The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

November 22, 2009 by Gerald Hiestand

Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian: Part 1

I’ve been reading The Power to Comprehend with All the Saints: The Formation and Practice of the Pastor-Theologian. The book is a collection of essays written by the group of pastors who were part of the (now disbanded) Pastor-Theologian Program of the Center For Theological Inquiry. The CTI’s Pastor-Theologian program was, in many respects, a mainline version of the SAET.  The book has a number of robust essays that, as the sub-title suggests, explores the formation and practice of the pastor-theologian. I’m not finished yet, but given the subject matter of the book one glaring deficit stands out—a deficit not unique to this book. As I’ve spent the last number of years reflecting on the SAET’s vision for the pastor-theologian, it has become apparent to me that we throw the term around without really clarifying precisely what we mean. What, after all, is a pastor-theologian? What makes one pastor a pastor-theologian and another pastor just a pastor? Is a pastor-theologian just a really smart pastor?

It is apparent (at least to me) that our ecclesial and theological communities have assumed a definition of the term pastor-theologian without having adequately thought through that definition. That the term is used frequently is obvious. That we understand what we mean by it is not. Bringing definition to the current understanding of the term, therefore, is a necessary first step in identifying the SAET’s vision of the pastor-theologian. In my analysis, the term pastor-theologian is used in a broad sense to denote three basic models: the pastor-theologian as local theologian, the pastor-theologian as popular theologian, and the pastor-theologian as academic theologian. While the SAET affirms—in varying degrees—the legitimacy of each of these models (most especially the first two), the SAET reserves the term pastor-theologian for a fourth model—a model that has all but gone extinct in recent times: the pastor-theologian as ecclesial theologian.

In the next few posts I will be posting excerpts from my ‘09 SAET Symposium paper The Pastor-Theologian as Ecclesial Theologian, which seeks to provide a working taxonomy of the pastor-theologian, and argues for theological writing as a vital component of the pastor-theologian’s identity.

As we will see, the local theologian model is insufficient in as much as it does not include writing theology as a vital component of the pastor-theologian’s identity (this seems to be the assumed model in play for The Power to Comprehend). The last two models, while they advocate writing theology as a necessary component of the pastor-theologian’s identity, are insufficient in that they advocate the wrong sort of theology.

Stay tuned…

Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian