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Pastor Or Theologian?




I received a facebook message from a long-lost college friend and roommate the other day. In his cordial greeting he noted, and correctly, that I had just graduated with a Masters in Theology. I really appreciated the recognition and congratulations, but what bothered me was his next question. He asked if I was "going to be a Pastor or a Theologian?" I laughed, not because I thought the answer to the question was obvious, but because of the fact that he dichotomized the two disciplines as mutually exclusive.

My first reaction was to respond with a smart alec remark about his ignorance and misconstrued views of Christianity and its relationship to education, but then I had to stop and remember that he graduated from the same undergraduate institution which I graduated from, and probably, like me, attended a 'fundy' church growing up. Reminding myself of this context cooled me off a bit and I kindly responded that I would hope someday to do both.

Nonetheless, what his question did was to expose a commonly held presupposition among the average evangelical John Doe that theology is for the learned only, that some how theology and doctrine belong only to those select few who live in the high walls of crystal castles gazing at the heavens while pondering the deep things of life, but whose purpose has no connection to real life and what goes on in the real world. It is unfortunate that Evangelical American Christianity has placed so little value and emphasis on theological fitness, much to the detriment of the spiritual health of the corporate American church. Instead the qualifications for the Pastor in the non-denominational (especially independent) churches is that they "mean well," they "preach good," and they have "daily quiet times." The Pastor is no longer a theologian unlike the early church fathers such as Athanasius or Clement or Origen, but rather the Pastor is only a functional position of "leadership."

My desire is to be a Pastor-Theologian someday. One who cares deeply about the people, but just as deeply about theology and all that the exercise of its discipline entails.
Thank you for the examples of men such as John Piper, Rowan Williams, John Stott, etc. etc.

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