Four Ministries, One Jesus: Exploring Your Vocation with the Four Gospels

by Richard A. Burridge

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2019

Overview

What it means to be called into ministry for the “one Jesus” of the New Testament

Richard Burridge’s Four Gospels, One Jesus? has long been a popular introduction to the New Testament gospels. In this book Burridge looks specifically at pastoral ministry through the lens of each gospel. The book’s four major parts are MATTHEW—Teaching Good News, LUKE—Pastoral Care, MARK—Suffering the Way of the Cross, and JOHN—Praying the Divine Life.

Combining the skills of a leading biblical scholar with the wisdom derived from years of pastoral experience, Burridge invites readers to consider such questions as how to extend pastoral care to people both outside and inside Christian community, how to take care of oneself and one’s family, and how to stay attuned to the Spirit by cultivating a fresh and vigorous life of prayer.

Full of practical advice on developing and maintaining the skills needed for ministry today, Four Ministries, One Jesus will be a vital resource for anyone who is called to Christian ministry.

Key Features

• Examines the life and ministry of Jesus in each gospel
• Combines theological insight with practical wisdom
• Explores aspects of ministry including preaching, teaching, serving, and prayer

Contents

Introduction: Four portraits of Jesus’s mission and ministry

Part I: Matthew—Teaching Good News

• Matthew’s portrait of Jesus as the supreme teacher
• The teaching ministry in selection for ministry
• The teaching ministry in the ordination services
• Teaching and preaching in your ministry
• Sustaining teaching and preaching in your ministry

Part II: Luke—Pastoral Care

• Luke’s portrait of Jesus’s pastoral ministry
• The pastoral ministry in selection for ministry
• The pastoral ministry in the ordination services
• Pastoral care in your ministry
• Sustaining a pastoral ministry

Part III: Mark—Suffering the Way of the Cross

• The way of the cross in Mark’s portrait of Jesus’s ministry
• Suffering the way of the cross in selection for ministry
• Suffering the way of the cross in the ordination services
• Suffering the way of the cross in your ministry
• Sustaining ministry on the way of the cross

Part IV: John—Praying the Divine Life

• John’s portrait of Jesus and the life of God
• Prayer and the divine life in selection for ministry
• Prayer and sharing the life of God in the ordination services
• Prayer and sharing the life of God in your ministry
• Sustaining the divine life of prayer in ministry

Praise for the Print Edition

This book looks at the curious, wonderful vocational work of God through the lenses of the four gospels. Pastors will surely find new meaning in their vocations and new enthusiasm for their work by reading Richard Burridge’s wise, encouraging book.

—Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School

Like a suspension bridge with cables rooted on either side of a canyon (an image that Burridge uses), this book links Christian scripture and tradition on the one side with the realities of ministry in the world church on the other. The book carries the reader over the gap in a readable and highly informative way. Burridge uses the four portraits of Jesus in the four gospels to draw out the meaning of the formation criteria of a range of churches from across the world. It is instructive especially for those exploring licensed and ordained ministry and, indeed, for anyone engaged in ministry. I commend this book warmly.

—Stephen Spencer, Anglican Communion

In Four Ministries, One Jesus, Burridge brings to bear both his academic expertise and his ministerial experience on four aspects of life-in-ministry, namely, teaching, pastoral ministry, suffering, and praying. By exploring these ministerial duties in concert with the Evangelists’ variegated, mutually reinforcing portraits of Jesus, Burridge helps all who minister, whether ordained or not, to do so with a clearer vision of and greater fidelity to the One who came teaching and doing good. I warmly and enthusiastically commend this volume to all who would walk in Jesus’s steps and minister in his name

—Todd D. Still, Truett Seminary

Product Details

• Title: Four Ministries, One Jesus: Exploring Your Vocation with the Four Gospels
• Author: Richard A. Burridge
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 240
• Resource Type: Topical
• Topic: Pastoral Theology

About Richard A. Burridge

Richard A. Burridge is dean of King’s College London, where he is also professor of biblical interpretation and director of New Testament studies. Winner of the 2013 Ratzinger Prize, he is the first non-Catholic ever to receive that prestigious award.

Sample Pages from Four Ministries, One Jesus: Exploring Your Vocation with the Four Gospels