The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry
By John Piper, D. A. Carson, David Mathis and Owen Strachan
4.5/5
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About this ebook
Now their talks have been edited with additional content and put into book form. Weaving testimony and teaching, Piper and Carson challenge all those in ministry to think carefully and holistically about their calling. An introduction by Owen Strachan and a conclusion by David Mathis provide context and application to these unique messages.
Pastors and scholars will want to take advantage of this valuable insider perspective from two men who have been acclaimed for their sharp thinking and pastoral hearts.
John Piper
John Piper es pastor de Bethlehem Baptist Church, en Mineápolis. Sus muchos libros incluyen: Cuando no deseo a Dios, No desperdicies tu vida, Lo que Jesús exige del mundo.
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Reviews for The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's assumed in Christendom today that you can either be a Scholar or a Pastor not both, either you live in the academic world writing technical books for other scholars or you are in the lay sphere ministering to lay people. Piper and Carson who have their feet in both world's try to put this myth to rest
Book preview
The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor - John Piper
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Few books are so needed as this. Recapturing the vision of the pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor is crucial for the health of the church. Who would not want to read John Piper and D. A. Carson as they reflect on this calling? This is one of the most encouraging and helpful books I have seen in a long time. If you are a pastor, read it. If you have a pastor, put it in his hands.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"These are important chapters by two of evangelicalism’s most important thinkers. In an age that has largely forgotten the native connection between theology and the church, Piper and Carson remind us that these two worlds belong together. There can be, of course, no turning back the clock; the modern research university is here to stay. But here they offer us two good examples of how to navigate the contemporary terrain with a view to producing ecclesial theology—theology in service to the church. This short book is a great beginning to a conversation that has been long overdue."
Gerald Hiestand, Interim Senior Pastor, Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, Illinois; Executive Director, Center for Pastor Theologians
Who could count how many of us have had our lives changed by the ministries of John Piper and D. A. Carson? How many more have come to Christ or have been discipled in the gospel by pastors and teachers influenced by these leaders? This book is a riveting breed, granting us a candid, personal, and behind-the-scenes look at what the Lord has used to shape these men and their ministries. As you read this book, pray that the Lord Jesus would raise up, even now, the next generation of pastor-theologians and theologian-pastors to carry on the great work of Christ exaltation and kingdom mission.
Russell D. Moore, President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Council of the Southern Baptist Convention
How we need pastors and professors who love God with their minds and their emotions. Two of the preeminent evangelicals of our day reflect here on what it means to love Christ with all our heart. I was encouraged, convicted, and challenged by this book. It is a treasure well worth reading and rereading.
Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
I’m deeply encouraged by the growing number of pastoral scholars and scholarly pastors. Probably no living Christians have done more to bring about this trend than D. A. Carson and John Piper. In this book, they will inspire you with stories from their journeys and challenge you with seasoned advice. Most of all, they will lead you to thank God that he gives you the privilege of leading and teaching his church.
Collin Hansen, Editorial Director, The Gospel Coalition; author, Blind Spots
TitleThe Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry
Copyright © 2011 by Desiring God Foundation and Donald A. Carson
Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.
Cover design: Josh Dennis
Cover photo: Bill Walsh
First printing 2011
Printed in the United States of America
Scripture quotations marked AT are the author’s translation.
All emphases in Scripture have been added by the authors.
Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-2647-3
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-2648-0
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-2649-7
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2650-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Piper, John, 1946–
The pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor : reflections on life and ministry / John Piper and D. A. Carson; Contributing Editors, David Mathis and Owen Strachan.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4335-2647-3 (tpb)
1. Pastoral theology. 2. Theology—Study and teaching. 3. Clergy—Post-ordination training. I. Carson, D. A.
II. Mathis, David, 1980– . III. Strachan, Owen. IV. Title.
BV4011.3.P58 2011
2010045336
253.071'5—dc22
Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
To
Harold John Ockenga (1905–1985)
pastor, writer, seminary founder
and
Carl F. H. Henry (1913–2003)
theologian, writer/editor, churchman
Remember your leaders,
those who spoke to you the word of God.
Consider the outcome of their way of life,
and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever.
—Hebrews 13:7–8
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Before it was a book, The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor was originally a single-evening event sponsored by the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, held on Thursday, April 23, 2009, at Park Community Church in Chicago. We thank Doug Sweeney, Director of the Henry Center; Jackson Crum, J. R. Kerr, Joe Riccardi, and Whitney Anderson of Park Community Church; Ben Peays of The Gospel Coalition; and the title sponsor of the event, BibleMesh.com.
We also thank John Piper and Don Carson for their willingness to add this event to an already full week of meetings with The Gospel Coalition, as well as for putting their messages to paper and investing the extra energy to expand the original versions into these chapters.
Thank you to our wives, Megan Mathis and Bethany Strachan, who didn’t begrudge our initial phone conversations or the time it took to bring this book together and guide it through the editorial process—Bethany, in addition to caring for Owen while he was injured, and Megan, in addition to carrying the twin boys toward their summer 2010 due date.
Most importantly, we thank Jesus, in a sense the true pastor-scholar. May all praise and glory and honor and power be his.
David Mathis, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Owen Strachan, Deerfield, Illinois
June 1, 2010
Introduction
The Return of the Pastor-Scholar
Owen Strachan
What do you want to be—a pastor or a scholar?
It’s a common question in some circles. Many young leaders-in-training have wrestled with its binary nature. I must, they think to themselves with some anguish, be one or the other. Surely I cannot be both. So the wrestling begins and uneasy conversations follow. For many, tidy resolutions prove evasive.
Perhaps it isn’t meant to be so. What if the question, though well intended, suffers from a potentially fatal flaw? What if—hold your breath—one could be both? What then?
This book stems from more than a sneaking suspicion that this rather mischievous counter-question might be onto something. This suspicion does not proceed from a vacuum but from the history of God’s church. Unlike our more recent history, when pastors were urged by some to busy themselves with the pragmatic matters of everyday ministry and some scholars focused less on the church and more on high-level academic questions, pastors and scholars throughout the larger span of church history have blended these roles. Pastors worked out of a burden to bless their people with rich biblical theology even as scholars labored to nourish, strengthen, and captivate the church through their scholarship. Often the roles of pastor and scholar were filled by the same person. The pastor was a scholar; the scholar was a pastor.
This is particularly true of the Reformed tradition, the guild whose trans-denominational movement continues to grow in the current day. In Augustine, Luther, Calvin, many Puritans, Edwards, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, and many more, we find men who loved the church and excelled as theologians. Though our more modern binary categories of pastor only
and scholar only
might seem justified, when one turns to the actual