A return to the Bishops
"During the years 100 to 600, most theologians were bishops; from 600 to 1500 in the West, they were monks; since 1500, they have been university professors. Gregory I, who died in 604, was a bishop who had been a monk; Martin Luther, who died in 1546 was a monk who became a university professor." Jaroslav Pelikan
I would like to see a return to the theologian bishop. That is one of the reasons I like N.T. Wright, Leslie Newbigin, Eugene Peterson and even Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They were all pastors as well as scholars. The world (especially in the industrialized west) has too many academics and not enough pastors.
I would like to see a return to the theologian bishop. That is one of the reasons I like N.T. Wright, Leslie Newbigin, Eugene Peterson and even Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They were all pastors as well as scholars. The world (especially in the industrialized west) has too many academics and not enough pastors.
Comments
As they say in the Christian east, "One who truly prays is a theologian and a true theologian is one who prays." We can read all the books in the world, study all the commentaries, and develop the most convincing rational arguments for this or that exegesis. But if we don't have communion with God through prayer--and in His body, the Church--we can't truly be theologians. Thinking about Him isn't the same thing as dwelling in His transforming presence.
I've found that book knowledge alone, and the pursuit thereof, can become a prop that gives us a false sense of our spiritual growth. When it becomes time to pray, it's a painful discovery to realize that, despite all the beautiful and profound ideas one has learned about God, it's difficult to overcome distractions or sinful thoughts, and commune with Him. I have to fight against that false sense of growth. It's been humbling to realize that all my reading doesn't amount to much apart from my praying, which I'm still only beginning to learn how to do.
I like this quote from Elder Sophrony's book "St. Silouan the Athonite":
"What is the use of reasoning about the nature of grace if one does not experience its action in oneself? What is the use of declaiming about the light of Tabor if one does not dwell in it existentially? Is there any sense in splitting theological hairs over the nature of the Trinity if a man has not within himself the holy strength of the Father, the gentle love of the Son, the uncreated light of the Holy Ghost?
"Dogmatic knowledge, understood as spiritual knowledge, is a gift of God, like all forms of real life in God, granted by God, and only possible through His coming. This knowledge has by no means always been expressed in speech or in writing. The soul does not aspire to expound her experience in rational concepts when God’s grace descends on her. She needs no logical interpretations then, because she knows with a knowledge that cannot be demonstrated but which equally requires no proof that she lives through the true God….
"…God is made known by faith and living communion, whereas human speech with all its relativity and fluidity opens the way to endless misunderstandings and objections."
It's so easy to miss the true and living God for all our pontification, isn't it?
"And not enough pastors who are theologians."