The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

Pastor-theologian Posts

• November 29, 2009

  Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian, Part 4: The Pastor-Theologian as Academic Theologian

  When I tell people the SAET is a theological society for pastor-theologians, I am initially understood to be speaking of the local theologian model (part 2). When my listeners come to realize that I envision a writing ministry as a vital component of the pastor-theologian’s identity, they quickly assume the popular theologian model (part 3).  When I explain that we are going for something more robust than popular theology, they immediately envision (often with skepticism) this last model—the pastor-theologian as academic theologian. (After all, isn’t academic theology the …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Pastor-theologian

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• November 27, 2009

  Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian, Part 3: The Pastor-Theologian as Popular Theologian

  Moving beyond the local theologian model, we arrive at a more objective definition of the pastor-theologian—the pastor-theologian as popular theologian. In this model, the pastor-theologian is a pastor who actually writes theology—an objective function not typical of most pastors. Bridging the gap between the professional theological community and the local church, the popular theologian translates academic theology “down” to other pastors and the laity. Many pastor-theologians of this variety have post-graduate degrees, read widely in theology, and serve as significant (and necessary) voices in contemporary evangelicalism.

  The writing ministries …

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  Categories: Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian

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• November 25, 2009

  Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian, Part 2: The Pastor-Theologian as Local Theologian

  Continuing from part one…

  The first, and I believe most common, model of the pastor-theologian is that of a local theologian to one’s own congregation. At this most basic level, the pastor-theologian is conceived of as a theologically astute pastor who ably services the theological needs of his local church.

  Al Mohler Jr., in his recently published, He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Post-Modern World, devotes a chapter to the calling and identity of the pastor-theologian. It becomes evident throughout the chapter that Mohler is working largely within the …

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  Categories: Pastor-theologian

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• November 22, 2009

  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, …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian

  4 Comments

• November 9, 2009

  Doug Sweeny On the Professor as Researcher and the Pastor as Theologian

  At the close of the ‘09 SAET Symposium, our Senior Theological Consultant, Doug Sweeney, offered the following proposal regarding the future relationship between academic scholars and pastor-theologians:
  “We will not always need academic, systematic theologians to do all the heavy theological lifting for God’s people. We are not often explicit about this, but systematic theology, insofar as it is distinguished from biblical, historical, philosophical, psychological, and intercultural theology, is the work …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian | Symposium

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• October 18, 2009

  Vanhoozer’s Ten Theses and the Pastor-Theologian as Evangelicalism’s Default Public Intellectual

  Michael Bird posted these ten theses from Kevin Vanhoozer’s paper entitled “Interpreting Scripture between the Rock of Biblical Studies and the Hard Place of Systematic Theology: The State of the Evangelical (Dis)union,” delivered at Gordon-Conwell for the Renewing the Evangelical Mission conference. These have been floating around the blogosphere, but they’re worth posting again here, particularly the closing observation he makes regarding pastor-theologians.
  1. The nature and function of the Bible are insufficiently grasped unless and until we see the Bible as an element in the economy of triune discourse.

  2. …

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  Categories: Ecclesial Theology | Kevin Vanhoozer | Pastor-theologian | Systematic Theology

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• September 3, 2009

  Bray on the Pastor-Theologian

  In a response to Tom Wright’s book on justification, Gerald Bray chastises Wright for producing a book that has “let us down badly” and is “full of digressions, personal anecdotes which appear to have no purpose other than to win sympathy for the author, and random attacks against unnamed people who are supposed to be typical of popular modern Evangelicals.” In short, Bray didn’t care for the book.

  Aside from the caustic tone of the review (and to be fair, Wright’s tone wasn’t always particularly charitable in his book), …

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  Categories: Book Review | John Piper | Pastor-theologian | Tom Wright

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• August 5, 2009

  No Excuses: Even Hengel Couldn’t Find Time to Write!

  One of the challenges facing the serious pastor-theologian is finding time to study and write, particularly in a contemporary ecclesial context that doesn’t place the same value on the pastor-theologian model as in years gone by. But apparently it isn’t only pastors who can’t find time for serious study and writing. In the introduction to his The Atonement: The Origins of the Doctrine in the New Testament, the late Martin Hengel laments,
  In it’s present form, …

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  Categories: Martin Hengel | Pastor-theologian

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• July 20, 2009

  The Pastor-Theologian: Regarding Definition

  A continuing challenge for the SAET vision is overcoming the contemporary understanding of the term “pastor-theologian.” For the most part, the term is understood in the common vernacular to signify a pastor who ably services the theological needs of his own local congregation. Working from this definition, there is a real sense in which every pastor is called to be a pastor-theologian.

  But the SAET vision of a pastor-theologian is not for every pastor. We’re not simply advocating theological engagement on a …

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  Categories: Pastor-theologian

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• July 3, 2009

  Doug Sweeney on Jonathan Edwards: A “Priestly Theologian”

  Doug Sweeney (senior consultant for the SAET’s 2009 Symposium) is one of today’s  leading Edwards scholars.  I had the good fortune of taking his class on Edwards while at TEDS, so when I heard about his new book Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word (IVP Academic), I quickly snatched up a copy and read it. If you haven’t had much exposure to Edwards, this is a great book. It tops out …

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  Categories: Book Review | Jonathan Edwards | Pastor-theologian

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