The Pastor: A Spirituality

by Gordon W. Lathrop

Renowned liturgical theologian Gordon Lathrop has composed a rich, meditative, and explicitly ecumenical spirituality for working pastors – whatever and wherever they are preachers, priests, elders, ministers, seminarians. In Part One Lathrop urges pastors to become lifelong students of the Lord's Prayer, the Apostle's Creed, and the Commandments, continually inhabiting the questions, reversals and paradoxes of Christian life. In Part Two he elaborates on the pastor's chief activities – presiding at the holy table, preaching, collecting for the poor – "as the center and focus for pastoral identity and spirituality." Lathrop invites pastors to recenter their busy lives on God and fuel their ministry through prayer.

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Nonfiction

141 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Gordon W. Lathrop is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a retired professor of liturgy. Born in 1939 and educated in Los Angeles, CA (Occidental College), St. Paul, MN (Luther Seminary), and Nijmegen, the Netherlands (the Catholic University of Nijmegen), from 1969-1984 he was parish pastor in Darlington, WI, campus pastor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA, and seminary chaplain at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA. After teaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia from 1984 until 2004, he was named Professor of Liturgy Emeritus there. From 2006-2012 he was Visiting Professor of Liturgical Studies in Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music. In recent years he has taught courses at the St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark., and here at the Virginia Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Fortress 1993), Holy People: A Liturgical Ecclesiology (Fortress 1999), Holy Ground: A Liturgical Cosmology (Fortress 2003), The Pastor: A Spirituality (Fortress 2006), and The Four Gospels on Sunday: The New Testament and the Reform of Christian Worship (Fortress 2012). In 1985 he was the President of the North American Academy of Liturgy. In 1994, 1995 and 1997, he was a participant in international Faith and Order meetings on Worship and Christian Unity. In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Helsinki, Finland. From 2011 until 2013 he was President of Societas Liturgica, the international society of scholars in liturgy. He lives now in Arlington, VA, with his wife. Their children and grandchildren live all over the United States.

He continues to write and teach. His research interests are especially focussed on Bible and liturgy, liturgical theology, and liturgy and ecumenism.

Reviews

[Harold Guptill · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Lathrop’s most convincing points is the idea that the pastor is a beggar amongst beggars. He is a sinner. He needs to confess and repent. He needs forgiveness. Just as those his sheep. This is a theme he develops in good detail. He also writes about many reforms that are necessary in the current day church. One of which is properly doing Holy Communion. One of the issues is how the church is not united on this sacrament. He writes about how the church needs to “Labor for full communion between churches.”

[Katie Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly the first chapter had me feeling slightly unexpired about this book. It felt like I was embarking on a very dense read that held pastors to an impossible standard. It was a very dense read but after reading chapter two I found myself finding little nuggets of wisdom throughout this book. My favourite part has to be the conclusion to each chapter where Lathrop gives a beautiful personal connection to the topic. Such wisdom in this book but definitely not an easy read!

[Nate Stacheruk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off a little slow, but only gets better as he continues to expound and expand his ideas

[John Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! At points it is very densely written in that it is like eating a piece of very rich cheese cake; you take it one small bite at a time. BUT - I loved it and enjoyed it like a daily devotional reading myself.

It reads much like a reflective devotional specifically written for pastors. I loved the way that he walked through the life of the pastor in a way that Luther laid out the various parts of his Small Catechism with focus on prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, etc. I think this is a book that I will be able to refer to often to help keep me grounded as both a pastor and a child of God myself.

[Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are all just beggars telling other beggars where there is bread. (DT Niles). This is a powerful book and speaks so deeply to the spirituality pastors must embody. This book is a treasure; one I will read and reread.

[Kate Davis]

rec'd by Melissa Skelton