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Ministry in a Secular Age #2
The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need a God
Academy of Parish Clergy 2020 Top Ten Book for Parish Ministry
In Faith Formation in a Secular Age , the first book in his Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, Andrew Root offered an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulated how faith can be formed in our secular age. In The Pastor in a Secular Age , Root explores how this secular age has impacted the identity and practice of the pastor, obscuring his or her core to call and assist others into the experience of ministry.
Using examples of pastors throughout history--from Augustine and Jonathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. and Nadia Bolz-Weber--Root shows how pastors have both perpetuated and responded to our secular age. Root turns to Old Testament texts and to the theology of Robert Jenson to explain how pastors can regain the important role of attending to people's experiences of divine action, offering a new vision for pastoral ministry today.
This is the second book in Root's Ministry in a Secular Age series.
In Faith Formation in a Secular Age , the first book in his Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, Andrew Root offered an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulated how faith can be formed in our secular age. In The Pastor in a Secular Age , Root explores how this secular age has impacted the identity and practice of the pastor, obscuring his or her core to call and assist others into the experience of ministry.
Using examples of pastors throughout history--from Augustine and Jonathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. and Nadia Bolz-Weber--Root shows how pastors have both perpetuated and responded to our secular age. Root turns to Old Testament texts and to the theology of Robert Jenson to explain how pastors can regain the important role of attending to people's experiences of divine action, offering a new vision for pastoral ministry today.
This is the second book in Root's Ministry in a Secular Age series.
320 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2019
81 people are currently reading
878 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Root
63 books123 followersAndrew Root joined Luther Seminary in 2005 as assistant professor of youth and family ministry. Previously he was an adjunct professor at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C., and Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.
Root received his bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997. He earned his master of divinity (2000) and his master of theology (2001) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He completed his doctoral degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005.
Root's ministry experience includes being a gang prevention counselor in Los Angeles, youth outreach directed in a congregation, staff member of Young Life, and a confirmation teacher. He has also been a research fellow for Princeton Theological Seminary's Faith Practices Project.
Root has published articles in the Journal of Youth and Theology, The International Journal of Practical Theology, and Word and World.
He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the International Bonhoeffer Society.
Root received his bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997. He earned his master of divinity (2000) and his master of theology (2001) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He completed his doctoral degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005.
Root's ministry experience includes being a gang prevention counselor in Los Angeles, youth outreach directed in a congregation, staff member of Young Life, and a confirmation teacher. He has also been a research fellow for Princeton Theological Seminary's Faith Practices Project.
Root has published articles in the Journal of Youth and Theology, The International Journal of Practical Theology, and Word and World.
He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the International Bonhoeffer Society.
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October 13, 2024
I’ve been greatly impacted by Taylor and those writing on the implications of “A Secular Age” for ministry. Here Root describes the pastoral malaise that often afflicts pastors, arguing that it makes sense in a secular age where divine action isn’t anticipated. I definitely resonated with his description of the malaise. He spends most of the book describing the change in “types” of pastors as our age became less enchanted and then offers a theological solution where pastors emphasize being there for people in the life changing events that shape their lives. A key way to do this is also by leaning into prayer. Overall I enjoyed this. It was interesting and practically helpful. I don’t agree with all of his theological points, but agree that an essential part of pastoral ministry is to be there for people in their darkest and most difficult times.
EDIT: all the game of thrones references are annoying.
EDIT: all the game of thrones references are annoying.
July 19, 2019
The subtitle of Andrew Root’s new book took up immediate residence in my gut: “The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need a God.”
Being a pastor is one of those professions difficult to explain to a non-pastor. This is true of many professions. Outside perceptions, it seems to me, fall into two large categories. 1) A pastor is always busy, spinning the plates of preaching and teaching, administration and leadership, pastoral care and prayer, weddings and funerals, and so on. Or, 2) A pastor is invisible six days a week; incomprehensible the seventh!
Many pastors I know perceive their ministry as somehow both.
We are indeed busy - blessed and beset with “to do” lists to support the work of the church, while also amassing internal “to bear” lists of the sorrows, sins, and hopes of people we are given to love and serve. This busy business is a privileged calling, but it comes with a companion in our secular age: pastoral malaise. Andrew Root describes this feeling: “If ministry were only about getting people to join the institutional church, then the pastor could hone her professional skills and battle for market share. And many denominations and seminaries have settled for this understanding of the pastor. But what caused the pastor I was talking with to have a stomachache and overall feeling of malaise was the unexpressed realization that the very God he preached had become unnecessary. And in turn this led him to feel somewhere deep enough beyond words that in this shrouded void he was not needed at all” (5-6).
Root’s new work is the second in a trilogy engaging Charles Taylor’s “A Secular Age” and exploring its ramifications for faith formation, Christian ministry, and the church. This second volume can be read in isolation, though it follows naturally from the insights of the first. For an accessible, comprehensive introduction to Taylor’s thought, see J.K. Smith, “How (Not) To Be Secular.”
The first part of the book, “Welcome to the Pastoral Malaise,” charts a historical map of the pastor by engaging with representative figures for various eras of pastoral ministry: Augustine, Thomas Becket, Jonathan Edwards, Henry Ward Beecher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and Rick Warren. More attention is paid to the recent two centuries as Root brings us to our present malaise by tracing the acceleration of secularity, the rise of consumer society, and the emergence of the age of authenticity. He demonstrates how these pastors navigated the spirit of their age in an attempt to name the presence and action of God and to gain or maintain the church’s voice of influence in culture. The rapid reshaping of society inevitably reshaped the pastor and their understanding of ministry. Under these conditions, the pastors both gained influence and unintentionally accelerated the secularity of the West.
To give one lengthy quote that demonstrates the kind of historical picture Root sketches,
“For Puritans, other people, like these young men who did not participate in flourishing through politeness, could put us all at risk. Because of this Calvinism, Edward’s pastoral responsibilities stretched deep. Not only did he need to preach sermons that touched the heart; he also needed to do this so that production and reproduction could flourish through the dedication and decency of the people. The puritanical was good for business and brought is near to God. For the next two hundred years, the pastor is assumed to be essential. Without the pastor prodding others to be decent, society as a whole could not flourish (particularly economically). This assumption will come to its climax with Harry Emerson Fosdick in the early twentieth century. Fosdick’s period was the last in which it was assumed that society needed pastoral chaplains to keep us flourishing. After this, most people could imagine flourishing not only without God but also without any pastors reminding us to be diligent, dedicated, and decent. The drive for fame and riches in a full-blown consumer society was fuel enough to keep us engaged and motivated (though newly haunted by a lack of meaning)” (88).
This consumer society haunted by meaningless brings us to Rick Warren and the Purpose-Driven Life. Better than any recent pastor, Warren sensed the shift to an age of authenticity and its implications for ministry. The church’s primary purpose was no longer to help a polite society to flourish but to “be a resource to help people authentically find the purpose they were seeking” (122).
What will the next recasting of the pastor look like? Is there another option besides the “dying denominational forms” or the serendipity of becoming the next Rick Warren? It is to this haunted question Root turns in the book’s second half.
Part Two, “The God Who is a Ministering Pastor,” explores the "weird God of Israel who arrives." This strange God is not a local, tribal deity, but a Minister who goes into the barren places to call specific people by name. In meeting people in the midst of their personal hells, this God binds God’s own Self with these encounters and events, producing relationship from isolation, liberation from bondage, resurrection from death. This is how God identifies with God’s people. “You don’t really get to choose the identity you want. Rather, to have an identity is to have particular events you identify with produce a narrative you can speak, telling the story of your life. Your identity gives you a speakable history” (199). The God of Israel, fully revealed in Jesus Christ, arrives in the places of death, despair and brokenness, calls us by name, and forever binds and identifies God’s own Self with ours.
This intimate identification of God and God’s people is not created by packaging a persuasive set of beliefs (gospel as ideology). Neither is it something stirred up by participation in a congregation that has a program for every consumer need (gospel as influence). Rather, a transcendent God is to be found within the very immanence of human relationships as we pray, care, and stand with and for one another. In binding our own stories together, we find ourselves caught up in the story of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who arrives in Christ Jesus to the very places of death and resurrection.
Root steers away from practical applications to conclude his work. Tips and techniques would only play into the pastoral malaise that seeks to overcome unease by unlocking the secrets to a thriving ministry in today’s world, whatever that means. Instead, he places prayer at the center of ministry in a secular age. Prayer binds us to one another and to God. He writes, “Prayer is something few people have been taught. To be a pastor is not to be an entrepreneur, community organizer, or budding podcast celebrity…rather, the pastor’s vocation, particularly in a secular age, is to teach people to pray, and to do so not just individually, but, more primarily, together. It is even the task of the pastor to form her own life around the practice of prayer” (273).
As a pastor who works often with youth, I resonate with Root’s reflections on prayer. For all the Bible studies and teachings, which are indeed crucial, it is prayer with and for each other - with people whose stories we hold and know in part - that I believe binds our little community together.
Being a pastor is one of those professions difficult to explain to a non-pastor. This is true of many professions. Outside perceptions, it seems to me, fall into two large categories. 1) A pastor is always busy, spinning the plates of preaching and teaching, administration and leadership, pastoral care and prayer, weddings and funerals, and so on. Or, 2) A pastor is invisible six days a week; incomprehensible the seventh!
Many pastors I know perceive their ministry as somehow both.
We are indeed busy - blessed and beset with “to do” lists to support the work of the church, while also amassing internal “to bear” lists of the sorrows, sins, and hopes of people we are given to love and serve. This busy business is a privileged calling, but it comes with a companion in our secular age: pastoral malaise. Andrew Root describes this feeling: “If ministry were only about getting people to join the institutional church, then the pastor could hone her professional skills and battle for market share. And many denominations and seminaries have settled for this understanding of the pastor. But what caused the pastor I was talking with to have a stomachache and overall feeling of malaise was the unexpressed realization that the very God he preached had become unnecessary. And in turn this led him to feel somewhere deep enough beyond words that in this shrouded void he was not needed at all” (5-6).
Root’s new work is the second in a trilogy engaging Charles Taylor’s “A Secular Age” and exploring its ramifications for faith formation, Christian ministry, and the church. This second volume can be read in isolation, though it follows naturally from the insights of the first. For an accessible, comprehensive introduction to Taylor’s thought, see J.K. Smith, “How (Not) To Be Secular.”
The first part of the book, “Welcome to the Pastoral Malaise,” charts a historical map of the pastor by engaging with representative figures for various eras of pastoral ministry: Augustine, Thomas Becket, Jonathan Edwards, Henry Ward Beecher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and Rick Warren. More attention is paid to the recent two centuries as Root brings us to our present malaise by tracing the acceleration of secularity, the rise of consumer society, and the emergence of the age of authenticity. He demonstrates how these pastors navigated the spirit of their age in an attempt to name the presence and action of God and to gain or maintain the church’s voice of influence in culture. The rapid reshaping of society inevitably reshaped the pastor and their understanding of ministry. Under these conditions, the pastors both gained influence and unintentionally accelerated the secularity of the West.
To give one lengthy quote that demonstrates the kind of historical picture Root sketches,
“For Puritans, other people, like these young men who did not participate in flourishing through politeness, could put us all at risk. Because of this Calvinism, Edward’s pastoral responsibilities stretched deep. Not only did he need to preach sermons that touched the heart; he also needed to do this so that production and reproduction could flourish through the dedication and decency of the people. The puritanical was good for business and brought is near to God. For the next two hundred years, the pastor is assumed to be essential. Without the pastor prodding others to be decent, society as a whole could not flourish (particularly economically). This assumption will come to its climax with Harry Emerson Fosdick in the early twentieth century. Fosdick’s period was the last in which it was assumed that society needed pastoral chaplains to keep us flourishing. After this, most people could imagine flourishing not only without God but also without any pastors reminding us to be diligent, dedicated, and decent. The drive for fame and riches in a full-blown consumer society was fuel enough to keep us engaged and motivated (though newly haunted by a lack of meaning)” (88).
This consumer society haunted by meaningless brings us to Rick Warren and the Purpose-Driven Life. Better than any recent pastor, Warren sensed the shift to an age of authenticity and its implications for ministry. The church’s primary purpose was no longer to help a polite society to flourish but to “be a resource to help people authentically find the purpose they were seeking” (122).
What will the next recasting of the pastor look like? Is there another option besides the “dying denominational forms” or the serendipity of becoming the next Rick Warren? It is to this haunted question Root turns in the book’s second half.
Part Two, “The God Who is a Ministering Pastor,” explores the "weird God of Israel who arrives." This strange God is not a local, tribal deity, but a Minister who goes into the barren places to call specific people by name. In meeting people in the midst of their personal hells, this God binds God’s own Self with these encounters and events, producing relationship from isolation, liberation from bondage, resurrection from death. This is how God identifies with God’s people. “You don’t really get to choose the identity you want. Rather, to have an identity is to have particular events you identify with produce a narrative you can speak, telling the story of your life. Your identity gives you a speakable history” (199). The God of Israel, fully revealed in Jesus Christ, arrives in the places of death, despair and brokenness, calls us by name, and forever binds and identifies God’s own Self with ours.
This intimate identification of God and God’s people is not created by packaging a persuasive set of beliefs (gospel as ideology). Neither is it something stirred up by participation in a congregation that has a program for every consumer need (gospel as influence). Rather, a transcendent God is to be found within the very immanence of human relationships as we pray, care, and stand with and for one another. In binding our own stories together, we find ourselves caught up in the story of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who arrives in Christ Jesus to the very places of death and resurrection.
Root steers away from practical applications to conclude his work. Tips and techniques would only play into the pastoral malaise that seeks to overcome unease by unlocking the secrets to a thriving ministry in today’s world, whatever that means. Instead, he places prayer at the center of ministry in a secular age. Prayer binds us to one another and to God. He writes, “Prayer is something few people have been taught. To be a pastor is not to be an entrepreneur, community organizer, or budding podcast celebrity…rather, the pastor’s vocation, particularly in a secular age, is to teach people to pray, and to do so not just individually, but, more primarily, together. It is even the task of the pastor to form her own life around the practice of prayer” (273).
As a pastor who works often with youth, I resonate with Root’s reflections on prayer. For all the Bible studies and teachings, which are indeed crucial, it is prayer with and for each other - with people whose stories we hold and know in part - that I believe binds our little community together.
February 14, 2020
This will sound hyperbolic, but it's really not: this book (along with Volume 1 in Root's eventual trilogy reflecting on Charles Taylor's magnum opus The Secular Age) is an *absolute must-read* for anyone engaged in ministry and mission today.
What I appreciate most -- and there were so many revelations for me in this book -- is how Root interprets different generations or ages of Christian modernity and their obsessions ("growth" or "authenticity", for example) *all* as effects of and contributing factors to a continuing perceived collapse of transcendence.
It's fashionable in some theological/ecclesiological camps to deride new expressions of faith/faith community as self-centred individualists who should grow up and get on with the growth programme. And on the other side of the spectrum (or in the next generation), it's fashionable to critique all attempts at church growth as institutional survival or vapid consumerism: to these gadflies' minds, really we'd all be better off if we were somehow just real-er or more authentic.
With unflagging generosity and a thoroughly incisive analysis, Root shows how those obsessions/focuses (and many others since the origins of Christianity, and especially since the Reformation) are actually just related versions the same "malaise": they are all of a piece with something much larger that is happening, the aforementioned collapse or flattening of enchantment and the lack of expectation of (and the resultant difficulty perceiving, naming, narrating, and testifying to) divine action.
As much as I was challenged personally and professionally by this book, I also felt while reading it a deep and extensive comfort, a relaxing into the mercy and movement of the living God, an abiding that has not left me.
Please read this book. It's medicine. Because it's mostly about God.
What I appreciate most -- and there were so many revelations for me in this book -- is how Root interprets different generations or ages of Christian modernity and their obsessions ("growth" or "authenticity", for example) *all* as effects of and contributing factors to a continuing perceived collapse of transcendence.
It's fashionable in some theological/ecclesiological camps to deride new expressions of faith/faith community as self-centred individualists who should grow up and get on with the growth programme. And on the other side of the spectrum (or in the next generation), it's fashionable to critique all attempts at church growth as institutional survival or vapid consumerism: to these gadflies' minds, really we'd all be better off if we were somehow just real-er or more authentic.
With unflagging generosity and a thoroughly incisive analysis, Root shows how those obsessions/focuses (and many others since the origins of Christianity, and especially since the Reformation) are actually just related versions the same "malaise": they are all of a piece with something much larger that is happening, the aforementioned collapse or flattening of enchantment and the lack of expectation of (and the resultant difficulty perceiving, naming, narrating, and testifying to) divine action.
As much as I was challenged personally and professionally by this book, I also felt while reading it a deep and extensive comfort, a relaxing into the mercy and movement of the living God, an abiding that has not left me.
Please read this book. It's medicine. Because it's mostly about God.
February 12, 2023
Very interesting engagement of Taylor’s work with the pastoral office. Love his use of pop culture themes to explain complex ideas. The audiobook was a bit frustrating because some common names and terms were mispronounced, such as Barth. Highly recommended for pastors. James KA Smith’s book on Taylor would be a helpful read prior to this.
June 20, 2023
I am quickly becoming an Andrew Root acolyte as his finger seems to be on the pulse of what is happening to the Christian faith in Western culture as well as anyone I have read. I found this second installment of the Ministry in a Secular Age series articulating my experience as a pastor for the last 20 years better than anything else I have read. He describes being a pastor in a secular age as being in a malaise - much of this book is him expounding on this malaise.
He is fluent in Charles Taylor's philosophy of secularism and builds his work on that foundation as well as the theology of Robert Jenson both of whom he quotes from extensively throughout the book. His first volume reflects on faith formation in a secular age, and his second volume builds off that work as he considers on the role of pastors in today's world. Many readers (and pastors) may not have the patience or chops to wade through some of his more esoteric philosophical riffs (Durkheim's triads, imminent frames, and other flirtations with epistemology) but one of Root's great strengths is his ability to bounce back and forth between these heady topics and pop cultural references to help follow his flow of thought - you just aren't going to read many books that mention Durkheim's triads in the same sentence as a reference to Game of Thrones. The book is a bit dense and long, but his argumentation and flow of thought remain strong and easy to follow throughout.
He begins by tracing the evolution of the role of the pastor in society from Augustine to Beckett, Johnathan Edwards to Henry Ward Beecher to Harry Emerson Fosdick and eventually to Rick Warren. He marvelously uses each of these token representatives from the past to reflect on how they represented not just their church or a leading voice at the time, but how their pastoral role was fundamentally different from its role in previous eras. He mentions his reasons for not using Billy Graham - as he (and other well known Christian leaders Root doesn't use) wasn't primarily a localized, parish minister, but it did feel as though some reflection with them was missing at times. Nevertheless, his pursuit is a noble one and aptly traces the pastoral evolution into the current malaise experienced both internally and externally regarding the pastorate in Western society.
At the heart of his argument is that the secular world has come to disregard God's involvement in the world (again, an evolution he traces by the changing roles of pastors as a result of this "de-mystification"). God has been pushed to the periphery of society and the pastor, as His emissary and representative often feels out of sorts for whatever kind of relevance he or she can find in this role today. This is increasingly difficult as the culture writ large is less and less likely to acknowledge God has any active role in the world - even among church culture. The pool we swim and live in simply sees godly interaction as primitive and the product of a bygone era ... Even though, Root goes to show, there are remnants - voices - echoes - that remain ... People just need someone to help them see and hear them. There in is the need for pastors.
The pastor is called to tell the story of God's presence in ministry - God is active in his ministering to others in history. This is what makes the historical events of the exodus and the resurrection so crucial. And the ministry continues, and God calls his people to join him in that ministry. God is bringing life to lifeless bones - Ezekiel is a central metaphor for Root in understanding God's interaction and work within creation.
The final chapter does a wonderful job of pulling the work together and proposes not a program or list of solutions but in an example of the pastor for the secular age in Eugene Peterson. For him, the call is to teach people to pray in a way that conjoins prayer and storytelling.
As any theologian stepping into speculative projects, there are some times I didn't quite follow him or was a little unsure of his conclusions, but mostly I savored every part of this book and have found myself thinking about how his observations connect with my own experiences and how his proposal can further shape the future of my ministry. (At one point he makes the connection to pastoral work as chaplaincy in today's era and specially with the kind of work done in CPE (clinical pastoral education): something that couldn't connect more directly with where I currently am in my own understanding of ministry.
Root is becoming a prolific writer and certainly part of that has to do with the gift he has to speak into this moment and articulate things in a way that resonates with his audience. There is something profound that happens when you read someone's take on your experiences and you find yourself better able to understand yourself and your experiences than you have before. This was my experience with this book. This trilogy should probably be required reading in any Christian graduate program that is serious about preparing ministers for the challenges of ministering to a secular world.
He is fluent in Charles Taylor's philosophy of secularism and builds his work on that foundation as well as the theology of Robert Jenson both of whom he quotes from extensively throughout the book. His first volume reflects on faith formation in a secular age, and his second volume builds off that work as he considers on the role of pastors in today's world. Many readers (and pastors) may not have the patience or chops to wade through some of his more esoteric philosophical riffs (Durkheim's triads, imminent frames, and other flirtations with epistemology) but one of Root's great strengths is his ability to bounce back and forth between these heady topics and pop cultural references to help follow his flow of thought - you just aren't going to read many books that mention Durkheim's triads in the same sentence as a reference to Game of Thrones. The book is a bit dense and long, but his argumentation and flow of thought remain strong and easy to follow throughout.
He begins by tracing the evolution of the role of the pastor in society from Augustine to Beckett, Johnathan Edwards to Henry Ward Beecher to Harry Emerson Fosdick and eventually to Rick Warren. He marvelously uses each of these token representatives from the past to reflect on how they represented not just their church or a leading voice at the time, but how their pastoral role was fundamentally different from its role in previous eras. He mentions his reasons for not using Billy Graham - as he (and other well known Christian leaders Root doesn't use) wasn't primarily a localized, parish minister, but it did feel as though some reflection with them was missing at times. Nevertheless, his pursuit is a noble one and aptly traces the pastoral evolution into the current malaise experienced both internally and externally regarding the pastorate in Western society.
At the heart of his argument is that the secular world has come to disregard God's involvement in the world (again, an evolution he traces by the changing roles of pastors as a result of this "de-mystification"). God has been pushed to the periphery of society and the pastor, as His emissary and representative often feels out of sorts for whatever kind of relevance he or she can find in this role today. This is increasingly difficult as the culture writ large is less and less likely to acknowledge God has any active role in the world - even among church culture. The pool we swim and live in simply sees godly interaction as primitive and the product of a bygone era ... Even though, Root goes to show, there are remnants - voices - echoes - that remain ... People just need someone to help them see and hear them. There in is the need for pastors.
The pastor is called to tell the story of God's presence in ministry - God is active in his ministering to others in history. This is what makes the historical events of the exodus and the resurrection so crucial. And the ministry continues, and God calls his people to join him in that ministry. God is bringing life to lifeless bones - Ezekiel is a central metaphor for Root in understanding God's interaction and work within creation.
The final chapter does a wonderful job of pulling the work together and proposes not a program or list of solutions but in an example of the pastor for the secular age in Eugene Peterson. For him, the call is to teach people to pray in a way that conjoins prayer and storytelling.
As any theologian stepping into speculative projects, there are some times I didn't quite follow him or was a little unsure of his conclusions, but mostly I savored every part of this book and have found myself thinking about how his observations connect with my own experiences and how his proposal can further shape the future of my ministry. (At one point he makes the connection to pastoral work as chaplaincy in today's era and specially with the kind of work done in CPE (clinical pastoral education): something that couldn't connect more directly with where I currently am in my own understanding of ministry.
Root is becoming a prolific writer and certainly part of that has to do with the gift he has to speak into this moment and articulate things in a way that resonates with his audience. There is something profound that happens when you read someone's take on your experiences and you find yourself better able to understand yourself and your experiences than you have before. This was my experience with this book. This trilogy should probably be required reading in any Christian graduate program that is serious about preparing ministers for the challenges of ministering to a secular world.
December 27, 2020
Hitting me where I live and making sense of our world and my vocation within it. Volume 2 builds on volume 1, and I’m looking forward to the final volume.
I love the way Andrew Root uses contemporary stories (books and movies, too) as well as historical and biblical studies.
Opening quote from preface sets things up: “Gleaning from the work of Charles Taylor, it will tell how the dawning of our secular age in the West has hollowed out the vocation of the pastor, making core commitments to divine action questionable at best. Unlike Communist China post-revolution, our secular age has not forcefully eliminated the pastor, but it has slowly erased the transcendent referent that would make the pastor ultimately needed. The pastor is like the manager of a video rental or VCR repair store. Few people are upset they exist, and many are nostalgic about their past importance, but all of their training and know-how is needed only in the rarest of cases, such as when you find your dusty wedding video from 1991 in an old box only to discover the reels on the VHS are stuck.” (Root, Pastor in a Secular Age, xx.)
I love the way Andrew Root uses contemporary stories (books and movies, too) as well as historical and biblical studies.
Opening quote from preface sets things up: “Gleaning from the work of Charles Taylor, it will tell how the dawning of our secular age in the West has hollowed out the vocation of the pastor, making core commitments to divine action questionable at best. Unlike Communist China post-revolution, our secular age has not forcefully eliminated the pastor, but it has slowly erased the transcendent referent that would make the pastor ultimately needed. The pastor is like the manager of a video rental or VCR repair store. Few people are upset they exist, and many are nostalgic about their past importance, but all of their training and know-how is needed only in the rarest of cases, such as when you find your dusty wedding video from 1991 in an old box only to discover the reels on the VHS are stuck.” (Root, Pastor in a Secular Age, xx.)
November 26, 2019
I really enjoyed this book - especially the way it looked at different pastors throughout history as the epitome of a pastor in different periods. I thought the way he relayed the evolution of the pastor's role was powerful and made sense, especially in light of our current secular age. The way he tied in theology, psychology, philosophy and other studies to the role of a Pastor was enlightening and fascinating. Highly recommend this book to any pastors who are interested in more clearly understanding their role in light of the world we live in.
March 7, 2022
Where has Andrew Root been my whole life? I had no idea how much I needed this book. God showed up to me through reading this and I’m abundantly grateful to God for His arrival and for the ministry of Andrew.
August 29, 2024
This book (and the entire Secular Age Series) is one of the best books I've read in years! Philosophically rich and relevant this book is desperately needed by all who practice pastoral ministry and leadership.
December 7, 2023
Enjoyed this. Curious how it ends though. The copy I received is a misprint and the final chapter isn’t included :(
June 5, 2019
Some authors address youth concerns from a program-centered and activity standpoint. They address the symptoms of youth boredom well. Other authors analyze the challenges of youth ministry from an experiential standpoint. Still there are those who interviews youths in order to find a better fit between faith and life. Unfortunately, many of these efforts fail to get beyond the aesthetics. Questions need to be asked not just about what the young people or the next generation need, but why things are happening as they are. Contextual understanding needs to come before any attempt at solutions. In this deeply philosophical book, author and professor Andrew Root carries on his analysis of the culture affecting youthful minds with a concentration on the increasingly secularized society. All the efforts about engaging youths through authenticity, through authority, through activity, and others, cannot be sustained without a clear theological vision to guide us through a secular age, let alone any age. This is the crux of this book that peruses the historical past; probes the present context; and proposes a path forward for the future. The reason for the focus on youths is mainly because they are the ones most likely to "no longer need a God." Until we address this area of concern, youth ministries will continue to reach out merely at surface level. Root goes much more than mere youth ministries. He looks at how pastors are affected and ways to address their ministry concerns. These two concerns, one to young people and the other for ministers, drive the writing of this book.
Framing the Context
Root drills deep into the cultural environment affecting the malaise of faith matters. He uses two well-known philosophers to helm his engagement: Charles Taylor and Michel Foucault. Since Professor Charles Taylor's monumental work on the secular age, a lot of people have been talking about what that means for our churches and our faith communities. In one of Taylor's public lectures, he delivered "The Malaise of Modernity" which helps spur the thoughts in this book. Secularism rose due to three factors: 1) increase of meaninglessness; 2) inability to find significance in what we do; and 3) the "emptiness of the ordinary." The author in this book seeks to show us how this malaise has also led to the loss of pastoral identity, which in turns affects the larger Church. The distancing of society from the transcendent is lived out in ordinary lives who shun Church and things religious. Not only is the Church becoming less attractive, the very God the Church seeks to proclaim is also becoming less prominent and essential in the lives of the public. From the medieval times of "everything is sacred," we are now moving in a totally opposite direction to an age where everything seems to be secular. Pastors are trapped in this divide and their vocation and relevance are increasingly being questioned. If there is any place for such clergymen, it would be shoved to a corner of mere rituals and within the four walls of religious places. This relevance becomes challenged as people desert churches, even among those who profess to be believers.
Just like Michel Foucault, Root uses history to understand how sex, power, and punishment leads to the secularizing effect on the faith of the next generation. What is enlightening is that while many people see the secular climate as one that distances people from God, Foucault's analysis points out the exact opposite: it heightens people's need for God. For all the desire for independence and self-accomplishment, people still need pastoral care. Political power is more "pastoral than territorial." Being benevolent not only reflects God's character, it meets a social thirst for grace. Our society need community even as people opt for individualistic choices. Root brilliantly analyzes Foucault's thoughts to come up with four elements of "pastoral power": "Analytic Responsibility," "Exhaustive and Instantaneous Transfer," "Alternate Correspondence," and "Sacrificial Reversal." For all of these principles, Root reminds us that we need to do all of these with God leading the way. In doing so, they counter the secularizing effect with the sacred awareness; and to make conversations about God more appealing.
Based on Charles Taylor's work on the secular age, Root's historical survey traces the reasons for the present secular culture. In Part One, we read about the theological and philosophical treatment of the malaise. Root shows us a historical map on how we can to where we are today. This symptom of people no longer needing God is also known as secularism. The author shows us that this is not a new problem. Thomas Becket lives in a rising age of disenchantment in the 12th Century. With kings who professed religion but behaved otherwise, the job of bringing respectability to the pastoral profession fell on people like Becket. People wanted to see reasons and relevance of faith. More specifically, they hungered for some "magical" experience that religion can give. Pastors were expected to play the role of "re-enchanting" the religious community again. In the time of Augustine, Root draws a parallel of Augustine's inner confessions with our modern preference for privacy and inner confidentiality. The purpose however is different. Augustine's inward journey was toward inner purity and confession while the modern man tends to seek self-fulfillment as the goal. The era of Jonathan Edwards posed a different challenge but the secular climate remains the same. In fact, Root identifies two "radical transitions" that contribute to secularism: 1) The affirmation of the ordinary; 2) expectation of politeness. If anybody could do these, why do they need the Church, or for that matter pastoral guidance? Henry Ward Beecher and Rick Warren are examples of celebrity pastors whose personalities frequently draw crowds. Gradually, the religious climate starts to resemble the world that is shifting of focus from the "what" to the "how." No wonder Warren's best-selling book appeals not only the Christians but also to non-Christians. Harry Emerson Fosdick lives in a time of tensions. Conservatives draw hard battle lines against liberals. People shift from declarations of belief toward declarations of unbelief. The stance of declarations of independence continues the divorce of faith concerns from all other matters.
Part Two of the book combines both Charles Taylor's and Michel Foucault's work to give us ways to move forward, especially the pastoral vocation. Root's starting point is God. Like how God arrives and appears to Israel back then, pastors ought to shepherd the flock and the community toward anticipation of the second coming of God. God not only speaks to the people then, His divine action is evident through ministers who perceive the presence of God and live out the reality of God through events and experiences. We are pastors or prophets of the "exodus paradigm" in every age. Like God caring even for people like Hagar in the wilderness, we have a great opportunity to minister in the wilderness that are becoming more crowded than before. Go look for them. Testify of how God's work in our lives form our identity and how our ministry flows out of this relationship with God. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives us hope and the practice of spirituality that evidences this hope.
My Thoughts
Research has also shown that non-church going believers are the single largest group in North America right now, and they are growing in size and numbers. In addition, the pastor and the Church are now living in an age of God being seen unnecessary. If the pastor as a key leader in the Church becomes trapped in this malaise, what hope will there be for the Church? What does it mean to live as a pastor in a secular age? These questions are tackled and discussed by Andrew Root, who teaches at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. How does a pastor serve in this secular age? As culture changes, so do the challenges.The pastoral malaise is a direct result of the loss of theological vision for divine action. Root spends time meticulously painting the theological vision for us. This vision is dependent on God's action. People are abandoning churches not because it is not necessary but because people are increasingly choosing not to believe in God. This departure from faith in a divine has created a vacuum that continues drive people to seek fulfillment in all kinds of places. Christian theology teaches us that humans have a "God-shaped vacuum" and could never find true fulfillment outside of God.
While this is not an easy book to read, it reminds us the importance of theory and philosophy prior to any action or practical steps. The rush toward quick-fixes has crippled many ministries. In fact, young people are most sensitive to any attempt to see them as problems and programs as solutions to their needs. People being people need to be loved. Sinful people being sinful people need to be reconciled with God. Ministry being ministry must begin and must end with God. I appreciate Root's reminded to resist the temptation of programs to release our anxieties for youth work. We need to begin any ministry in prayer and to be aware of the dangers that seek to derail our work. A key takeaway I have from this book is to recognize our tendency to see people as problems to be solved. Such a philosophy belies a majority of training programs and health professionals in many societies. If we are able to begin with God, to see from where He sees, we will be able to minister as shepherds to people who need us more than our abilities to care. In other words, the need for greater human connection surpasses all human activities. The need for God transcends the latter and everything else. Root shows us throughout the book that even in a secular age, the world need God and more more.
Dr Andrew Root is the Olson Baalson Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. He is also visiting professor at Regent College.
Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
Framing the Context
Root drills deep into the cultural environment affecting the malaise of faith matters. He uses two well-known philosophers to helm his engagement: Charles Taylor and Michel Foucault. Since Professor Charles Taylor's monumental work on the secular age, a lot of people have been talking about what that means for our churches and our faith communities. In one of Taylor's public lectures, he delivered "The Malaise of Modernity" which helps spur the thoughts in this book. Secularism rose due to three factors: 1) increase of meaninglessness; 2) inability to find significance in what we do; and 3) the "emptiness of the ordinary." The author in this book seeks to show us how this malaise has also led to the loss of pastoral identity, which in turns affects the larger Church. The distancing of society from the transcendent is lived out in ordinary lives who shun Church and things religious. Not only is the Church becoming less attractive, the very God the Church seeks to proclaim is also becoming less prominent and essential in the lives of the public. From the medieval times of "everything is sacred," we are now moving in a totally opposite direction to an age where everything seems to be secular. Pastors are trapped in this divide and their vocation and relevance are increasingly being questioned. If there is any place for such clergymen, it would be shoved to a corner of mere rituals and within the four walls of religious places. This relevance becomes challenged as people desert churches, even among those who profess to be believers.
Just like Michel Foucault, Root uses history to understand how sex, power, and punishment leads to the secularizing effect on the faith of the next generation. What is enlightening is that while many people see the secular climate as one that distances people from God, Foucault's analysis points out the exact opposite: it heightens people's need for God. For all the desire for independence and self-accomplishment, people still need pastoral care. Political power is more "pastoral than territorial." Being benevolent not only reflects God's character, it meets a social thirst for grace. Our society need community even as people opt for individualistic choices. Root brilliantly analyzes Foucault's thoughts to come up with four elements of "pastoral power": "Analytic Responsibility," "Exhaustive and Instantaneous Transfer," "Alternate Correspondence," and "Sacrificial Reversal." For all of these principles, Root reminds us that we need to do all of these with God leading the way. In doing so, they counter the secularizing effect with the sacred awareness; and to make conversations about God more appealing.
Based on Charles Taylor's work on the secular age, Root's historical survey traces the reasons for the present secular culture. In Part One, we read about the theological and philosophical treatment of the malaise. Root shows us a historical map on how we can to where we are today. This symptom of people no longer needing God is also known as secularism. The author shows us that this is not a new problem. Thomas Becket lives in a rising age of disenchantment in the 12th Century. With kings who professed religion but behaved otherwise, the job of bringing respectability to the pastoral profession fell on people like Becket. People wanted to see reasons and relevance of faith. More specifically, they hungered for some "magical" experience that religion can give. Pastors were expected to play the role of "re-enchanting" the religious community again. In the time of Augustine, Root draws a parallel of Augustine's inner confessions with our modern preference for privacy and inner confidentiality. The purpose however is different. Augustine's inward journey was toward inner purity and confession while the modern man tends to seek self-fulfillment as the goal. The era of Jonathan Edwards posed a different challenge but the secular climate remains the same. In fact, Root identifies two "radical transitions" that contribute to secularism: 1) The affirmation of the ordinary; 2) expectation of politeness. If anybody could do these, why do they need the Church, or for that matter pastoral guidance? Henry Ward Beecher and Rick Warren are examples of celebrity pastors whose personalities frequently draw crowds. Gradually, the religious climate starts to resemble the world that is shifting of focus from the "what" to the "how." No wonder Warren's best-selling book appeals not only the Christians but also to non-Christians. Harry Emerson Fosdick lives in a time of tensions. Conservatives draw hard battle lines against liberals. People shift from declarations of belief toward declarations of unbelief. The stance of declarations of independence continues the divorce of faith concerns from all other matters.
Part Two of the book combines both Charles Taylor's and Michel Foucault's work to give us ways to move forward, especially the pastoral vocation. Root's starting point is God. Like how God arrives and appears to Israel back then, pastors ought to shepherd the flock and the community toward anticipation of the second coming of God. God not only speaks to the people then, His divine action is evident through ministers who perceive the presence of God and live out the reality of God through events and experiences. We are pastors or prophets of the "exodus paradigm" in every age. Like God caring even for people like Hagar in the wilderness, we have a great opportunity to minister in the wilderness that are becoming more crowded than before. Go look for them. Testify of how God's work in our lives form our identity and how our ministry flows out of this relationship with God. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives us hope and the practice of spirituality that evidences this hope.
My Thoughts
Research has also shown that non-church going believers are the single largest group in North America right now, and they are growing in size and numbers. In addition, the pastor and the Church are now living in an age of God being seen unnecessary. If the pastor as a key leader in the Church becomes trapped in this malaise, what hope will there be for the Church? What does it mean to live as a pastor in a secular age? These questions are tackled and discussed by Andrew Root, who teaches at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. How does a pastor serve in this secular age? As culture changes, so do the challenges.The pastoral malaise is a direct result of the loss of theological vision for divine action. Root spends time meticulously painting the theological vision for us. This vision is dependent on God's action. People are abandoning churches not because it is not necessary but because people are increasingly choosing not to believe in God. This departure from faith in a divine has created a vacuum that continues drive people to seek fulfillment in all kinds of places. Christian theology teaches us that humans have a "God-shaped vacuum" and could never find true fulfillment outside of God.
While this is not an easy book to read, it reminds us the importance of theory and philosophy prior to any action or practical steps. The rush toward quick-fixes has crippled many ministries. In fact, young people are most sensitive to any attempt to see them as problems and programs as solutions to their needs. People being people need to be loved. Sinful people being sinful people need to be reconciled with God. Ministry being ministry must begin and must end with God. I appreciate Root's reminded to resist the temptation of programs to release our anxieties for youth work. We need to begin any ministry in prayer and to be aware of the dangers that seek to derail our work. A key takeaway I have from this book is to recognize our tendency to see people as problems to be solved. Such a philosophy belies a majority of training programs and health professionals in many societies. If we are able to begin with God, to see from where He sees, we will be able to minister as shepherds to people who need us more than our abilities to care. In other words, the need for greater human connection surpasses all human activities. The need for God transcends the latter and everything else. Root shows us throughout the book that even in a secular age, the world need God and more more.
Dr Andrew Root is the Olson Baalson Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. He is also visiting professor at Regent College.
Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
August 3, 2021
Just superb. This trilogy is my absolute top recommendation for anyone in ministry today, particularly in a Western context. Root's command of history, philosophy and theology is pretty stunning, and he writes in a way that is so easy to grasp. Part 1 is a wonderful overview of the way in which the pastor's social role has changed, seen through the lens of biographical snapshots of famous pastors through the centuries. This section of the book is revelatory, and concretizes many of the difficult-to-grasp concepts that Charles Taylor has laid out in his work. It's so helpful. Part 2 is a masterful engagement with practical theology, particularly the work of Robert Jenson, as Root puts forward ideas for how the pastor can conduct ministry in our imminent frame. Again, it's outstanding.
Honestly, these three books have radically impacted my own paradigm as someone in vocational ministry. I'm deeply thankful to Root for putting in the effort and organizing his work into such a profoundly helpful series of books. Highest, highest recommendation from me!
Honestly, these three books have radically impacted my own paradigm as someone in vocational ministry. I'm deeply thankful to Root for putting in the effort and organizing his work into such a profoundly helpful series of books. Highest, highest recommendation from me!
July 19, 2023
Part 1 was excellent. He takes a unique approach to describe “how we got here,” tracing the ministry of 6 different pastors to show the reasons pastors feel a “malaise” about their role and identity.
However, when he shifted to constructing a way forward in part 2, it never got off the ground for me. He uses Robert Jenson’s approach to construct a theology of God being a pastor/minister. This made his approach esoteric, jumbled, and loaded down with a ton of unbiblical jargon, like “God’s being is in becoming,” and “God is the event of arriving to lead his people out of Egypt.” The Biblical resources to describe God as a pastor are there, it is unfortunate that he chose Jenson as his conversation partner to develop them.
However, when he shifted to constructing a way forward in part 2, it never got off the ground for me. He uses Robert Jenson’s approach to construct a theology of God being a pastor/minister. This made his approach esoteric, jumbled, and loaded down with a ton of unbiblical jargon, like “God’s being is in becoming,” and “God is the event of arriving to lead his people out of Egypt.” The Biblical resources to describe God as a pastor are there, it is unfortunate that he chose Jenson as his conversation partner to develop them.
December 11, 2022
The Pastor in a Secular Age is broadly divided into two halves connecting with a bridging chapter discussing Foucault's lectures Security, Territory, Population. The first half takes us through examples of ministerial paradigms from Augustine through to Rick Warren, seeing how their style of pastoral leadership fitted in with the cultural expectations of the time. Foucault then takes us into something of a diversion concerning pastoral power and sacrifice (I'm sure that it's not intended to be a diversion, but having reached the end of the book I was left wondering how much this chapter really added). The second half - and by far the strongest - begins with an excellent discussion of the film Arrival and the short story that inspired it, and looks at the God who arrives, particularly in the lives of the patriarchs. It is no surprise that Root ends with a very brief discussion of Eugene Peterson, who clearly is a significant influence on his style (it is no criticism to either to say that his Secular Age series is essentially Peterson with many more footnotes).
As with Eugene Peterson, UK and American readerships will find themselves divided by a common language. The rather folksy lilt to his writing (more noticeable in this volume than in Faith Formation) may grate British readers a little but he does keep the reader engaged.
Where Faith Formation focused on the dangers of the MTD (moralistic, therapeutic, deism), The Pastor deals with the issue of the Immanent Frame - the retreat from transcendent religion to one where the pastor exists to affirm authenticity and in doing so will inevitably find themselves redundant. Instead the pastor should see herself as one who proclaims the arrival of God and in her ministry to enact that arrival in the lives of the broken and distracted. As an Advent read it was most appropriate.
As with Eugene Peterson, UK and American readerships will find themselves divided by a common language. The rather folksy lilt to his writing (more noticeable in this volume than in Faith Formation) may grate British readers a little but he does keep the reader engaged.
Where Faith Formation focused on the dangers of the MTD (moralistic, therapeutic, deism), The Pastor deals with the issue of the Immanent Frame - the retreat from transcendent religion to one where the pastor exists to affirm authenticity and in doing so will inevitably find themselves redundant. Instead the pastor should see herself as one who proclaims the arrival of God and in her ministry to enact that arrival in the lives of the broken and distracted. As an Advent read it was most appropriate.
May 15, 2020
I had thought of Root as a youth ministry guru, but upon reading this book I’ve concluded he is a pastoral theologian of some consequence. Pay attention to him, in other words. But let me divulge two of my annoyances with this book: he is too preoccupied with paying homage to pop culture, which has nearly holy writ quality about it for him; granted, this is a generational divide. And two, part two really bogs down and is far too derivative, ending up being large swatches of expositing the theology of Robert Jensen. (I’d rather read Jensen myself.) Still, there are brilliant moments in part two having to do with Root’s theology of ministry, God as minister, and the pastor being one who prays and teaches her people to pray. As for part one, Root has clearly absorbed the work of Charles Taylor, especially A Secular Age, and he’s put the knowledge to good use in explaining why pastors are largely trying to minister to people who don’t need God. Their minds are elsewhere in the immanent sphere rather than on transcendence. There is tremendous explanatory power in part one. I can’t imagine any pastor not benefiting from reading it. He develops a historical typology of ministry, using the figures of Augustine, Beckett, Edwards, Beecher, Fosdick and Rick Warren. At the end he draws in Eugene Peterson, but I wish he had used Peterson as a type in contrast to Warren. His use of Durkheim and Foucault is simply amazing. Too bad I can’t say the same about his use of Jensen, although he does better with Brueggemann.
December 31, 2024
Onze tijd kan worden gezien als een seculiere tijd. Daarmee wordt bedoeld dat zo ongeveer alles in onze tijd zonder het handelen van God kan worden verklaard en dat haast automatisch gebeurt, omdat onze cultuur zonder God kan. Het is niet eenvoudig om in deze tijd predikant te zijn, omdat ook gemeenteleden niet vanzelfsprekend rekening houden met Gods ingrijpen in onze tijd. Hoe kun je dan in deze tijd predikant zijn? Dat is de vraag in het boek van Andrew Root: The Pastor in a Secular Age.
Root schreef zijn boek omdat hij bij predikanten een pastorale malaise tegenkomt: predikanten sluiten haast vanzelfsprekend het handelen van God uit en laten zich in hun doen en laten niet daardoor leiden. Predikanten zijn net als hun gemeenteleden onderdeel van de seculiere tijd.
In zijn boek verkent Root eerst de ontwikkeling naar een seculiere tijd. In de tijd van Thomas Becket, die in 1170 werd vermoord in de kathedraal van Canterburg, was het hele bestaan onderdeel van een heilige orde. Dat was de reden waarom Becket het conflict met de koning aanging en werd vermoord: wat zijn priesters deden, deed ertoe. Na zijn dood werd Becket zaligverklaard. Voor de gewone gemeenteleden had zelfs Beckets bloed na zijn overlijden genezende kracht.
Met behulp van Charles Taylor reconstrueert Root de ontwikkeling van een tijd waarin alles als vanzelfsprekend in een heilige orde is opgenomen naar een tijd waarin de orde van ons bestaan als vanzelfsprekend seculier is. Deze reconstructie laat alleen zien waarom we nu bij een seculiere tijd zijn aanbeland. Zo’n reconstructie laat niet zien wat in deze tijd nodig is. Dat is ook niet de reden waarom Root deze ontwikkeling vertelt. Hij wil laten zien dat predikanten zich steeds hebben aangesloten bij het proces van secularisering en daarmee de secularisering weer hebben versterkt.
Root vertelt het verhaal van diverse theologen, die in een gemeente hebben gewerkt. Het is de geschiedenis van Augustinus tot Rick Warren. Augustinus is belangrijk, omdat hij het belang van het innerlijk voor het pastoraat laat zien. Sindsdien is het pastoraat in de kerk erop gericht om het innerlijk van gemeenteleden te leiden en te sturen. Bij Augustinus stond die leiding wel in het teken van de strijd tegen demonen, die onze ziel trachten te verleiden om de verkeerde weg in te slaan. Een hedendaagse zorg voor het innerlijk kent niet meer het kader van de demonen en pakt de begeleiding therapeutisch aan. In de rest van de portretten wil Root laten zien hoe ook in de pastorale begeleiding God steeds meer naar de achtergrond is verdwenen.
Dat God naar de achtergrond zou verdwijnen, was niet de intentie van Jonathan Edwards. Hij wilde dat het hele leven onderdeel zou zijn van een heilige orde: van de dienst aan God. Edwards is onderdeel van het calvinistische protestantisme, dat in de ogen van Taylor een zet in de richting van de secularisatie heeft gedaan door het onderscheid van heilig en profaan uit te wissen. Edwards wilde het hele leven heilig maken. Zijn streven leidde echter tot een rigorisme, waar latere generaties zich tegen verzetten.
Een van degenen die zich tegen dat rigorisme verzette was Henry Ward Beecher. Hij groeide op in een streng calvinistisch milieu, maar brak ermee en ontwikkelde een meer therapeutische manier van geloven. Hij groeide uit tot een celebrity. Door zijn bekendheid kon hij functioneren als het geweten van de samenleving. Dat klinkt heel mooi, omdat maatschappelijke betrokkenheid hoog in het vaandel staat van veel theologen en kerken. In de ogen van Root is het een stap verder in de richting van een seculiere wereld, omdat de persoonlijkheid van de predikant de rol van Gods handelen ging overnemen. De predikant leidde het innerlijk, maar wel op een manier waarop de verbinding met Gods handelen veel meer op de achtergrond kwam te staan.
De therapeutische benadering werd versterkt door Harry Emerson Fosdick. Na een conflict met zijn kerk stichtte hij een gemeente die niet aan een denominatie was gelieerd. Fosdick was een sociaal bevlogen prediker. De reden waarom Root hem opneemt, is dat het evangelie volgens Fosdick bedoeld was om de mens tot groei en bloei te laten komen.
Dat het evangelie bedoeld is om de mensen tot bloei te laten komen, wordt nog verder geradicaliseerd door Rick Warren. In zijn boodschap sluit hij aan bij de persoonlijke zoektocht van de mensen die in zijn diensten komen. Hij propageert een doelgericht leven, waarbij Jezus het grootste doel is. Het succes van zijn kerk ziet hij als goddelijke leiding. Voor Root is het belang van de aantallen en het centraal stellen van de persoonlijke zoektocht van degenen die de diensten bezoeken eerder een teken van aansluiten bij een geseculariseerd wereldbeeld. Root kiest voor een andere weg.
Voor hem is God de komende God. Root zegt dat Eberhard Jüngel en Robert W. Jenson na. Juist in een seculiere wereld is dat belangrijk om te geloven. In een seculiere wereld is het moeilijk om te geloven in Gods aanwezigheid en Gods handelen. De leegte wordt door Root herkend in de Bijbel: God komt in de woestijn, wanneer niemand meer rekening houdt met Gods ingrijpen omdat de weg doodloopt. Als God komt, komt Hij als dienaar (minister – vgl het Engelse woord voor voorganger: minister).
Hagar is in de woestijn, omdat ze weggelopen is bij haar meesteres Sarai. Daar in de woestijn, wanneer ze denkt dat haar einde komt, wordt ze door God gezien. God is voor haar een dienaar en Hij zendt haar weer terug om voor Sarai een dienares te zijn. Zo wordt Hagar een voorbeeld voor een predikant in de seculiere tijd.
Een ander Bijbels voorbeeld is Mozes: in de woestijn ziet hij een brandende braambos. Daar in de leegte van de woestijn komt God naar Mozes toe. Daar in de leegte begint de uittocht.
Root leert van Jenson dat God zich toont in de gebeurtenis van de exodus en dat Hij dezelfde is die zich in de opstanding laat zien. Beide gebeurtenissen lijken doodlopende wegen maar laten zien dat God nieuwe wegen kan schenken waar geen wegen zijn. Root laat uit hedendaagse (auto)biografieën zien dat God op die manier nog steeds kan komen, juist wanneer er geen geloof meer is dat er nog een weg is.
De rol van de predikant in een seculiere tijd is te geloven in de komst van God op momenten dat Hij niet meer wordt verwacht. De predikant mag er soms getuige van zijn dat God inderdaad komt. En soms mag de predikant zelf een middel zijn om God te laten komen.
Root sluit zijn boek af met het belang van gebed. Door te bidden wordt het geloof in Gods komen geoefend.
Root schreef zijn boek omdat hij bij predikanten een pastorale malaise tegenkomt: predikanten sluiten haast vanzelfsprekend het handelen van God uit en laten zich in hun doen en laten niet daardoor leiden. Predikanten zijn net als hun gemeenteleden onderdeel van de seculiere tijd.
In zijn boek verkent Root eerst de ontwikkeling naar een seculiere tijd. In de tijd van Thomas Becket, die in 1170 werd vermoord in de kathedraal van Canterburg, was het hele bestaan onderdeel van een heilige orde. Dat was de reden waarom Becket het conflict met de koning aanging en werd vermoord: wat zijn priesters deden, deed ertoe. Na zijn dood werd Becket zaligverklaard. Voor de gewone gemeenteleden had zelfs Beckets bloed na zijn overlijden genezende kracht.
Met behulp van Charles Taylor reconstrueert Root de ontwikkeling van een tijd waarin alles als vanzelfsprekend in een heilige orde is opgenomen naar een tijd waarin de orde van ons bestaan als vanzelfsprekend seculier is. Deze reconstructie laat alleen zien waarom we nu bij een seculiere tijd zijn aanbeland. Zo’n reconstructie laat niet zien wat in deze tijd nodig is. Dat is ook niet de reden waarom Root deze ontwikkeling vertelt. Hij wil laten zien dat predikanten zich steeds hebben aangesloten bij het proces van secularisering en daarmee de secularisering weer hebben versterkt.
Root vertelt het verhaal van diverse theologen, die in een gemeente hebben gewerkt. Het is de geschiedenis van Augustinus tot Rick Warren. Augustinus is belangrijk, omdat hij het belang van het innerlijk voor het pastoraat laat zien. Sindsdien is het pastoraat in de kerk erop gericht om het innerlijk van gemeenteleden te leiden en te sturen. Bij Augustinus stond die leiding wel in het teken van de strijd tegen demonen, die onze ziel trachten te verleiden om de verkeerde weg in te slaan. Een hedendaagse zorg voor het innerlijk kent niet meer het kader van de demonen en pakt de begeleiding therapeutisch aan. In de rest van de portretten wil Root laten zien hoe ook in de pastorale begeleiding God steeds meer naar de achtergrond is verdwenen.
Dat God naar de achtergrond zou verdwijnen, was niet de intentie van Jonathan Edwards. Hij wilde dat het hele leven onderdeel zou zijn van een heilige orde: van de dienst aan God. Edwards is onderdeel van het calvinistische protestantisme, dat in de ogen van Taylor een zet in de richting van de secularisatie heeft gedaan door het onderscheid van heilig en profaan uit te wissen. Edwards wilde het hele leven heilig maken. Zijn streven leidde echter tot een rigorisme, waar latere generaties zich tegen verzetten.
Een van degenen die zich tegen dat rigorisme verzette was Henry Ward Beecher. Hij groeide op in een streng calvinistisch milieu, maar brak ermee en ontwikkelde een meer therapeutische manier van geloven. Hij groeide uit tot een celebrity. Door zijn bekendheid kon hij functioneren als het geweten van de samenleving. Dat klinkt heel mooi, omdat maatschappelijke betrokkenheid hoog in het vaandel staat van veel theologen en kerken. In de ogen van Root is het een stap verder in de richting van een seculiere wereld, omdat de persoonlijkheid van de predikant de rol van Gods handelen ging overnemen. De predikant leidde het innerlijk, maar wel op een manier waarop de verbinding met Gods handelen veel meer op de achtergrond kwam te staan.
De therapeutische benadering werd versterkt door Harry Emerson Fosdick. Na een conflict met zijn kerk stichtte hij een gemeente die niet aan een denominatie was gelieerd. Fosdick was een sociaal bevlogen prediker. De reden waarom Root hem opneemt, is dat het evangelie volgens Fosdick bedoeld was om de mens tot groei en bloei te laten komen.
Dat het evangelie bedoeld is om de mensen tot bloei te laten komen, wordt nog verder geradicaliseerd door Rick Warren. In zijn boodschap sluit hij aan bij de persoonlijke zoektocht van de mensen die in zijn diensten komen. Hij propageert een doelgericht leven, waarbij Jezus het grootste doel is. Het succes van zijn kerk ziet hij als goddelijke leiding. Voor Root is het belang van de aantallen en het centraal stellen van de persoonlijke zoektocht van degenen die de diensten bezoeken eerder een teken van aansluiten bij een geseculariseerd wereldbeeld. Root kiest voor een andere weg.
Voor hem is God de komende God. Root zegt dat Eberhard Jüngel en Robert W. Jenson na. Juist in een seculiere wereld is dat belangrijk om te geloven. In een seculiere wereld is het moeilijk om te geloven in Gods aanwezigheid en Gods handelen. De leegte wordt door Root herkend in de Bijbel: God komt in de woestijn, wanneer niemand meer rekening houdt met Gods ingrijpen omdat de weg doodloopt. Als God komt, komt Hij als dienaar (minister – vgl het Engelse woord voor voorganger: minister).
Hagar is in de woestijn, omdat ze weggelopen is bij haar meesteres Sarai. Daar in de woestijn, wanneer ze denkt dat haar einde komt, wordt ze door God gezien. God is voor haar een dienaar en Hij zendt haar weer terug om voor Sarai een dienares te zijn. Zo wordt Hagar een voorbeeld voor een predikant in de seculiere tijd.
Een ander Bijbels voorbeeld is Mozes: in de woestijn ziet hij een brandende braambos. Daar in de leegte van de woestijn komt God naar Mozes toe. Daar in de leegte begint de uittocht.
Root leert van Jenson dat God zich toont in de gebeurtenis van de exodus en dat Hij dezelfde is die zich in de opstanding laat zien. Beide gebeurtenissen lijken doodlopende wegen maar laten zien dat God nieuwe wegen kan schenken waar geen wegen zijn. Root laat uit hedendaagse (auto)biografieën zien dat God op die manier nog steeds kan komen, juist wanneer er geen geloof meer is dat er nog een weg is.
De rol van de predikant in een seculiere tijd is te geloven in de komst van God op momenten dat Hij niet meer wordt verwacht. De predikant mag er soms getuige van zijn dat God inderdaad komt. En soms mag de predikant zelf een middel zijn om God te laten komen.
Root sluit zijn boek af met het belang van gebed. Door te bidden wordt het geloof in Gods komen geoefend.
October 7, 2023
May God save us from authors who confuse high-sounding obfuscation for intelligence.
Whatever message he is trying to communicate is hidden within layers of an intentionally nonsensical writing style. The last third of the book is filled with such nonsensical writing that he started to sound like a certain vice president. Here is an example:
"To be ministered to, I need another to share my in my location, to be there, to show up at a particular time and space. I need someone to share in the depths of the event that I am experiencing by arriving and BEING AN EVENT who shares IN THIS EVENT that presses in on my identity."
All right here is another one:
"This God operates in names. Names are important to God because God is an arrival who comes to those lost in the black hole of nothingness. This God must operate in names because this God goes looking, calling out, speaking in the wild. We call out people's names when we look for them. The addressing by and giving of names reveal what kind of arriving this is. God is a personal event seeking a personal encounter. God comes into a location looking for someone with a name. This is the eventful arrival of personhood. We know because we have a personal name. Someone centrally lodged in a specific address. God arrives as an event that is personal, that is the disclosing of God's person to the personhood of another."
Whatever message he is trying to communicate is hidden within layers of an intentionally nonsensical writing style. The last third of the book is filled with such nonsensical writing that he started to sound like a certain vice president. Here is an example:
"To be ministered to, I need another to share my in my location, to be there, to show up at a particular time and space. I need someone to share in the depths of the event that I am experiencing by arriving and BEING AN EVENT who shares IN THIS EVENT that presses in on my identity."
All right here is another one:
"This God operates in names. Names are important to God because God is an arrival who comes to those lost in the black hole of nothingness. This God must operate in names because this God goes looking, calling out, speaking in the wild. We call out people's names when we look for them. The addressing by and giving of names reveal what kind of arriving this is. God is a personal event seeking a personal encounter. God comes into a location looking for someone with a name. This is the eventful arrival of personhood. We know because we have a personal name. Someone centrally lodged in a specific address. God arrives as an event that is personal, that is the disclosing of God's person to the personhood of another."
June 25, 2019
This is one of those rare books that you read and cannot see the world the same again.
I am both a millennial and a pastor who is regularly exposed to theories on how to attract millenials, the vast majority of which do not speak to me at all. This book does. While it is not branded as a book to make sense of (or cater to) young people, it very much does. It inspires me and gives me hope for what a pastor can (and should) be.
It is an excellent guide for any pastor/church leader/person of faith trying to make sense of secularity and the well-documented decline in participation in organized religion. This book is a hopeful work, neither lamenting a bygone era nor condemning the world we live in. Instead, it offers a compelling vision for what it means to be a pastor today.
It is written by an academic but it is a clear and lively read filled with anecdotes and references to pop culture (Root is clearly a movie buff). The first half looks at how six significant pastors throughout history have engaged with culture and the second half suggests how pastors can engage with culture today. It will definitely shape how I do!
I am both a millennial and a pastor who is regularly exposed to theories on how to attract millenials, the vast majority of which do not speak to me at all. This book does. While it is not branded as a book to make sense of (or cater to) young people, it very much does. It inspires me and gives me hope for what a pastor can (and should) be.
It is an excellent guide for any pastor/church leader/person of faith trying to make sense of secularity and the well-documented decline in participation in organized religion. This book is a hopeful work, neither lamenting a bygone era nor condemning the world we live in. Instead, it offers a compelling vision for what it means to be a pastor today.
It is written by an academic but it is a clear and lively read filled with anecdotes and references to pop culture (Root is clearly a movie buff). The first half looks at how six significant pastors throughout history have engaged with culture and the second half suggests how pastors can engage with culture today. It will definitely shape how I do!
February 6, 2020
We live in a secular age, and for those of us who serve as religious leaders, that makes life and ministry complicated. In this book Andrew Root essentially does two things. In part one he introduces us to the "pastoral malaise," taking us on a historical tour from Thomas Becket to Rick Warren, in conversation with Charles Taylor, showing how we moved from an age of enchantment to one of disenchantment, ending with Rick Warren and his attempt to offer purpose to an age seeking authenticity (though I continue to wonder whether a culturally defined authenticity is really authentic).
Part Two brings in theologian Robert Jenson for a conversation about the nature of God and God's relationship to the ministry, bringing scriptural stories into conversation with contemporary stories. It's interesting, especially part one (I'm a historian), but how helpful it is, I'm not sure.
Part Two brings in theologian Robert Jenson for a conversation about the nature of God and God's relationship to the ministry, bringing scriptural stories into conversation with contemporary stories. It's interesting, especially part one (I'm a historian), but how helpful it is, I'm not sure.
April 14, 2022
A truly remarkable read (at least for clergy with the right mix of intellectual inclination and pop-culture awareness). Root begins by tracing how the role of the pastor evolved as the world secularized, using half-a-dozen well-known examples, and then, by imagining how God acted and still acts as a minister, offers a deep theological take of what the pastor's role is in this secular age. Although the conclusions he reaches are not unfamiliar from other contemporary pastoring manuals, the road he takes to them is brilliant (involving tons of sources from Foucault to the movie Arrival).
Read
January 17, 2025An application of A Secular Age to ministry. The first half describes the challenges with ministry in our current age, and (partly) how we got there. This is very much reminicient of A Secular Age, and was a fascinating history lesson, but through a different lens: influential pastors through history, through current day. I thought the second half would be about applied ministry, but it was more about God's nature, and how that informs our ministry in the world. I loved his descriptions of God - who he was and is, what he does and is doing in the world.
February 19, 2021
So Glad This Book Exists
While the themes and language in this book are heavy and I felt like I was trudging through snow through a lot of it, the conclusion Root came to I believe is true. I’ve had Taylor’s book about the Secular Age in my shelf for a while. Root does a good job of tying it to the purpose of pastoring and for this pastor, he gives me hope that I am on the right track. Thank you Andrew for writing this! I can’t wait to read the other two in the series.
While the themes and language in this book are heavy and I felt like I was trudging through snow through a lot of it, the conclusion Root came to I believe is true. I’ve had Taylor’s book about the Secular Age in my shelf for a while. Root does a good job of tying it to the purpose of pastoring and for this pastor, he gives me hope that I am on the right track. Thank you Andrew for writing this! I can’t wait to read the other two in the series.
March 2, 2021
This is the third of Andy Root’s books I’ve read and I found it to be the most difficult but still absolutely worth the labor. There’s always a turn when I find myself reading with increased excitement saying “Yes! Yes! This is what I believe! This is why I follow Jesus!” I would recommend this book to anyone who does ministry (lay or ordained) and doesn’t mind the stretch of this sort of academic reading.
August 8, 2019
This is a truly powerful book that changed the way I see my ministry as a pastor and has the potential to shape the future of the church in really life-giving ways.
Root’s series on the secular age identifies and names something that I’ve experienced in the church, but never could put language around. I’m thankful for his work and would commend it to anyone in ministry today.
Root’s series on the secular age identifies and names something that I’ve experienced in the church, but never could put language around. I’m thankful for his work and would commend it to anyone in ministry today.
September 11, 2019
Root's insights and tracing history in Part 1 are powerful. The bridge is refreshingly deep, probably my favorite part of the book and a treasure trove of practical questions and insights. Unfortunately, Part 2 felt to me to be disjointed, verbose, and unnecessary. On the contrary, the final pages of the book again draw on the book's initial strength and offer a powerful conclusion.
October 21, 2020
While pretty dense at times, I feel like this book described so much of my experience in ministry. It named the challenges pastors face by tracing the development of pastoral ministry in various time periods. The first section was a fascinating journey, while the second section provided helpful encouragement in reclaiming a sense of pastoral identity.
November 3, 2020
An insightful and historical look at the role and identity of the pastor now in a secular age. Root has a seeming obsession with movies, but a keen understanding of the evolving role in North America in near history. His exhortations toward presence and prayer are needed and any book that ends with Eugene Peterson as a model is a good one!
September 20, 2025
Root gets to the “Root” of pastoral ministry in a philosophical and surprising manner. In our secular age, with God feeling so distant, nothing is more powerful than the art of prayer. The pastor, Root contends, is tasked with teaching that art.
Wonderful read. Everyone in pastoral ministry should read this book.
Wonderful read. Everyone in pastoral ministry should read this book.
July 27, 2020
This was excellent! I’ve ready many books about being a pastor but this was the first one that could actually explain the feelings I was experiencing and how to sort through it all. If you’re in ministry this is a must read.
September 13, 2022
Wow!
Bottom line, 1. God arrives in absence, 2. Prayer is the best practice for moving beyond an imminent frame, it allows us to notice God.
These two statements might seem simple, but Root does the hard work to get us there in a convincing way!
Bottom line, 1. God arrives in absence, 2. Prayer is the best practice for moving beyond an imminent frame, it allows us to notice God.
These two statements might seem simple, but Root does the hard work to get us there in a convincing way!
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