Monthly archive - March 2012

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Purves, Andrew. (2001). Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition. Louisville, Motilium australia, Kentucky, Westminster John Knox Press. 50mg Motilium, This little book seeks to address the author’s concern that the practice of pastoral care “is, by and large, uninformed by historical practice.” (5) Purves identifies the need for “a profound reappraisal of core working assumptions in pastoral theology,” (5) and to this need, Motilium uk, seeks to apply wisdom gleaned from five figures in church history: Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Motilium paypal, Gregory the Great, Martin Bucer, and Richard Baxter.

His selection of these five was directed by the fact that they wrote directly about the work of the pastor, rather than addressing specific issues of theological debate, Motilium For Sale.

SUMMARY

After a brief introduction, Motilium overseas, to which I shall return in my critique, Purves summarizes the contributions of each of these five figures in succeeding chapters. 500mg Motilium, Each chapter is divided into a brief biographical section, a discussion of common themes in the subject’s theology, and finally an analysis of the pastoral theology of each man. These chapters are headed with the title of the work for which each figure is credited by Purves with having contributed significantly to the development of pastoral theology, 750mg Motilium.

Chapter one, Gregory of Nazianzus ‘In Defense of His Flight to Pontus’, Motilium canada, identifies several recurring themes in Gregory’s theology, such as his belief that the theologian must receive “a special call” (13), and his understanding of the final goal of the Christian life, which he called “deification.” (14) Purves also briefly discusses Gregory’s understanding of the Trinity, 20mg Motilium, Christology, and anthropology, Motilium india, before moving to a discussion of his pastoral theology. Motilium For Sale, This section discusses at length Gregory’s view of the pastor as a “physician of souls,” whose goal it is “to contend on behalf of God and thereby to lead people back to God.” (19) Other topics addressed include the difficulties of pastoral work, the spiritual requirements for being a pastor, and the life background, call, and obedience to that call of those who aspire to the pastoral office. This chapter concludes with an outline of Gregory’s The Flight to Pontus.

John Chrysostom and his Six Books on the Priesthood are the subject of chapter two. Following the biographical summary, 40mg Motilium, Purves addresses Chrysostom’s approach to exegesis by describing the difference between the heavily allegorical Alexandrian school of Origen and Philo, and the Antiochene approach, 250mg Motilium, of which Chrysostom is “the best-known representative,” (39) and which “clearly aimed at ameliorating the excesses of Alexandrian allegorical exegesis and spirituality.” (39) Purves then discusses “Chrysostom’s Antiochene Christology,” before moving to a treatment of his pastoral theology. In discussing the nature of the pastoral office, 100mg Motilium, Chrysostom was clear that it “must be understood theologically first of all to be a sharing in Christ’s own love for his people.” (43) Before anything else, a pastor must heed Christ’s call to Peter: “Feed my sheep.” Purves concludes the chapter with a discussion of Chrysostom’s teaching on the moral and ethical dimension of pastoral work.

In chapter three, Purves turns to Gregory the Great, and his enduring work, Pastoral Care, Motilium For Sale. 30mg Motilium, Themes identified by Purves in the theology of Gregory include the relation between the natural and the supernatural, the balanced approach to life which Gregory called consideratio, and the nature of the Christian life. Gregory’s belief that “in salvation the human also must act” (62) has far-reaching consequences for his understanding of the Christian life, Motilium coupon, a life in which “ambivalence and terror...never go away.” This will have many implications for his pastoral theology.  Much of this theology is discussed in terms of the character of the man who would hold the office. This was of primary importance to Gregory, Motilium usa, whom Purves quotes: “No one does more harm in the Church than he, who having the title or rank of holiness, acts evilly.” (65) Purves then examines Gregory’s teaching on the life of the pastor, as well as his understanding of the practice and complexities of pastoral work, Motilium japan.

On the True Pastoral Care is, says Purves, Motilium mexico, “the principal Reformation text on pastoral theology.” (76) Martin Bucer, its author, is the subject of chapter four. Motilium For Sale, After a biographical summary, Purves identifies election and justification, scripture, love, and the Eucharist as themes in Bucer’s theology.  In his pastoral theology, Purves recognizes two dominant themes that inform Bucer’s teaching: the role of the Bible, and a focus on Christ. Indeed, 1000mg Motilium, says Purves, Bucer “displays a remarkable awareness of the active personal rule of Jesus Christ in and over his church.” (84) These themes are woven throughout Purves’s examination of Bucer’s understanding of the scope of pastoral care, Motilium ebay, addressing such themes as evangelism, pastoral discipline, and care for the weak.

Richard Baxter and The Reformed Pastor are the focus of chapter 5, 200mg Motilium. The biographical summary in this chapter is preceded by a brief history of Puritanism. Themes in Baxter’s theology identified by Purves include the practical application of the Christian faith to everyday life, 10mg Motilium, and the doctrine of justification. The discussion of Baxter’s pastoral theology begins with an emphasis of the spiritual formation of the pastor, Motilium For Sale. This is primary for Baxter, as Purves notes, “...he is more concerned with the pastor’s life in God than with the parishioner’s, Motilium craiglist, because adequate attention to the latter is possible only by one who has paid attention to the former.” (105) He then discusses Baxter’s emphasis on conversion as a pastoral goal, and concludes by looking at Baxter’s insistence on pastoral care as individualized care, Motilium us, as a “personal ministry to persons.” (111)

Having surveyed the lives and pastoral theologies of these figures, Purves reaches several conclusions in his final section regarding the confessional content of pastoral care, the necessity to root both pastoral care and pastoral theology in the study of the scriptures, and the necessity of the office itself, 150mg Motilium. Purves also offers conclusions about the need for pastors to care for themselves and the accountability to God for their conduct of the office. In each of these conclusions, Purves bemoans the current state of pastoral theology and argues that an intentional reclamation of the classical tradition will lead to a more robust and balanced practice of pastoral care today.

CRITIQUE

I found this book to be enormously helpful for gaining a broad look into the lives of men about whom I knew practically nothing. Motilium For Sale, While I recognized all five names, I knew them only as placeholders on a timeline of the history of the church. This book introduced them to me afresh as serious and passionate men of God, men who thought deeply and wrote helpfully from their perspectives in order to advance the practice of pastoral care. As someone called by God to serve His people in a local church, I am grateful for the lives and writings of these men, and grateful to Purves for his excellent summaries. If nothing else, I can recommend the book for this.

My concerns with the book are mainly to do with its stated purpose. I know nothing about the author that is not revealed in this book, but he clearly writes from a mainline Protestant liberal perspective, Motilium For Sale. He seeks to rescue pastoral care from the modern movement, a movement he says, “...within the North American Protestant theological academy by and large revolves around psychological categories regarding human experience and symbolic interpretations about God.” (3) I have no doubt this is the case, but Purves offers the wrong cure. This is a book summarizing what five men have written regarding the work of the pastor. If Purves wants to save us from “human experience and symbolic interpretations,” the solution is not going to be found in the writings of fallible men, however inspiring and truth-filled they may be. The solution is going to be found in the infallible Word of God. Motilium For Sale, Sadly, the “North American Protestant theological academy” has long-since abandoned that solution.

CONCLUSION

Purves opens this book with a story about being called to the bedside of a dying former church member. He talks about this woman’s need for “a reminder of the reality and truth behind the central doctrines of the Christian faith as they applied to her life at the point of her death.” (1) The solution to the problem of contemporary pastoral care identified by Purves as his reason for writing lies here, in “reality and truth” as revealed in scripture. A good grasp of the historical development of pastoral theology is certainly useful, and this book does a good job of at least introducing the reader to the topic. But recovering pastoral care from the pop-psychology and humanistic practices that are so prevalent today requires a return to the conviction that in the pages of the Bible, we have a sure and certain Word from God that informs all of the work we do and the lives we live as under shepherds of the Great Shepherd.

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Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger, Simple Church. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group 2006. Motilium us, Pp. 257. $19.99. Hardcover, No RX Motilium.

 

Bringing their experience and research to bear on the organization of the local church, Motilium overseas, Rainer and Geiger argue that less is more. Specifically, 100mg Motilium, they argue that a church that does less, but does so with a clear focus on their process for the making of disciples is more effective than a very active church that is not intentional about moving people to greater levels of faithfulness in their walk with Christ. This effectiveness is measured by consistent growth in worship attendance.

SUMMARY

This book is divided into two parts, 50mg Motilium. No RX Motilium, In the first, the authors begin with the bold assertion that “the simple revolution has begun.” Indeed, this is the title of the first chapter, and the central assumption on which the rest of the book is based. It also seems that this assumption is the basis upon which the research that fills out the book was based. An illustrative fictional story from the perspective of an overly busy pastor is shared, Motilium craiglist, and examples from corporate America are cited in the first chapter.

The authors move in the second chapter to a description of evaluative visits made to examples of a “simple church” and a church that has yet to join the revolution. The authors examine every aspect of each congregation, including programming, 150mg Motilium, staff meetings, calendars, Motilium usa, numbers, and how the churches handle new ideas and staffing decisions. Each of these is evaluated in terms of how it contributes to the simplicity or complexity of each ministry, No RX Motilium.

Chapter three uses the illustration of the popular television program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to argue for the need for an “extreme makeover” in many congregations in order to simplify their work. They explain the motivation and design of the research project of which this book is a result, 200mg Motilium, and introduce four terms that will be the focus of the second part of the book: Clarity, movement, Motilium paypal, alignment, and focus. The fourth chapter explains how these terms apply to three existing congregations.

Part two, Motilium canada, titled “Becoming a Simple Church,” explains each of these terms in great detail; in fact, Motilium australia, each is given its own chapter. No RX Motilium, Chapter five, “Clarity,” argues for the need for a clear understanding of what the church’s discipleship process should look like, using the analogy of a builder with clear blueprints. Chapter six, “Movement,” explains the importance of “removing congestion, 1000mg Motilium,” and moving through a never-ending process of discipleship. The seventh chapter, Motilium mexico, “Alignment,” points to the importance of making sure that all the programs of the church are united in their commitment to the overall progra

m of disciple-making within the church. Chapter eight, “Focus, Motilium coupon,” discusses the importance of doing only those things that contribute to the overall purpose of making disciples, and saying no to almost everything else. 40mg Motilium, The final chapter gives a step-by-step process for implementing the “simple” process in a local congregation, and it is followed by appendices detailing the research methodology and addressing frequently asked questions.

CRITIQUE

This book is written in an easy, conversational style, and it is a relatively quick read, No RX Motilium. The first-person plural is employed throughout, giving the book a very personable feel, 10mg Motilium. The appeals to research are compelling, and the illustrations from the corporate world and the popular culture are quite helpful to the reader in gaining an understanding of the argument the authors present. 500mg Motilium, But from the perspective of biblical faithfulness, this book has some troubling aspects. First, the only apparent metric by which the authors judge a church to be “vibrant, Motilium japan,” “healthy,” or “effective” is numerical growth over a five-year period (65). No RX Motilium, The control group for their research, what they called the “comparison group,” was composed of churches that had not grown numerically, or had declined, over the same period. Motilium uk, Second, while there are certainly numerous appeals to scripture in the arguments made in this book, they are significantly outnumbered by the appeals to statistical analysis, business realities, 30mg Motilium, and cultural illustrations.

Another concern is for that great majority of churches that have less than 100, 750mg Motilium, or even less than 50, members. The actions counseled in this book may work well in churches of 300+, where volunteers are plentiful and ministry loads can be spread over a broad group, 20mg Motilium. But in a small church, where everyone does everything, 250mg Motilium, implementation of this counsel may be difficult or impossible to implement.

CONCLUSION

While numerical growth can certainly be a sign of health and vitality in a congregation, it is far from a guarantee, No RX Motilium. There are many examples of “churches” in American evangelicalism that are growing exponentially, yet they are demonstrably unfaithful when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Certainly this faithfulness ought to be considered when gauging a church’s “effectiveness, Motilium india,” but this appears not to be a consideration within the pages of Simple Church. At the same time, Motilium ebay, the churches that faithfully proclaim the truth of the saving message of scripture yet do so in small congregations and in complete obscurity are myriad. Because the research upon which this book is based makes no attempt to analyze this faithfulness statistically, it is biased toward “growing” churches, rather than faithful churches.

Doubtless there are principles and processes counseled in Simple Church that can be of benefit to churches seeking greater faithfulness to our Lord’s command to make disciples. Unfortunately, they must be filtered through the wisdom from corporate or popular culture that may or may not apply to the church. The weight of the advice in the book comes from these arenas, rather than from the Word of God, making it difficult to separate the timeless from the popular.

Simple Church can certainly be of benefit to the congregation seeking to make disciples as Christ commanded, but a great deal of discernment will be needed to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Buy Motilium Over The Counter, Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B, Motilium uk. Eerdmans Pub. Co. 1964, buy Motilium Over The Counter. 10mg Motilium, Reprint by The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc. Pp. 292, Motilium mexico. $24.00. Buy Motilium Over The Counter, Paperback.

The work Verduin seeks to accomplish in this volume is thoroughly to describe the major issues that separated Reformers such as Luther, Motilium india, Calvin, and Zwingli from those who believed their reforms did not go far enough. These he identifies as the stepchildren of the reformers, justifying this moniker by their treatment at the hands of those in whom they had early placed such great hope, 40mg Motilium. With a focus upon the relationship between the ecclesiastical and the civil authority, Verduin details the distinctions between these two groups as they arose around various beliefs and practices of the stepchildren. 150mg Motilium,

SUMMARY

Verduin accomplishes his task by detailing, in eight chapters, eight of the terms of derision hurled at the stepchildren by the Reformers. Each of these terms is simultaneously descriptive and misleading, which was likely the intent behind their use, buy Motilium Over The Counter. The first, Motilium japan, and lengthiest, chapter, 50mg Motilium, Donatisten, gives a detailed description of the controversy that arose in the fourth century surrounding the followers of Donatus in northern Africa. In his description of the Donatist schism, Verduin devotes considerable space to the development of the concept of a “sacral society, 250mg Motilium,” by which he means a “society held together by a religion to which all the members of that society are committed” (23). He casts the rebellion of the Donatists as a protest against that ideal, Motilium us, and describes how the stepchildren came to be derided as “neo-Donatists.” This “sacral society” concept Verduin identifies as coming to dominate the West in the “Constantinian change,” wherein the formerly persecuted primitive church becomes the unifying religion of the empire, and the object of rebellion not only for the stepchildren of the Reformation, but for “heretics” throughout the medieval period, Motilium overseas. This will be foundational to Verduin’s argumentation in much of the rest of the book. Buy Motilium Over The Counter, The second chapter, Stäbler, discusses the penchant of the stepchildren for carrying a staff as a symbol of their protest against the coercive power of the sword that had been brought into the church at the Constantinian change. Chapter three, Motilium paypal, Catharer, describes the Radical emphasis on the changed life of the truly converted, as contrasted with the “conductual-averagism” necessary to a church coextensive with the empire. Chapter four, 1000mg Motilium, Sacramentschwärmer, discusses the development of the sacramental view of salvation in the established church, Motilium coupon, and the stepchildren’s biblical aversion to it. The fifth chapter, Winckler, is not as concerned with the secrecy of Radical gatherings that led to the epithet as with the unlicensed nature of the ministry carried out by them, Motilium usa. Wiedertäufer is the title of chapter six, and it is a signature of the Radical Reformation. The Anabaptists themselves, of course, saw themselves innocent of the charge, convinced as they were by scripture that only a believer could be truly baptized, buy Motilium Over The Counter. Motilium craiglist, Kommunisten, the charge that the stepchildren had not only their possessions but also often their wives in common, is dealt with in chapter seven, and chapter eight, 30mg Motilium, Rottengeister, is something of a catch-all, Motilium ebay, describing several practices for which the Radicals were accused of faction-making.

CRITIQUE

This volume has many strengths for which to recommend it, and comparatively few weaknesses of which to complain. Verduin’s depth of knowledge of the subject shines through his many appeals to primary sources, Motilium australia, the quotation of which is well balanced and helpful. And while the focus throughout the book is upon the period of the Reformation, Motilium canada, readers of a free-church persuasion will appreciate the author’s recognition of “heretics” throughout history who have stood for the principles for which the Radical Reformers suffered so greatly. Buy Motilium Over The Counter, A couple of potential negatives bear mentioning. Readers may take issue with Verduin’s characterization of the Anabaptist’s argumentation against infant baptism, reliant as it was on the New Testament witness, as a “demotion of the Old Testament” (i.e, 750mg Motilium. at 210). Perhaps the reference is only meant to be comparative to the Reformer’s supposed elevation of the Old Testament, 100mg Motilium, but the repeated use of this phrase by the author can leave the impression that the Radicals held a sub-orthodox doctrine of revelation. Additionally, readers not fluent in the German, Dutch, 20mg Motilium, or French languages may be discouraged by the amount of material missed in the largely untranslated footnotes. These minor quibbles, however, should not be an obstacle to thorough enjoyment of an enormously beneficial book, buy Motilium Over The Counter.

CONCLUSION

It is difficult to overstate the timeliness of the principles for which the stepchildren of the Reformation suffered, 200mg Motilium, principles that leap from every page of Verduin’s excellent work. This is especially true for Christians in America. The biblical principles for which the Radical Reformers stood, principles that led to the contemptuous nicknames that headed each of these chapters, 500mg Motilium, all struck at the heart of the monolithic society created by the Constantinian change. Such a society, bound together by a religion embraced by all of its members, had no room for the dissenter, and those whose conscience led them to different conclusions were either forced underground or set ablaze. Buy Motilium Over The Counter, The courage of the Anabaptists and their Radical brethren began the slow process of change to this ideal, culminating with the enshrinement in the United States Constitution of the ideal of what Verduin repeatedly calls a “composite society,” made up of many constituent parts, of which the church is but one. The constitution forbids the state from establishing any religion by its favor, and from inhibiting any individual from the exercise of his religion according to the dictates of his own conscience. In such a system, the church was free to be the church, to persuade men, and to carry out its work, simultaneously unaided by the coercive arm of the state and unmolested by it. Verduin devotes significant space in his postscript to contemporary dangers to America’s composite society. More space is given to the danger he sees in the potential of the ecumenical movement to establish an “American religion,” one “to which every right-thinking American would be expected to rally” (278) He rightly suggests this would lead to “a new sacralism” requiring a new “second front” rebellion. Considerably less space is given to Verduin’s concerns regarding secular pressure on the free exercise of religion, a danger that, nearly fifty years after his writing, looms substantially larger than the rise of any “American religion.” Contemporary American society is unlikely to codify as official the status of any religion rising out of ecumenism, no matter how unified. But in an age of state-controlled health care and other major industry, it takes no imagination whatever to see the danger posed to those whose convictions would forbid them to participate in whatever a secular government might insist is mandatory. In America today, the “free exercise” clause of the first amendment is under direct assault. Lessons learned from the stepchildren of the Reformation will serve well the convictional free churchman forced to navigate these disturbing waters.

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