From Latin 'vocatio' (a calling) — originally God's call to religious life, broadened by Luther to any career.
A strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation; a person's employment or main occupation, especially one requiring dedication; a divine call to God's service.
From Latin 'vocātiō' (a calling, a summons, an invitation), from 'vocāre' (to call), from 'vōx' (voice), from PIE *wekʷ- (to speak, to voice). The word entered English with its religious sense intact: a vocation was God's call to serve. The secular meaning — any career or occupation — developed later. The distinction between vocation (calling)
Martin Luther's theology of vocation transformed the word's meaning. Before Luther, a 'vocation' was exclusively a call to religious life — monks and priests had vocations, laypeople did not. Luther argued that all honest work was a divine calling: the farmer, the cobbler, and the parent all served
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