Monday, March 07, 2005
No Theologian?
Paul T. McCain put up a post on Saturday that is getting all sorts on interest. Michael at BHT pointed to it. Andy Jackson at SmartChristian pointed to World Magazine Blog who point to it.
What's all the hubbub? Pastor McCain is bemoaning pastors that say "Well, I'm not a theologian...." Pastors? What about Christians in general? Aren't we all supposed to have some understanding of what we believe about God in a coherent and logical fashion. Theology is not faith, but faith absent theology is pretty lame stuff too.
I think this ties in with the discussion that started over the weekend about preaching that 'sticks.' Adrian Warnock has added his good thoughts in that discussion by the way.
Pastors say they are "not theologians" because they think people will tune them out right away. I think the job of pastor is well down the road in a change from shepherd to 'church builder.' A church builder is going to say what will draw people in, and they perceive that is "not being a theologian."
McCain has some wisdom when he says:
What's all the hubbub? Pastor McCain is bemoaning pastors that say "Well, I'm not a theologian...." Pastors? What about Christians in general? Aren't we all supposed to have some understanding of what we believe about God in a coherent and logical fashion. Theology is not faith, but faith absent theology is pretty lame stuff too.
I think this ties in with the discussion that started over the weekend about preaching that 'sticks.' Adrian Warnock has added his good thoughts in that discussion by the way.
Pastors say they are "not theologians" because they think people will tune them out right away. I think the job of pastor is well down the road in a change from shepherd to 'church builder.' A church builder is going to say what will draw people in, and they perceive that is "not being a theologian."
McCain has some wisdom when he says:
Now don't get me wrong, I'm just as turned off as you are by pastors who have this compulsion to use jargon, to throw around Greek, Hebrew, Latin or German terms to wow and amaze their listeners. They love to toss out technical terminology. No, those aren't theologians either, in many cases they are insecure little boys who haven't gained confidence in what they think they believe, and so have to resort to rhetorical game-playing to try to "wow" their audiences.The key is to not be an academic, but rather be a good theologian. I am also willing to bet that people will travel an awful long way and in decent numbers to hear a good theologian.
The best theologian/pastors are men who can preach clearly and simply so that the most unlearned layman in the church can understand what they are talking about.
Am I suggesting pastors are to be ethereal eggheads whose heads are so far buried in weighty tomes they have no concept what life in the real world is like? Of course not....
If a pastor is not a theologian, he should not be a pastor. Similarly,a pastor who is an incompetent teacher should not be a pastor. How many times have we experienced a pastor who can't teach a Bible class well to save his life. If he can't then he should never have been certified to be a pastor. The Scriptures say a man must be "apt to teach" in order to be a pastor.
Now, mind you, I'm not suggesting all pastors necessarily are experts in all facets of academic scholarship concerning theology. But a "theologian" is not a professor at a seminary, or a researcher at some institute. Ivory tower academics speculating about theology are not necessarily theologians. A Ph.D. is not the qualification to be a theologian. Perhaps part of our problem is that we have mistakenly equated "theologian" with academic. But pick up most any academic theological journal and ask yourself, "What in here is really going to serve the teaching of the Gospel?" Sadly a lot of academic theology today is just playing to the guild of scholars. That's not necessarily theology and the academics doing this are not necessarily theologians.
Pastors must be theologians. Theologians are men who rightly divide God's Word, properly and carefully and faitfully distinguishing Law and Gospel, faitfully preaching and teaching that Word and fulfill the duties of their office as pastor, caring for the souls entrusted to their care with the Word of God.
