RTS Papers / Introduction to Pastoral & Theological Studies / Fall 2016
As the title suggests, this will be a critical defense. What that will mean for this essay is that the pastor will not be seeking aloof or slothful or self-congratulatory refuge in his study. However this is also a neglected member of the body of Christ, so it will be in his defense. As the case is set forth, a key word will be balance, as we draw mainly from the works of Gregory the Great, Richard Baxter, and Kelly Kapic. It seems to me that the active and contemplative lives were not really meant to form two segregated Christian ministries in any event. With that caveat, let us begin with some definition.
Defining the Contemplative Pastor
My own definition rejects the idea that the “active” and “contemplative” lives are two separate entities, but will insist that the contemplative dimension is ideally a subsection of the active: i. e. that “reason is not wholly passive" [Swain, 98]. That is not to deny any distinction. Some of us are more given to rigorous and extended contemplation than others. Furthermore, it will be argued, how much attention those contemplative gifts are given will determine a certain amount of the maturity of the active life. This is true in the individual so gifted, and it is true of the whole church community. If we assume that the active life is what we call the positive movement of the individual Christian (or church) in ministering to people’s real needs, then let us conclude that:
The contemplative life is that action in which the soul is transformed by the renewal of our minds for the glory of God and good of others.
There are three important points about a “life” so defined: (1) it is not original (cf. Rom. 12:2); (2) it is not anti-social; and, as already suggested, (3) it is not passive. We interpret Romans 12:2 in light of 1 Corinthians 12. The pastor is as much one of those body parts as the others. And we ought to expect a diversity among elders every bit as much as in the body at large. One guiding principle for this is found in that same metaphor. The mind exists within a body that is together, and a body that is in motion. Gregory the Great spoke of the active and contemplative lives not as disjointed skill sets, but as spheres of the Christian life which must achieve a harmony. Indeed the mind sets the body in motion, at least to that degree that we speak of the voluntary motions of the image bearer.
Moving from metaphor back to the real person. On the most basic level, “the mind cannot focus well on one matter when when it is divided by many concerns" [Gregory, 34]. Consequently, even if it was denied that a pastor is set aside exclusively to preach and teach, there would still be a division of labor: i. e. to rightly divide the time in each pastor’s schedule. To repeat, what is true of the whole body in 1 Corinthians 12 is true of all pastors. They are all wired differently by God. On the other hand, these gifts were all given for the body and not for the private satisfaction of the thinker [cf. Gregory, 34]. There is unity and diversity here. Beyond the whole division of labor, Gregory and others thought of a pastor’s contemplation as the care of one’s own soul [49, 69-73]. To neglect it is to grow cold, since it is by setting his mind on heavenly things that he resists sin.
Baxter spoke of those in his day who took up the ministry because it was a cushy job [80]. No doubt that is still a reality in our day. Gregory opened off his classic work on Pastoral Rule with the admission that he himself would prefer to “flee the burdens of pastoral care” [27], and John Calvin had famously attempted the same before Geneva twice pulled him back into the ecclesiastical flames. No doubt this has been a motive for many; and if we are honest, there are moments when the unruliness of the flock and a few special thorns in the flesh make us wish we were at a Starbucks on the top of the Swiss Alps accompanied only by the venerable dead.
Defending the Contemplative Pastor
This essay assumes that the contemplative pastor is undervalued within Evangelicalism today. The above definition answers three objections that are usually made about this contemplative type.
He is not original. One of the strongest arguments for this contemplative pastor is that this has been the norm throughout church history. Great pastors have been many things, but they have rarely been a specimen of intellectual sloth. And besides, “It is a fairly modern notion to separate theology as a science from theology as a practical reflection on life" [Kapic, 42].
If the theologian is a pilgrim — always reforming — and if every pastor is a theologian, then every pastor is always reforming by his theology. To deny him more books is to affirm his genius complex! It may be objected that he can bend these to his presuppositions as well as he can do with his own thoughts. But that is where regular peer review and subscription to a confession come into play. We do not solve his inward bent by shielding him from the world of books, which, if Lewis was right, is a much larger world than even the contemporary world right outside.
He is not anti-social. Now I have been assuming everything that our assigned authors have said about theology being designed for community. But perhaps some more needs to be said about those who struggle fitting into what one might call the “extraverted ecclesiology” of our day. The gregarious game show host gatherer has become the very quintessence of pastoral winsomeness ever since the turn of the millennium. However this seems to have more to do with our culture than with the demands of Scripture. “But surely,” someone will say, “the culture must be kept in view. After all, the more ‘contemplative’ a pastor is, the fewer people there will be to whom he may relate and minister.” But I would like to suggest that the shoe is on the other foot. One way that this comes into play is our capacities to psychologize the flock.
Gregory famously counsels us to differentiate between many types: physical, economic, moral, dispositional, experiential—and a given person may be several of these things at the same time, or in different seasons. Appreciating this very set of distinctions is the fruit of contemplation. It is not the sort of insight to be expected of those who shun insight. Conflict resolution and counseling are fraught with dangers (some being legal). It is true that navigating the hard cases may take more than contemplation, but it never takes less.
He is not passive. Perhaps the most persistent objection to the contemplative pastor is the suspicion of disconnect between head and heart (or hands). The problem is understandable. Our lives often contradict our doctrine, especially considering that the subject matter of our doctrine is lofty, and our attitudes and actions are shot through with sin. How much worse is this for one who would shepherd the souls of others? If this were insurmountable, no one but Jesus could be an overseer. Clearly God has not left things at that.
Appropriate affections are also normally stirred in deep reflection. In my experience, the same can be said for promoting justice. Coming to the aid of those who cannot defend themselves, both inside and outside the church, is always a matter of deep reflection. Injustice is only the rule under the triumph of abusive errors; and it is precisely in uniting the biggest truths that one studies with the greatest community one has been given that any worthwhile sermon is made, or any courageous stand against wrongdoing.
All of this is to say that the arenas in which contemplation is never expected to make a showing would be impoverished without the shepherd who has thought long and hard.
Correcting the Contemplative Pastor
Here is the “critical” part of the defense. Even though we speak of the “ideal contemplative,” in reality, the pastor is a sinner. And like the tragic hero, his biggest sins will be cultivated and defended with his greatest gifts. Here is where Baxter was divinely merciless. First I will aim him at the shepherd’s speech.
The pastor ought not ascend to the heights in order to draw attention to himself or to pound anyone who crosses him by his eloquence. We are to speak, Baxter says, “as plain as we can, that we may inform the ignorant" [137]. There is also a myopic ministry that never gets out of the polemical “cage stage” of making sure that all enemies, foreign and domestic, have been properly eliminated. More often than not such an “us versus them” approach characterizes the man and the ministry in a false way. However there are times when an actual Trojan horse commands a pastor’s attention and legitimately defines a bit of his work. We might think of entire phases in Augustine’s writing career divided between Manichean, Donatist, and Pelagian. As a general rule, it seems that one must refresh and study how to contemplate truth without contentiousness.
The problem here is not simply harshness, but obscure subject matter. A beating is not the only harm to the sheep, but also malnourishment. There are untimely truths. What is exploding our minds at the moment may have little to do with our peoples’ immediate capacities and needs.
But there is also an opposite danger. We may attempt to teach to their minds what is not affecting us down to our own hearts. There is a kind of deception involved in spiritual matters when we serve up to others what we are not feasting upon ourselves. Baxter put this in different terms, but the point is that the knowing and showing dimensions of our soul cannot be compartmentalized. Our thinking goes rotten. That is also why the preparatory and practicing stages of ministry cannot be separated. We must “keep” a close watch on our life and doctrine, and “persist” in that (cf. 1 Tim. 4:16). The gulf between the purity and power of the truth contemplated and the everyday lot of our brothers and sisters can make us cynics instead of servants. We can objectify the whole truth out of everything, from God to the world to others, to even ourselves, where what is left of ourselves is an Atlas in the mirror, with the weight of the church world on our shoulders. But since Christ holds that position, what does that make us when we are under such a spell?
Finally true theology is never in seclusion. God did not leave the world alone, and so if we are studying well, both we and our people will “mirror his heart” [Kapic, 87] — incarnationally contemplative. Here is a principle that can be gleaned from all of the authors: If it cannot pass the tests of prayer, worship, mortification, charity and justice, then it is not contemplation that happily exists in the body with Christ as its head. Somewhere there lurks a desire for autonomy: intellectual or otherwise.
Counseling the Contemplative Pastor
Our last business calls for some vocational counseling. Spiritual preparation and academic training are both necessary; and, as such, seminary and ministry should never be pit against each other. The contemplative pastor should not allow the spirit of our age to shame him for his gifts. Baxter’s words about the centrality of theology in both higher and lower education [58-60], in my mind, justify the cultivation of more Christian schools, including colleges and seminaries, in places that have slim to no Reformed educational presence. At the very least, there is as great a demand as ever for pastors who will not bury their heads in a flurry of activity: which activity is often set in motion by the fear of man.
Throughout the Scriptures and church history so many of the saints do a great work in a brief moment, a moment that was prepared by a long season of contemplating God through suffering. It may be that the seminarian is called to equip such pastors in their “wilderness experiences,” wrestling with a calling that they were once sure of, but which the most influential voices around them have debunked.
(#pastoral #ministry #contemplative #Baxter #soulcare #spiritual #pastor)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2001
Gregory the Great. The Book of Pastoral Rule. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007
Kapic, Kelly M. A Little Book for New Theologians. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012
Swain, Scott R. Trinity, Revelation, & Reading. London: T&T Clark, 2011
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