings. In each chapter, she shares examples of common challenges to calling. Ultimately, her aspiration is less to redefine calling but to offer a new way to experience it that allows us to embrace the inherent ambiguities of any calling.

My one lament about this book is it seems more written for well-settled adults. I wish it might speak more to the many young people simultaneously struggling to find a sense of moral purpose, but also exhausted by yet another elusive expectation. While the message would surely resonate, the examples and stories are those of someone who has spent a lifetime in deep reflection. Ironically, in its wisdom, it feels almost alienating. In her effort to problematize calling Miller-McLemore has perhaps offered yet another kind of idealized account she so desperately sought to eschew.

But maybe I am wrong.  I have a student who will provide a review of the book for a sophomore class about living a meaningful life. I look forward to knowing how the class responds.