Being a minister is stressful. In part the stress arises from what M. Craig Barnes, president of Princeton Theological Seminary, describes as “confusion about what it means to be a pastor.” Are they spiritual directors, pastoral care givers, community leaders and managers of non-profit organizations? Have pastors become, as Eugene Peterson suggests, “shopkeepers” catering to spiritual consumers?
Two books published in the summer of 2015 offer the same answer to the question, what are pastors? Theological professors Kevin Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan in The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision, and pastors Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson in The Pastor-Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision contend pastors will find their identity as theologians. Congregational clergy, whether they want the role or not, are the theological consciences of their congregations. Vanhoozer writes: “The pastor-theologian does not have a unique professional or clinical skill but is rather the theological conscience of the church and thus understands everything in biblical-theological context and in relation to what God is doing in Jesus Christ.” The pastor’s commission is assisting individuals and congregations to find their place in God’s story of redemption and renewal, the story of what God has done/is doing/will do in Christ. A task no other vocational group in our culture is doing.
The pastor as theologian was an important model in the church until the early 19th century. Since then, the pastor-theologian has been downplayed and even undermined. The result being, theology has become the domain of academic theologians in universities, while pastors do the practical work of leading churches.
This division of labour divorces theological discussion from the life of the church. No longer do church concerns drive the theological conversation, and the theological conversation often fails to touch the life of the church. I remember being told by a theological college professor that my academic writing was not “just academic history;” instead, this professor said, “you write to say something to the church.” Clearly, academic writing that speaks to the church is an exception rather than common practice.
The divorce has impacted the church, Hiestand and Wilson argue: “The church, led by a pastoral community that no longer conceives of itself in theological terms, has lost its distinctive Christian ethical framework.” Addressing this loss requires reclaiming the role of pastor-theologian. Three types of pastor-theologian are described.
First, all pastors are called to be “local theologians”—pastors who reflect theologically on the realities of life in their community and in the lives of congregational members.
A second type is the “popular theologian” who writes (including blogging) for a general audience, both within and outside the church. I served in a community where a rota of clergy wrote weekly reflections for the local newspaper’s “church page,” giving opportunity for pastor-theologians to be heard outside their congregations, becoming public theologians. Not all pastors are called to this role, but congregations should encourage pastor-theologians with the inclination and the opportunity to speak/write in wider public contexts to do so.
The final category, “ecclesial theologian” engages in academic theological debate always grounded in their life as parish pastors. Heistand and Wilson write: “Pastors, not professors, are the theological leaders of the church. Despite assumptions to the contrary, the pastoral office retains the burden of the church’s theological leadership.” Again not all pastors are called to be ecclesial theologians, those who have an important calling which their congregations are invited to support and share in.
Unfortunately Hiestand and Todd’s book is marred by the authors’ continual use of male pronouns when referring to pastors. It is hoped this off-putting practice will not prevent readers from taking seriously the call for pastors, both women and men, to claim their identity as their congregation’s theologians.
Vanhoozer and Strachan’s book has no such problems. The chapters by Kevin Vanhoozer, in particular, are worth re-reading and digesting deeply.
Vanhoozer and Strachan invited a dozen pastors to contribute short pieces describing the ways in which they have claimed the role of pastor-theologian. A number of these reflections are both moving and instructive.
These books offer practical suggestions to congregations desiring to encourage the pastor-theologians in their midst.
Congregations are invited to value and guard the time their minister spends in theological reflection. Such reflection enriches preaching, teaching and pastoral care, and will ground the pastor-theologian in their unique calling.
Church attenders are invited to ask their ministers questions like: “What are you reading these days?” and “What questions are you asking because of your reading?” The questioners need to take the time to listen to the answers pastor-theologians give.
As ministers claim their role as pastor-theologians, they will discover who they have been called to be: people who declare what is in Christ and what that means for individuals, for the church, and for the world.
