Topic 36: The Nature and Practice of the Christian Pastoral Ministry

36. THE NATURE AND PRACTICE OF THE CHRISTIAN PASTORAL MINISTRY

Seminar Readings

Augustine. On Christian Teaching. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by R. P. H. Green. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. xxvi + 168 pp. In that the Christian ministry is a ministry of the Word, see first this classic text on reading, learning, studying, interpreting, preaching, and teaching the Bible.

Calvin, John. “The Doctors and Ministers of the Church, Their Election and Office.” In Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Chapter 3 (vol. 2, pp. 1053–1068). Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill, vols. 1–2. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960.

“The Second Helvetic Confession,” Chapter 18, “Of the Ministers of the Church, Their Institution and Duties.” In Book of Confessions. Louisville, KY: Office of the General Assembly, 2016. 5.142–168 (pp. 115–122). Text: http://oga.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/oga/pdf/boc2016.pdf

Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. 1656. Edited by William Brown, 1829. Reprint, Edinburgh, Scotland and Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974. 256 pp.

Allen, Diogenes. Temptation. New York: Church Publications, 2004. 160 pp. Originally published as Between Two Worlds: A Guide for Those Beginning to be Religious. Atlanta, GA: John Knox, 1977. 155 pp. The new edition, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 1986, includes an Introduction, pp. v–xi, which seems to have affected the numbering of the pages.

Leith, John H. From Generation to Generation: The Renewal of the Church According to Its Own Faith and Practice. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1990. 223 pp. This book is an excellent statement of the nature and practice of the Christian pastoral ministry. By saying what the church is to be and to do, it also says what the minister is to be and to do. In many ways, this sets forth the program of the Foundation.

Old, Hughes Oliphant. Worship Reformed According to Scripture, revised and expanded edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2002. xii + 195 pp. In that the Christian pastor leads worship, see this contemporary statement of the nature and practice of Reformed worship.

Supplementary Readings

Allen, Diogenes. Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today. Boston, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 1997. 169 pp.

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FOUNDATION BIBLIOGRAPHIES Page 60

Barnes, M. Craig. The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life. In Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008. 138 pp.

Barth, Karl. “The Mission of the Church.” In Church Dogmatics, edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, Vol. I, The Doctrine of the Word of God, Part 2, § 22, pp. 743–796. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1956.

——— “The Holy Spirit and the Upbuilding of the Christian Community.” In Church Dogmatics, edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, Vol. IV, The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 2, § 67, pp. 614–726. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1958.

——— “The Holy Spirit and the Sending of the Christian Community.” In Church Dogmatics, edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, Vol. IV, The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 3, second half, § 72, pp. 681–901. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1962.

——— Homiletics. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Donald E. Daniels. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991. Translation of Homiletik. 136 pp.

Leith, John H. Crisis in the Church: The Plight of Theological Education. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1997. xiii + 125 pp. This book mounts a sharp critique of the church and its seminaries; to date, the charges have gone unanswered.

Niebuhr, H. Richard, in collaboration with Daniel Day Williams and James M. Gustafson. The Purpose of the Church and Its Ministry: Reflections on the Aims of Theological Education. New York: Harper & Row, 1956. xvi + 134 pp. Interesting foil to John H. Leith, From Generation to Generation. Text: www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=407

Niebuhr, Reinhold. Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic. Forward by Martin E. Marty. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1990. 152 pp. Anecdotal.

Oden, Thomas C. Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983. xii + 372 pp. This book is intentionally ecumenical, so that some of its understanding of ministry lies beyond a Reformed understanding of ministry.

Old, Hughes Oliphant. Leading in Prayer: A Workbook for Ministers. Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 1995. xi + 370 pp.

Peterson, Eugene H. Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992. 251 pp.

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——— Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994. 206 pp.

——— Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987. 137 pp.

Purves, Andrew. The Crucifixion of Ministry: Surrendering Our Ambitions to the Service of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, IVP Books, 2007. 152 pp. This book reworks some of the ground covered in Purves’s Reconstructing Pastoral Theology, though in a nontechnical manner (p. 10). This is a companion volume to The Resurrection of Ministry.

——— Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001. 137 pp. As the title indicates, a review of the history of theology about the nature and practice of the Christian pastoral ministry.

——— Reconstructing Pastoral Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. 272 pp.

——— The Resurrection of Ministry: Serving in the Hope of the Risen Lord. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, IVP Books, 2010. 158 pp. This is a companion volume to The Crucifixion of Ministry.

Revised April 1, 2019

Copyright © 2019 by Foundation for Reformed Theology. All rights reserved.