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Pastoral ministry today is often ruled by an emphasis on short-sighted goals, pragmatic results, and shallow thinking. Unfortunately, those in the academy tend to have the opposite problem, failing to connect theological study to the pressing issues facing the church today. Contemporary evangelicalism has lost sight of the inherent connection between pastoral leadership and theology. This results in theologically anemic churches, and ecclesial anemic theologies.
Todd Wilson and Gerald Hiestand contend that among a younger generation of evangelical pastors and theologians, there is a growing appreciation for the native connection between theology and pastoral ministry. At the heart of this recovery of a theological vision for ministry is the re-emergence of the role of the "pastor theologian."
The Pastor Theologian presents a taxonomy of the pastor-theologian and shows how individual pastors—given their unique calling and gift-set—can best embody this age-old vocation in the 21st century. They present three models that combine theological study and practical ministry to the church:
The Local Theologian—a pastor theologian who ably services the theological needs of a local congregation.
The Popular Theologian—a pastor theologian who writes theology to a wider lay audience.
The Ecclesial Theologian—a pastor theologian who writes theology to other theologians and scholars.
Raising the banner for the pastor as theologian, this book invites the emerging generation of theologians and pastors to reimagine the pastoral vocation along theological lines, and to identify with one of the above models of the pastor theologian.
- Sales Rank: #206526 in Books
- Brand: HarperCollins Christian Pub.
- Published on: 2015-06-23
- Released on: 2015-06-23
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.39" h x .47" w x 5.43" l, .55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 192 pages
Review
"The Pastor-Theologian may be a small book, but it is an ambitious one. Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson summon the church to return to a time when pastors were theologians and theologians pastors, when pastors served as intellectual shepherds of the church. The renewal of what they call ecclesial theology will provide a needed transfusion into theologically anemic pastoral ministry and pastorally anemic theology."
-- Peter Leithart, Theopolis Institute
"If you're looking for canaries in the church's coal mines, consider our seminaries and divinity schools. In some cases, the seminary has simply become one more outpost of the academy, hijacked by the ideals of the research university, almost allergic to pastoral formation. In other cases, the seminary is reduced to a management seminar where the pastorate is confused with technique. The Pastor-Theologian is an antidote to both, a vision for ecclesial theology and a theological ecclesia. We need this book because we need pastor-theologians."
--James K.A. Smith, Calvin College
"Hiestand and Wilson shine a spotlight on a seismic fault whose damage to the church has been under the radar: the great divorce between the pastoral ministry and academic theology. They argue compellingly that a healthy church body needs red blood (pastoral energy) and gray brain cells (theological intelligence) to grow into Christian maturity. This is a book written in faith - the kind of faith that moves institutional mountains and raises, if not the dead, then at least defunct concepts - like the pastor-theologian."
--Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
"What an exciting and timely book! Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson not only make a compelling case for reviving a distinguished tradition of pastor-theologian thought leaders. They also point the way for how this kind of leadership--much needed today!--can address the very new conditions in which the present day churches are called by God to minister."
--Richard Mouw, Fuller Seminary
"The case that Wilson and Hiestand present is winsome and utterly convincing, as they trace the history of the rise and demise of the pastor-theologian, and the resulting theological and ethical anemia of the church. But more, they provide us with a nuanced profile of the ecclesial theologian, and a reasoned way forward. The Pastor-Theologian is an exhilarating and heartening book-- and a must read for the church and the academy where it will produce lively, ministry- changing discussion!
--R. Kent Hughes, Sr. Pastor Emeritus of College Church in Wheaton
About the Author
Gerald Hiestand (PhD Candidate in Classics and Archeology, University of Kent, Canterbury) is the Senior Associate Pastor at Calvary Memorial Church, and the director and co-founder of the Center for Pastor Theologians. Gerald is interested in thinking and writing about the intersection of theology and the ecclesial context. Gerald and his wife have three children, and are adopting their fourth from Ethiopia. They live in the village of Oak Park, just outside of Chicago.
Todd A. Wilson (PhD, University of Cambridge) is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois and the chairman and co-founder of the Center for Pastor Theologians, a ministry dedicated to resourcing pastors engaged in biblical and theological scholarship. He is the author of Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living and Pastors in the Classics. Todd is married to Katie, his high school sweetheart, and they have seven children, three biological and four adopted from Ethiopia.
Most helpful customer reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Restoring the Work (and Love) of Theology Back to the Local Church: An Ancient-Future Proposal
By B. K. Rice
I picked up this book from my good friend Byron Borger and Hearts and Minds, himself a gifted theological thinker with wide ranging interests. I was eager to read this book. I read it in one sitting of several hours. Now, it was NOT what I expected. I was expecting a book that was designed to help all pastors take more seriously the task of theologically educating their congregations. That is not what Hiestand and Wilson (pastoral colleagues and serious theologians working in the local church) focus on in this book.
They describe three levels of the pastor-theologian. (1) the pastor as local theologian - who theologically forms a congregation, (2) the pastor as popular theologian - a pastor with a wider audience outside their local church, and (3) the focus of their book, the pastor as ecclesial theologian, or one who writes (and leads) to shape larger number of pastors and theologians. They build a case through a sweeping survey of church history, that for much of the church's existence, the great theologians have worked from the framework of the church, whether local or parish. With the enlightenment and the rise of the modernity shaped university, everything has changed. I won't provide their description, only mention that in their estimation (rightly so) such academic theology is mainly an academy-peer exercise with minimal usefulness for the local church.
They promote a return of the theological task to the local church as a corrective for much of what ails the church. However, by this, they emphasize the restoration of top shelf theological work being done in the local church by academically trained (Ph.D. preferred) practitioners/writers. They build a case that the context of the local church has a crucial role on how theology is done (methodology) as well as the themes of interest, along with the audience these works are intended to reach.
They provide a helpful taxonomy of what an ecclesial theologian looks like (how they do their theology), they point out the difficulties involved and make very practical recommendations for the recovery of the ancient way of substantial theologizing from the context of the local church.
This is an important book, and a quite good, even very good one. I argued with them on page after page. Not so much against what they said, but just in a vigorous dialogue with them. Many of my margin comments begin with: yes, but... (or) okay, yet... (or) I am not convinced because... Many of my comments were such for, in the moment, they did not answer certain questions or provide a key framework which I believe was necessary. Then... much to my great delight, on later pages, they addressed my questions, noted the same concerns I had, acknowledged the difficulties I was raising. I came away knowing these two pastor-theologians have thought long, carefully and lovingly about their proposals.
Now, I still have several big questions which I believe need quite a bit more thought. None of these are against what Wilson and Hiestand propose. They may advance the discussion. So here they are:
(1) I think more attention needs to be given to the nature of the specialization nature of doctoral studies. Spending years in specialization does not lend itself to what Drucker and others refer to as the role of a "Deep Generalist." I think practical consideration needs to be added about just how long and through what methods pastor-theologians can become Deep Generalists. I would love to see a creative vision for theological Ph.D. work that was designed to produce a Deep Generalist rather then Narrow Specialists.
(2) I think some more attention needs to be given to the Ph.D. "disease" where the holder of the Ph.D. (or any true expert) believes that they are now competent to speak on areas outside of their expertise. Frankly - they are not. I have had many conversations with Ph.D.s who embarrass themselves outside their area of speciality, and who seem oblivious to how little they know of areas on which they speak so confidently. This issue will be a part of the Ecclesial Theological task. For those very people engaging in that task are specialists who have really had little time to do deep study and integrative work on many of the subjects that are of great interest to the local church.
(3) I think more attention needs to be given to the domains of interest for the Ecclesial Theologian. Okay, NT, OT, church history, ethics, systematics, etc. are assumed. But what about branching out to other domains that are very strategic and which are warp and woof of the local church as it is situated in the world. I have spent years studying leadership, spirituality, andragogy, and culture. I think Ecclesial Theologians need fluency in these areas. Not every area, but choose one or two of them. And fluency does not mean read a dozen of the best books on leadership. It means read 100 of the best books on leadership, and you are making a good start. Read 200 or so books on spirituality and you are making some good headway in navigating around that domain. Kudos to the excellent quote from Colin Gunton on the time it takes to become competent. Let's not mistake being acquainted with or familiar with a domain with being competent in it.
(4) I also wonder about the problem of the Ph.D. glut that now exists in so many fields including most of the theological ones, as schools realize it is income generating for those schools to offer Ph.D. level study, even if those who finally earn them will never be able to find a job in the academy. So many of those who go this route, do so because they love thinking, specialization, research . . . and are not stellar examples of emotionally intelligent, relationally healthy leaders who can actually work in the local church. But now they have a degree with nowhere to go. I do not think the local church is a fit place for such individuals. You can't go into the local church as an Ecclesial Theologian simply because there are no openings in the academy. You need a calling, which means a love for, an affinity with, a track record in the local church. Otherwise you are a Hireling-Theologian and not a Shepherd-Theologian. The authors acknowledge that to be a pastor-theologian requires MUCH more then a terminal degree.
(5) That leads to my final thought. I think the modernity shaped theological education has major weaknesses, some which are examined in this book, a few that are merely noted, and some that are not mentioned. I think one of the greatest weaknesses is that the typical seminary education, much less the Ph.D. education has not been designed to produce spiritually formed, missiologically thoughtful, culturally astute, relationally mature leaders. While some changes have indeed taken place since I began my theological studies in the early 1980s, there is much more to be done to design a new paradigm of education that pays as much attention to soul care, heart formation, leadership, people skills, great communication (preaching classes just are not cutting it) and the renewing of the mind/theology/worldview. Ultimately, if we are going to have an Ancient-Future kind of pastor-theologian being raised up, I don't think it will be through the current educational wineskins.
This fine book deserves much more consideration then a review. It deserves multiple reads, many conversation groups, and some visionary leadership that wants to create some new models of pastor-theologian preparation.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Toward a Parish of Theological Reverence AND Pastoral Relevance
By Dr Conrade Yap
One of the biggest challenges between the academy and churches lies with expectations. The former thrives in an intellectually challenging environment while the latter tends to be focused on most things practical, managerial, logistical, and of course, pastoral. This gives rise to a whole set of difficulty when churches try to recruit pastors and when theological school graduates try to find a place to serve in churches. What about something in-between? What about an expectation that elevates the best of both worlds and minimizes the worst of both? It would be an ideal combination. According to authors Hiestand and Wilson, pastor-theologians fit the bill. In fact, arguing from historical trends, they claim that the pastors of yesterday are very much theologically astute and unashamedly scholarly. The need is urgent as our modern era seems to have a "theologically anemic" church and an "ecclesially anemic" theology. Pastors must not only be equipped but encouraged to pursue the theological vocation vigorously. The key problem is a culture that splits the theologian from the pastoral making it incomprehensible for both to exist in any one person. Even the renowned British theologian, NT Wright had to quit his job as "senior pastor" so that he can pursue his gifts in theological education and as a scholar. Wright confesses after serving 6 years as a pastor: "But my continuing vocation to be a writer, teacher and broadcaster, for the benefit (I hope) of the wider world and church, has been increasingly difficult to combine with the complex demands and duties of a diocesan bishop. I am very sad about this, but the choice has become increasingly clear." It tells of how hard it is even for one of the best theologians in the world to be a pastor of a regular Church. If it is hard for Wright, what about the rest of us?
This book is essentially about them making a case for the increasing role of the pastor-theologian as a single person, not two. In Chapter One, we learn the need for a clear "new division of labor" where pastors and theologians need to be seen as one unit. This means the academy must learn to address more concerns of church at the layperson level and at the same time, churches to allow their pastors to pursue scholarly perspectives and theological excellence. The new vision for the pastor-theologians contains two critical elements: Need and Identity. Needs do not always flow from identity, and the converse is also true. The modernity problem is that contemporary parish ministry is not conducive for anyone desiring to do "sustained theological reflection and scholarship." This is not the case in history as many of the most important theologians of the Church are pastors. People like Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, and others. This is dealt in depth in Chapter Two of the book, which looks at the historical development of theology in the Church. In the early years of the Church, due to persecutions and the newness of faith, much teachings center on "exhortative rather than theological." By the second century, the rise of heresies and pagan philosophies led to an increase in the number of theologians like Irenaeus of Lyon, Cyprian of Carthage, and Origen. The fourth to the seventh centuries produced some of the most dazzling array of theologians like the first doctors of the Church. By the first 1200 years, monasteries and universities marked a new era in theological training and institutional networks. Third, the authors lament the "great divorce" of the theologian and the pastor. Using the backdrop of the Enlightenment movement in Europe and the secularization, urbanization, democratization, and anticlericalism in North America, readers learn that complexity of cultural shifts play a big role in affecting how theologians and pastors are perceived. In Chapter Four, we discover the problem of how "bad religion" impacts theological thought and ethical beliefs. Hiestand and Wilson put the blame squarely on the anemic theology in the Church. The root cause: Erroneous division of labour that separates the theologian from the pastor. Chapter Five expands on this "ecclesial anemia" with the authors highlighting two challenges: a) The challenge of both theologians and pastors enabled to ask the same questions; b) the need for open theological engagement for common issues that matter to all. Without this common front, the division of labour and perceptions will continue. Chapter Six brings out the need for the pastor theologian through a "threefold taxonomy." The "local theologian" is one who constructs theology for the local Church. The "popular theologian" writes for both his church congregation as well as beyond. The "ecclesial theologian" is perhaps the one who would cast the widest net in constructing theology for other theologians, pastors, churches, and the believers at large. Rather than allocating a chapter for each of the three stated taxonomies, Hiestand and Wilson concentrates on the third that is largely "lost." It is this third kind of pastor-theologian who will be able to bridge the gap between the Church and the Academy. Such a person is first a pastor, then a theologian in the sense that his responsibility to his flock frames the construction of his theology. Just like John Calvin whose pastoral vocation provides the context for the writing of his Institutes. They write that the difference between an ecclesial theologian and a local theologian lies in the former's theological writing ministry. The former writes for other theologians and pastors. Chapter Seven lists eight characteristics of the ecclesial theologian.
He "inhabits the ecclesial social location" or otherwise known as the "vocational pastor"
He asks appropriate "ecclesial questions"
He aims for "clarity over subtlety"
He "theologizes with a preaching voice"
He is a theologian for the Church
He "works across the guilds"
He partners with the "academic theologian"
He is able to "peel back" common beliefs, reshape the theology that is consistent with the gospel and with the times
Chapter Eight sets out eight strategies on how to develop the pastor theologian as an ecclesial theologian. The first strategy is about training in which the authors propose the pursuit of a PhD. In such a pursuit, the student is able to network and publish for the masses. The second strategy is to create a theological culture starting with the Church staff. The third strategy is to network widely. The fourth strategy is to protect and to use one's study time well. Hiestand and Wilson even suggest using a "blowtorch" for such a purpose. The fifth strategy involves intensive and extensive reading/writing of theology. Strategy six seems to be strange as it urges one to refer to one's workplace as one's study. It makes sense when I think about it because that is essentially merging the two roles of pastor and theologian right from the beginning. I like strategy seven which makes the case for building an intentional "study-and-writing" leave. Strategy eight is like discipleship where the existing pastor-theologian hires an intern to do the same. The last two strategies of getting buy-in from the church leadership and the need for love to trump proclamations of truth seem too important to be left to the last.
So What?
Is the pastor-theologian possible in this day and age? It will be like pushing a big rock up three hills. The first hill is the church mindset and culture. Just reading books like this is not enough. Church members need to not only see the need for theology in the Church, they must recognize that without theological depth, the Church will continue to flounder and managed according to principles learned from the office, from external organizations. After all, if members of the church spend six out of seven days in the world, there is a good chance that members often bring the world into the Church. That makes the challenge of culture changes even more difficult. In such situations, it is much easier for such members to understand the church in worldly terms than to understand the church in theological terms.
The second hill is the financial and human resources. The Church must be big enough or has the financial muscle to hire more staff to address the many pressing needs in a typical church. If the Church is to give time and space for the role of a pastor-theologian, there must be a reasonable time and space allocated for the conventional and spiritual needs of the church such as visitation, pastoral care, program planning, Sunday services, and so on.
The third hill, and probably most controversial of all, is we need some kind of a heresy for any church to start taking theology more seriously. There is a historic precedent for that. Remember the writings of the creeds? The Athanasian and the Nicene creeds were all written to counter the heresies against the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ respectively.
It will be tough but not impossible to create space for the birth of more pastor theologians. In order for the ecclesial theologian to emerge, we need more local and popular theologians. We need more role models. We need more theological challenges that the laypersons would appreciate. As long as churches are bogged down by the day-to-day issues of meeting present needs and licking past wounds, churches will remain myopic about their direction and their ecclesial purpose. We need bold leadership to take a stand and create space for for both theological and pastoral vocations.
The pastors of today are very different from those in the ancient times. They are expected to be more of practitioners rather than theologians; execute workmanship rather than scholarship; and to be interested more in the functional more than the intellectual. Most people do not expect their pastors to be theologians, though they would reckon them to have some theological training. Be pragmatic. Be approachable. Go simple. According to Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson, co-founders of the Center for Pastor Theologians, this need not necessarily be the case. Using the historical revivals and ancient examples of theologically rich pastorate in the past, they assert that "the pastor theologian" today is a "rare species." With this book, it is hoped that we have planted the seeds of the emergence of a two-in-one future pastor-theologian in every Church.
Rating: 5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book is provided to me courtesy of Zondervan Academic and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
"...while I would not feel at home within their sphere of theologians, I applaud their views on return of the pastor-theologian"
By Gary E. Gilley
There was a time, as Hiestand and Wilson document, when local pastors led the church theologically. They preached doctrinally solid sermons, wrote theological works and interacted with the scholarship of their day. But all that began to change with the rise of the university prior to the Reformation (p. 33). Ultimately the role of theological study and development shifted to the academy and to professors who devoted themselves to scholarly endeavors. Pastors gave ground to the seminary and professional theologians and contented themselves with the more practical details of church life. In many cases pastors stopped attending to theology altogether, except for the basics. As a result, in recent days, it has become rare to cite a pastor who devotes much of his attention to the study and teaching of theology. Almost nonexistent is the pastor who is engaged in current theological debate with academic scholars or who actually writes significant theology. He leaves such pursuits to the “experts” and busies himself with more pragmatic matters. Consequently churches in America and throughout the world no longer have much interest in doctrine, or biblical exposition for that matter. Further, the average Christian has little appetite for intellectual engagement with Scripture and few resources to discern truth from error. They have become the very type of Christian Paul describes in Ephesians 4:14—“Tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of man, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”
Today few choose or attend a church on the basis of what it teaches; rather they attend because of its musical style, its programs, its social outreach, or opportunities given for service. Doctrines are expendable to most modern evangelicals. Few seem to care. As Andy Stanley, with apparent approval, says “no one is on a truth quest—everyone is on a happiness quest.” Therefore, if you want to attract people you need to minimize truth and major on the supposed means of finding happiness. Churches have now become the market-place which offers the consumer happiness, and pastors have become the chief dispensers of happiness. Said differently, the church is now merely a one-stop spiritual mall specializing in happiness, fulfillment, self-esteem and whatever else the consumer desires, and pastors have become the shop-keepers working frantically to keep the consumer happy or else they will head down the street to the next spiritual mall (disguised as a church) which will. The evangelical church is suffering the fallout of several generations of this type of faulty ecclesiology and anemic theological diet. If things are to change it is the local pastor who must lead the charge. This is the heart-cry of the book under review.
Historically, the task of the pastor has been to instruct his flock in theology, which is defined by seventeenth century Puritan William Ames as, “The knowledge of how to live in the presence of God” (p. 7). The authors add, “The chief task of the theologian is to peer beneath the surface and identify the mistaken beliefs that give rise to misplaced affections and subsequent erring ethics” (p. 55). Therefore, the goal of theology is not simply to fill heads with knowledge, but to change lives. Theology should lead to not only orthodoxy but also orthopraxy and doxology (p. 93). The authors lay much of the ethical floundering of evangelicals at the feet of pastors who have abandoned their role as theologians and left their people to embrace wrong beliefs regarding anthropology, epistemology, cosmology, and soteriology” (p. 56).
Hiestand and Wilson offer many reasons why most pastors no longer take up the mantle of theologian:
• The devolution of theology itself—many Christians do not take it seriously and simply don’t care (pp. 7, 16).
• Vocational pressure of the ministry which pushes pastors to do almost anything else (pp. 7, 22, 65).
• Neither pastors nor their people see pastors as theologians, but rather as practitioners.
• The work of serious theology has shifted to the academy (p. 14). As mentioned earlier the authors trace this shift to the rise of the university, which eclipsed the pastor-theologian in the 13th through 16th century (p. 53). The Reformation reversed this trend for a time (p. 37) so that during the 18th century most theological training in evangelical Protestantism was centered around the local church (pp. 46-47). But three factors undermined this paradigm: secularization and urbanization of the culture; loss of respect in general for the learned professions, and the shift to divinity schools. By the mid-nineteenth century, the pastor-theologian had been replaced by the professor-theologian (pp. 48-49).
Hiestand and Wilson see it as essential that pastors again take seriously their roles as theologians for “theology is not just another leg in the pastoral stool; rather, it is the floor upon which the legs rest” (p. 20). But they do not lump everyone in the same category. As historically they identify three classes of theologians, clerical, nonclerical and monastic (pp. 23-41), now they call for a distinction between the academic scholar and what they term “ecclesial” theology. They define the later as a theology as robust as academic theology yet distinctive as it is “germinated within the congregation, presses toward distinctly ecclesial concerns, and is cultivated by practicing clergy” (p. 18, cf. pp. 67-78 for more details).
While Hiestand and Wilson are calling all pastors to resume their role as local theologians, they recognize that not every pastor will fulfill that role in the same way. To that end they envision three types of pastor-theologians (pp. 81-87).
• Local theologians who minister mostly to their own church through “theologically rich preaching” and “theologically thick pastoral care” (p. 81).
• Popular theologians who have a broader range of influence. These may write theology and bridge “the gap between the professional theological community and the local church, the popular theologian translates academic theology down to other pastors and the laity” (p. 83).
• The Ecclesial theologian who “is a pastor who writes theological scholarship in conversation with other theologians, with an eye to the needs of ecclesial community” (p. 85). Eight characteristics of the ecclesia theologian is further fleshed out in chapter seven (pp. 88-101), and ten strategies to develop ecclesial theologians are found in chapter eight (pp. 102-122).
The Pastor Theologian is a most challenging, thought-provoking and encouraging book. I believe the authors have rightly identified one of the major problems within the modern church and they are working hard to offer solutions. To that end they have founded the Center for Pastor Theologians in 2006, to promote the ideas found within their book. However, for many, including myself, their theological stance appears too broad and ecumenical. They are apparently open to women pastors (pp. 8, 119) as well as evolutionary theory (p. 114); they quote favorably liberation theologian J�rgen Moltmann (p. 65), Joseph Ratzinger (p. 75) and Lesslie Newbigin (p. 113), and seem especially partial to N. T. Wright (pp. 21, 62, 91, 97, 102) who they see as a positive example (p. 97); they use an imprecise and too broad definition for the “gospel” (pp. 55, 58, 82), and members of their Center have wide theological views as they range from Anglican to Pentecostal to Messianic Jew to Presbyterian (p. 128). And so, while I would not feel at home within their sphere of theologians, I applaud their views on the return of the pastor-theologian.
Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Pastor-teacher, Southern View Chapel
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The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision, by Gerald Hiestand, Todd A. Wilson PDF
The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision, by Gerald Hiestand, Todd A. Wilson PDF
The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision, by Gerald Hiestand, Todd A. Wilson PDF
