“The End of Comfortable Christianity”

The most recent issue of Touchstone magazine contains a powerful, timely editorial by Robert George titled, “Ashamed of the Gospel?: The End of Comfortable Christianity.” Here are the first two paragraphs: The days of socially acceptable Christianity in the West are surely over. The days of comfortable Christian orthodoxy are past. It is no longer …

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Herbert’s Poetic Portrayal of Pastoral Ministry

I’m continuing to glean from the reading of George Herbert’s The Temple, an amazing collection of poems describing the Christian life.  His poem, “Aaron,” is a compelling, honest portrayal of the challenge of pastoral ministry. Herbert poses the problem of the reality of the preacher’s sinfulness and the holiness of God. How can a sinful …

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Paul, the Pastor of Particular People

One key point I have sought to make here and elsewhere is that Paul models a pattern of ministry which is attuned to each individual in the church and not just to a corporate mass. He conceives of ministry as serving particular people not simply people in the abstract. I think his language bears this …

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