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The chapter provides a longue-durée overview on the theorisations of work, and related practices, in the Judeo-Christian exegetical and theological traditions. In these traditions, a 'perfect conduct' was shaped with a view to, on the one hand, a balance between work time and sacred time, and, on the other, the ascetic valorisation of industriousness and the personal fulfilment of the 'duty of state'. Notwithstanding the ambiguous representation of work resulting from the Bible, the stigmatisation of idleness and the need to contribute to the common good through one's own professional activity has been emphasized in subsequent interpretations. This overview confirms the importance of the Judeo-Christian sources in order to shed light on the Western work-centered model of socio-political inclusion.

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