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The Heart of the Parish: A Theology of the Remnant
While the title of the book, published in 1989, is "The Heart of the Parish," the subtitle, "A Theology of the Remnant," provides a clue to the subject of this book by Martin Thornton, an Anglican ascetic theologian. Previously published under the title "Pastoral A Reorientation," the book explains that the Church parish is made up of three different levels of members. The smallest of these groups, says Thornton, is what he refers to as the Remnant, likening it to the remnant of Israel of the Old Testament. These are the folks that the parish priest must identify and nurture and nourish through individual spiritual direction. This remnant [consists of] the members that can be counted on to be the praying force of the spirit. He explains how to identify them, and offers tips for spiritual direction. While he can occasionally get somewhat technical, and some sections need to be reread in order to grasp what he's getting at (at least I have to!), it is nevertheless a very good and useful book, and a very worthwhile read for the parish priest. (Fr. Jerry Pfaff)
1 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
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May 26, 2011
In the specialized world of Anglo-Catholic parish leadership, this book is a bombshell. If Spiritual Direction was his case for the profound interrelatedness of dogma and the spiritual life, and English Spirituality a winsome exposition of that case by examples, Pastoral Theology describes how this worldview plays out in the lives of actual churches. Now I know what at least some of my clergy have been thinking all these years. Even if they didn't read Thornton's book specifically, it's plausible that it correctly names a broader ethos.
Every congregation, he argues, has a very few members called to spiritual maturity. This is not an ideal but a fact, made evident by the minimal time most Christians actually devote to the difficult and boring work that gets you there. Those few-- the Remnant, Thornton calls them-- stand in for the whole before God in vicarious holiness, as Moses stood in before Israel and Israel before the world. Most of the priest's effort should therefore go toward forming these few, individually and communally, and to identifying other congregants with a chance of joining their number. If this sounds like monasticism, quite right: The principle is the same. The point is not elitism but the accurate recognition of a minority vocation. Conversions happen and salvation is made visible in human lives through osmosis from this core: There is nothing more contagious than holiness once formed, or more difficult to form in the first place.
Thornton's sports analogies, which are frequent and somewhat misleading, reach their apex here. To adapt a key one from its context in cricket to one in baseball: A good baseball team is one whose MLB franchise is doing well. The point of a AA affiliate, at that level of analysis, is to supply potential players for the Show. At the same time, a base hit is still a base hit, no matter which league you're playing in. The heroic researchers from Summerland, with their records of every baseball game played in every universe, count everyone's contributions, even as the performance of the MLB club is quite rightly the team ownership's metric for success.
This is, to put it mildly, an unconventional view of the work of parish ministry. I won't attempt to summarize likely objections; you can probably come up with a half-dozen on the spot. Here's what I like about this system, besides its sheer elegance: It focuses clergy on what they, and only they, can do best. Clergy tend not to be very good administrators, social workers, political leaders, fundraisers, or volunteer managers. All, however, are trained in preaching and the care of souls. A well-organized parish, in the sense of community organizing, will free up its pastor for actual pastoring work, or so it's often claimed. Combine that with Thornton's sense of how most effectively to spend pastoring time, and you have something with potential for both spiritual and temporal power. But then, I'll always look for the way to combine left-wing social movements with the doctrine and practice of Christian orthodoxy, right?
A more modern-- dare I say, more American?-- book would have gone on to tell us exactly how to set up this sort of parish, and given some contemporary success stories to boot. I like to know, before putting radical models into practice, just how well they actually work. This is four stars for exciting plausibility.
Every congregation, he argues, has a very few members called to spiritual maturity. This is not an ideal but a fact, made evident by the minimal time most Christians actually devote to the difficult and boring work that gets you there. Those few-- the Remnant, Thornton calls them-- stand in for the whole before God in vicarious holiness, as Moses stood in before Israel and Israel before the world. Most of the priest's effort should therefore go toward forming these few, individually and communally, and to identifying other congregants with a chance of joining their number. If this sounds like monasticism, quite right: The principle is the same. The point is not elitism but the accurate recognition of a minority vocation. Conversions happen and salvation is made visible in human lives through osmosis from this core: There is nothing more contagious than holiness once formed, or more difficult to form in the first place.
Thornton's sports analogies, which are frequent and somewhat misleading, reach their apex here. To adapt a key one from its context in cricket to one in baseball: A good baseball team is one whose MLB franchise is doing well. The point of a AA affiliate, at that level of analysis, is to supply potential players for the Show. At the same time, a base hit is still a base hit, no matter which league you're playing in. The heroic researchers from Summerland, with their records of every baseball game played in every universe, count everyone's contributions, even as the performance of the MLB club is quite rightly the team ownership's metric for success.
This is, to put it mildly, an unconventional view of the work of parish ministry. I won't attempt to summarize likely objections; you can probably come up with a half-dozen on the spot. Here's what I like about this system, besides its sheer elegance: It focuses clergy on what they, and only they, can do best. Clergy tend not to be very good administrators, social workers, political leaders, fundraisers, or volunteer managers. All, however, are trained in preaching and the care of souls. A well-organized parish, in the sense of community organizing, will free up its pastor for actual pastoring work, or so it's often claimed. Combine that with Thornton's sense of how most effectively to spend pastoring time, and you have something with potential for both spiritual and temporal power. But then, I'll always look for the way to combine left-wing social movements with the doctrine and practice of Christian orthodoxy, right?
A more modern-- dare I say, more American?-- book would have gone on to tell us exactly how to set up this sort of parish, and given some contemporary success stories to boot. I like to know, before putting radical models into practice, just how well they actually work. This is four stars for exciting plausibility.
July 5, 2025
You can tell three things about Martin Thornton and The Heart of the Parish. 1. He is Anglo-Catholic in his assumptions and approach to the church. 2. That he likes the country life. 3. He is passionate about his subject.
However, I am not sure his passion is enough to overcome the flaws in language born-down by archaic usage, technical/theological jargon and a stiff collared English sensibility. He has a narrow minded (ironically) parochial view of the church even as he speaks to the whole of the church's mission. There are places where he is clearly engaged in eisegesis of the text. He could have made this book easier to comprehend if he had chosen but he did not and it leaves this reader frustrated.
However, I am not sure his passion is enough to overcome the flaws in language born-down by archaic usage, technical/theological jargon and a stiff collared English sensibility. He has a narrow minded (ironically) parochial view of the church even as he speaks to the whole of the church's mission. There are places where he is clearly engaged in eisegesis of the text. He could have made this book easier to comprehend if he had chosen but he did not and it leaves this reader frustrated.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews