Twentieth-century theologies of work : Karl Barth, Marie-Dominique Chenu, John Paul II and Miroslav Volf - Utility as the spirit of capitalism : Max Weber's diagnosis of modern work - Labour, excess and utility in Karl Marx : the problem of materialism and the aesthetic - John Ruskin and William Morris : an alternative tradition : labour and the theo-aesthetic in English Romantic critiques of capitalism - The Frankfurt school : the critique of instrumental reason and hints of return to the theo-aesthetic within Marxism - The end of work : rest, beauty and liturgy : the Catholic metaphysical critique of the culture of work and its incorporation into the English Romantic tradition : Josef Pieper, Jacques Maritain, Eric Gill and David Jones - Concluding remarks : labour, utility and theology. Hughes surveys 20th century theologies of work, contrasting differing approaches to consider the 'problem of labour' from a theological perspective. It is aimed at theologians concerned with how Christianity might engage in social criticism, as well as those interested in the connection between Marxist and Christian traditions.