The Fullness of Free Time: A Theological Account of Leisure and Recreation in the Moral Life (Moral Traditions)

An ethical framework and vision of free time for social good ― and how to achieve it. In the work-centric culture of today's world, it is easy to view free time as indulging laziness or extravagance.Conor M. Kelly, however, argues that free time possesses enormous potential for good if exercised in accordance with theological ethics. By examining pursuits such as television, digital media use, sports, and travel from the perspective of Catholic solidarity, Kelly demonstrates how individuals can choose new free time activities or restructure current pursuits to be more relational and socially conscious. The first book to use the Catholic theological tradition to explore the importance of free time, The Fullness of Free Time addresses a crucial topic in the ethics of everyday life, providing a useful framework for scholars and students of moral theology, philosophy, and political theory, as well as anyone hoping to make their free time more meaningful. "This book argues that free time-defined as "time free from work, obligation, or any other necessary activity"-is one example of the goodness that can be celebrated as a source of happiness, if only people are primed to see it that way. At the moment, however, there is not a robust sense of the goodness of free time. In the public consciousness, leisure and recreation readily align with binge watching Netflix and laziness. There needs to be both a higher vision for what free time can become, so that people will assess it in light of its potential rather than its nadir, and a clearer sense of the practical path that ordinary people can follow to achieve this end, so that this lofty potential is not relegated to the fate of dismissiveness that befalls all quixotic proposals. These two concerns serve as the rationale for this book, which provides a deeply theological vision for the fullness of free time and then explores how the resources of theological ethics, especially the Catholic understanding of solidarity, can help moral agents transform leisure and recreation for themselves and in their communities in order to make this goodness of free time more apparent and more appealing"-- Provided by publisher Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: PRECONDITIONS 1 The Necessary Distinction between Leisure and Recreation 2 An Ethical Framework for Everyday Solidarity PART II: APPLICATIONS TO LEISURE 3 Leisure and the Principle of Everyday Solidarity 4 Leisure and the Virtue of Everyday Solidarity PART III: APPLICATIONS TO RECREATION 5 Television 6 Digital Media Use 7 Spectator Sports 8 Travel Conclusion Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W About the Author The first book to use the Catholic theological tradition to explore the importance of free time, The Fullness of Free Time provides a useful framework for scholars and students of moral theology as well as anyone hoping to make their free time more meaningful.