The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies)

by Craig Barnes

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2009

Overview

Today’s pastors—often expected to be multitasking marvels who can make their churches “successful”—are understandably confused about their role. Craig Barnes contends that the true calling of a pastor is to help others become fully alive in Christ, to be a “minor poet,” or poet of the soul. As such, pastors are to read the major poets of Scripture and history in light of the dust and grit of daily parish life.

The Pastor as Minor Poet eloquently calls pastors to search for a deeper understanding of what they see—both in the text of Scripture and in the text of their parishioners’ lives. A critical part of this poetic vision involves discerning key subtexts beneath these texts, which allows pastors to preach the heart of the Word and to understand the hearts of their people. Written with a seasoned pastor’s depth of understanding and a poet’s sensibility and sensitivity, this book will minister to and inspire pastors everywhere.

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Key Features

• Calls pastors to search for a deeper understanding of Scripture and their parishioners’ lives
• Provides insight from a seasoned pastor’s depth of understanding
• Explores the true calling of a pastor as ‘minor poet’ or poet of the soul

Contents

• Who Is the Pastor?
• The Parish Poet
• The Unpoetic Congregation
• The Poet’s Pathos
• The Poetic Community
• The Subtext of Scripture
• The Subtext of Human Life
• The Subtext of the Poet
• Writing the Poetry

Contents

Top Highlights

“Joy cannot be analyzed, strategized, or explained. It can only be entered, and the portal into joy is confessing the truth: We are not whole. No one has to pretend, and the truth feels so good that we just want to cheer whenever someone exhibits it.” (Page 38)

“I want to suggest still another image: the poet. I present this not as the normative or even preferred image, but simply as another biblical description of the calling of those who have been blessed with a vision that allows them to explore, and express, the truth behind the reality. Poets see the despair and heartache as well as the beauty and miracle that lie just beneath the thin veneer of the ordinary, and they describe this in ways that are recognized not only in the mind, but more profoundly in the soul.” (Page 17)

“There is no such thing as a self-constructed life. There is only being in Christ, or there is the nothingness that others create for us.” (Page 10)

“T. S. Eliot has claimed that every culture needs minor as well as major poets.⁴ The major poets, who are few and far between, provide enduring expressions of the deep truth of life. Minor poets have the more modest goal of inculcating that truth to particular people in particular places.” (Page 24)

“But when we begin with our own identity in Christ and the pastoral call to assist others in becoming fully alive in him, we are freed from the drudgery of being managers and service providers to pursue something much more creative—being poets of the soul.” (Page 13)

Praise for the Print Edition

Barnes knows all about being a pastor, how to use authority, how to lead, how to listen, and how to provoke. He knows, moreover, that it finally all comes down to faithful words that can conjure alternative scenarios of the future. In a society cold with technical reason, this summons to poetic truth is of huge importance.

—Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Title: The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life
• Author: Craig Barnes
• Series: The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 146
• Era: era:Contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Pastoral theology; Clergy; Pastoral theology › Anecdotes; Clergy › Anecdotes
• ISBNs: 9780802829627, 0802829627
• Resource ID: LLS:PSTRSMNRPT
• Resource Type: text.monograph.poetry
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-10-19T16:59:31Z

About Craig Barnes

The Rev. Dr. Craig Barnes became the Robert Meneilly* professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2002. In addition to this teaching ministry at PTS, he currently serves as Senior Pastor at Shadyside Presbyterian Church. Previously, he served as the senior pastor of the National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC. Barnes earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago, where his doctoral advisor was Martin Marty. He is the author of several popular books, including most recently Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls (Brazos Press, 2006), Sacred Thirst: Finding God in the Desert of our Longings (Zondervan 2001) and Hustling God: Why We Work So Hard for What God Wants to Give (Zondervan 1999). A well-known Presbyterian, he is also the author of numerous published articles and is a popular speaker at Seminary and church events. The Meneilly Professorship was established in honor of the Rev. Robert Meneilly ‘47. It is designed to provide instruction in understanding the dynamics of congregational life and leadership. It also provides experienced pastoral presence on the campus.