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Pastor Paul: Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church
Being a pastor is a complicated calling. Pastors are often pulled in multiple directions and must "become all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22). What does the New Testament say (or not say) about the pastoral calling? And what can we learn about it from the apostle Paul?
According to popular New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, pastoring must begin first and foremost with spiritual formation, which plays a vital role in the life and ministry of the pastor. As leaders, pastors both create and nurture culture in a church. The biblical vision for that culture is Christoformity, or Christlikeness. Grounding pastoral ministry in the pastoral praxis of the apostle Paul, McKnight shows that nurturing Christoformity was at the heart of the Pauline mission. The pastor's central calling, then, is to mediate Christ in everything. McKnight explores seven dimensions that illustrate this concept--friendship, siblings, generosity, storytelling, witness, subverting the world, and wisdom--as he calls pastors to be conformed to Christ and to nurture a culture of Christoformity in their churches.
According to popular New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, pastoring must begin first and foremost with spiritual formation, which plays a vital role in the life and ministry of the pastor. As leaders, pastors both create and nurture culture in a church. The biblical vision for that culture is Christoformity, or Christlikeness. Grounding pastoral ministry in the pastoral praxis of the apostle Paul, McKnight shows that nurturing Christoformity was at the heart of the Pauline mission. The pastor's central calling, then, is to mediate Christ in everything. McKnight explores seven dimensions that illustrate this concept--friendship, siblings, generosity, storytelling, witness, subverting the world, and wisdom--as he calls pastors to be conformed to Christ and to nurture a culture of Christoformity in their churches.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published September 3, 2019
70 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
About the author
Scot McKnight
209 books541 followersScot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of forty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).
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December 5, 2020
Overview
Dr. Scot McKnight invites his readers to explore the Apostle Paul as a pastor in his book, Pastor Paul. McKnight is a world-renowned New Testament scholar who teaches at Northern Seminary, and has focused a significant amount on the Apostle Paul. The subtitle of the book gives a better idea of the main thesis: that Paul sought to nurture a culture of what McKnight (who borrows from Michael Gorman) calls “christoformity” in the church. McKnight argues that Paul modeled Christ in an effort for the churches to model Christ themselves. Using that as a baseline, McKnight demonstrates seven ways in which Paul creates this christoform culture: he creates a culture of friendship, of siblings, generosity, storytellers, of witness, world subversion, and wisdom.
There is a loose linear path McKnight uses. According to McKnight, Paul created a culture of friendship, specifically as friendship was understood in Greco-Roman culture, which was defined as a relationship where one wanted to imitate the other in virtue. However, they were not just friends, they were also siblings and had to deal with the permanence and obligation to restoration within those relationships. Given these close relationships, believers were called to generosity to serve as a support. Paul was also a storyteller, by which McKnight means that he was willing to share himself: his thoughts, motivations, time and energy, his passion for them and his desire to see them grow. Paul used it to help the people diagnose their problems, as well. In doing that, McKnight argues that Paul was a witness for God and used every opportunity to point others towards Christ. One powerful way Paul did this was to subvert the world and its expectations, McKnight’s next point states. He closes with Paul embodying the “Christ wisdom”, saying that the primary way to fight against the world’s wisdom is to “present Christ in all his glory and compare Christ to what is being offered by the [false wisdom].” By creating these subcultures, Paul was able to create a larger culture that the Church embraced and that allowed the Gospel to thrive.
Analysis
McKnight is an exceptional writer. He is very clear in what he is trying to communicate in the moment with the reader. He displays an impressive acumen for scholarship, not only in the information he gives, but also in the wide array of scholars used. This diverse cast includes women, members from secular culture, and many different traditions within Evangelical Christianity. In the same paragraph he might quote an Anglican, United Methodist, and Southern Baptist. The actual book is only 195 pages, but he has nearly 50 pages of footnotes and bibliography provided.
His premise is not particularly unique, but the way he approaches the subject is. Looking at how he broke down Pauline pastoral theology as a group of subcultures working together is something I have never come across before. A few of the ideas particularly stand out: his last two chapters on subverting the world’s culture and embodying wisdom. To that first concept, I expect this is a way that I will begin to process my own role in ministry: subverting expectations for the glory of Christ. McKnight brilliantly demonstrates that Paul adapted to what his audience culture consisted of, and then attacked those parts that do not conform to the patterns set forth in Christ. These attacks were not necessarily confined to his written work, but in how he modeled himself to the people he was ministering to. This point ties quite well with his last point, that Paul embodied the wisdom of Christ for the people. Their culture would have an entire system of thought on how the world worked or should work. But Christ points us toward the Kingdom ethics, which naturally work against many of the things we set up in our societies. Paul in this way would use their culture against the glory of Christ, where love would so obviously prevail.
For the many strengths that McKnight demonstrates, there are a number of glaring issues. Within each chapter, there is a lack of focus. There are frequent displays of unrestraint, where the author will go down rabbit holes. At its best, these are unnecessary information dumps, but at its worst, they are disconnected from the main topic and seem to cater between a mix of scholars, pastors, and laymen, never really hitting the mark for any of them. For example, in his chapter on generosity, McKnight takes a couple of pages to address pastors on knowing roughly who their wealthiest members are. In another chapter, he addresses an issue strictly within secular scholarship: whether Paul was actually a convert or was just called to ministry by God. These are just a couple of examples of a problem I found throughout the entire work.
Conclusion
Pastor Paul is an interesting setup and a unique contribution to pastoral theology. I am deeply appreciative of Scot McKnight and his commitment to a Gospel-centered ministry for pastors (and scholars). A few points in particular will stay with me, I suspect, for quite some time. Ultimately though, I think the book fails to really deliver much. Part of that is because I am not quite sure who the publishers intend I hand this off to. Laymen? No, it cannot be them because it is about pastors and their theological motivations to doing effective ministry. Pastors? I suppose so, but it does not really delve into application for the pastor, and so I find its usefulness to be limited. Scholars? It is certainly written as a scholar, but I would struggle to think of what a scholar would take from this for their own research. Each section within each chapter is fine on its own, but I found it to be quite a puzzle to put it all together and avoid being disjointed. I conclude that this is a book that some will enjoy, and so I think there is some use for it. McKnight writes eloquently and accessibly, all while being well-researched, a rare combination. However, in a field where there are so many great pastoral theologies, I would point others to many other works before this one.
Dr. Scot McKnight invites his readers to explore the Apostle Paul as a pastor in his book, Pastor Paul. McKnight is a world-renowned New Testament scholar who teaches at Northern Seminary, and has focused a significant amount on the Apostle Paul. The subtitle of the book gives a better idea of the main thesis: that Paul sought to nurture a culture of what McKnight (who borrows from Michael Gorman) calls “christoformity” in the church. McKnight argues that Paul modeled Christ in an effort for the churches to model Christ themselves. Using that as a baseline, McKnight demonstrates seven ways in which Paul creates this christoform culture: he creates a culture of friendship, of siblings, generosity, storytellers, of witness, world subversion, and wisdom.
There is a loose linear path McKnight uses. According to McKnight, Paul created a culture of friendship, specifically as friendship was understood in Greco-Roman culture, which was defined as a relationship where one wanted to imitate the other in virtue. However, they were not just friends, they were also siblings and had to deal with the permanence and obligation to restoration within those relationships. Given these close relationships, believers were called to generosity to serve as a support. Paul was also a storyteller, by which McKnight means that he was willing to share himself: his thoughts, motivations, time and energy, his passion for them and his desire to see them grow. Paul used it to help the people diagnose their problems, as well. In doing that, McKnight argues that Paul was a witness for God and used every opportunity to point others towards Christ. One powerful way Paul did this was to subvert the world and its expectations, McKnight’s next point states. He closes with Paul embodying the “Christ wisdom”, saying that the primary way to fight against the world’s wisdom is to “present Christ in all his glory and compare Christ to what is being offered by the [false wisdom].” By creating these subcultures, Paul was able to create a larger culture that the Church embraced and that allowed the Gospel to thrive.
Analysis
McKnight is an exceptional writer. He is very clear in what he is trying to communicate in the moment with the reader. He displays an impressive acumen for scholarship, not only in the information he gives, but also in the wide array of scholars used. This diverse cast includes women, members from secular culture, and many different traditions within Evangelical Christianity. In the same paragraph he might quote an Anglican, United Methodist, and Southern Baptist. The actual book is only 195 pages, but he has nearly 50 pages of footnotes and bibliography provided.
His premise is not particularly unique, but the way he approaches the subject is. Looking at how he broke down Pauline pastoral theology as a group of subcultures working together is something I have never come across before. A few of the ideas particularly stand out: his last two chapters on subverting the world’s culture and embodying wisdom. To that first concept, I expect this is a way that I will begin to process my own role in ministry: subverting expectations for the glory of Christ. McKnight brilliantly demonstrates that Paul adapted to what his audience culture consisted of, and then attacked those parts that do not conform to the patterns set forth in Christ. These attacks were not necessarily confined to his written work, but in how he modeled himself to the people he was ministering to. This point ties quite well with his last point, that Paul embodied the wisdom of Christ for the people. Their culture would have an entire system of thought on how the world worked or should work. But Christ points us toward the Kingdom ethics, which naturally work against many of the things we set up in our societies. Paul in this way would use their culture against the glory of Christ, where love would so obviously prevail.
For the many strengths that McKnight demonstrates, there are a number of glaring issues. Within each chapter, there is a lack of focus. There are frequent displays of unrestraint, where the author will go down rabbit holes. At its best, these are unnecessary information dumps, but at its worst, they are disconnected from the main topic and seem to cater between a mix of scholars, pastors, and laymen, never really hitting the mark for any of them. For example, in his chapter on generosity, McKnight takes a couple of pages to address pastors on knowing roughly who their wealthiest members are. In another chapter, he addresses an issue strictly within secular scholarship: whether Paul was actually a convert or was just called to ministry by God. These are just a couple of examples of a problem I found throughout the entire work.
Conclusion
Pastor Paul is an interesting setup and a unique contribution to pastoral theology. I am deeply appreciative of Scot McKnight and his commitment to a Gospel-centered ministry for pastors (and scholars). A few points in particular will stay with me, I suspect, for quite some time. Ultimately though, I think the book fails to really deliver much. Part of that is because I am not quite sure who the publishers intend I hand this off to. Laymen? No, it cannot be them because it is about pastors and their theological motivations to doing effective ministry. Pastors? I suppose so, but it does not really delve into application for the pastor, and so I find its usefulness to be limited. Scholars? It is certainly written as a scholar, but I would struggle to think of what a scholar would take from this for their own research. Each section within each chapter is fine on its own, but I found it to be quite a puzzle to put it all together and avoid being disjointed. I conclude that this is a book that some will enjoy, and so I think there is some use for it. McKnight writes eloquently and accessibly, all while being well-researched, a rare combination. However, in a field where there are so many great pastoral theologies, I would point others to many other works before this one.
October 10, 2019
What do pastors do? A lot of things. Perhaps too many things. They preach and teach; plan worship services; officiate at major life events such as baby dedications, weddings, and funerals (“hatch, match, and dispatch,” as one wag puts it); evangelize; disciple; counsel; visit the sick and elderly; disperse benevolence funds; cast vision; raise money; lead meetings; set up auditoriums; clean toilets; eat too much at the potluck; and so on. The list is long, but something else is always being added, as every pastor knows.
But what do pastors do these things for? In the midst of a busy schedule, pastors all too quickly and easily forget their purpose, losing sight of the end toward which all their activities are but means. In Pastor Paul, Scot McKnight mines the life and thought of the apostle to the Gentiles to remind pastors of their fundamental purpose. He announces his thesis early on: “The pastor is called to nurture a culture of Christoformity.” As Paul himself puts it in Galatians 4:19: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (emphasis added). In Romans 8:29, Paul describes Christoformity as God’s own goal: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (emphasis added).
We typically understand Christoformity in individual terms. A person — you or me, for example — increasingly becomes like Christ in thought, word and deed. That’s right as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough, for Christoformity must also be understood in social terms. It is a characteristic of both the Christian and of the congregation in which he or she is a member. A church’s culture consists of four elements, according to McKnight: the pastor(s) and leaders; the congregation; the relationship between them; and the policies, structures, and systems that govern them. “No church culture is completely good,” McKnight warns, “because it emerges from human beings who are not completely good. Yet the gospel’s power transforms what could be a bad culture into good at some level, so churches have at least some small chance of emerging as a culture of (some) goodness.”
Chapter 1 briefly sketches “ten elements of a Christoform culture that a pastor can nurture”: people, formation, listening, prophecy, presence, priesthood, servanthood, and leadership, all the while resisting the temptations of celebrity and power. Chapters 2–8 describe what such a culture looks like in terms of relationships, economic stewardship, Scripture interpretation, evangelistic witness, subversion of worldliness, and practical wisdom. McKnight acknowledges that these topics are illustrative rather than exhaustive. Pastor Paul, he insists, is not a complete or systematic theology of pastoring.
Also, throughout the book, McKnight repeatedly states that he writes as a New Testament scholar, not as a pastor. He’s trying to describe what Pastor Paul did, not prescribe what contemporary pastors should do. Even so, the book is illuminating and suggestive. Pastors with ears to hear will hear its Christoform message and know what to do with it in their own congregational contexts.
I close with a quotation from McKnight’s penultimate page, which reminds pastor-readers of their need for the Holy Spirit. McKnight himself isn’t Pentecostal, but as a Pentecostal, I appreciated this statement nonetheless:
"Christoformity is not the inevitable consequence of forming the right habits, nor is it simply the result of intentions and willpower. Rather, Christ is present in our word at its core through the Spirit, and the grace of God operating through the Spirit is the only path of Christoformity. Christocentricity is only possible through Pneumacentricity: we can only find Christ at the center if we are open to the Spirit taking us there."
Amen!
P.S. If you like my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. I wrote this review for InfluenceMagazine.com. It is posted here by permission.
But what do pastors do these things for? In the midst of a busy schedule, pastors all too quickly and easily forget their purpose, losing sight of the end toward which all their activities are but means. In Pastor Paul, Scot McKnight mines the life and thought of the apostle to the Gentiles to remind pastors of their fundamental purpose. He announces his thesis early on: “The pastor is called to nurture a culture of Christoformity.” As Paul himself puts it in Galatians 4:19: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (emphasis added). In Romans 8:29, Paul describes Christoformity as God’s own goal: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (emphasis added).
We typically understand Christoformity in individual terms. A person — you or me, for example — increasingly becomes like Christ in thought, word and deed. That’s right as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough, for Christoformity must also be understood in social terms. It is a characteristic of both the Christian and of the congregation in which he or she is a member. A church’s culture consists of four elements, according to McKnight: the pastor(s) and leaders; the congregation; the relationship between them; and the policies, structures, and systems that govern them. “No church culture is completely good,” McKnight warns, “because it emerges from human beings who are not completely good. Yet the gospel’s power transforms what could be a bad culture into good at some level, so churches have at least some small chance of emerging as a culture of (some) goodness.”
Chapter 1 briefly sketches “ten elements of a Christoform culture that a pastor can nurture”: people, formation, listening, prophecy, presence, priesthood, servanthood, and leadership, all the while resisting the temptations of celebrity and power. Chapters 2–8 describe what such a culture looks like in terms of relationships, economic stewardship, Scripture interpretation, evangelistic witness, subversion of worldliness, and practical wisdom. McKnight acknowledges that these topics are illustrative rather than exhaustive. Pastor Paul, he insists, is not a complete or systematic theology of pastoring.
Also, throughout the book, McKnight repeatedly states that he writes as a New Testament scholar, not as a pastor. He’s trying to describe what Pastor Paul did, not prescribe what contemporary pastors should do. Even so, the book is illuminating and suggestive. Pastors with ears to hear will hear its Christoform message and know what to do with it in their own congregational contexts.
I close with a quotation from McKnight’s penultimate page, which reminds pastor-readers of their need for the Holy Spirit. McKnight himself isn’t Pentecostal, but as a Pentecostal, I appreciated this statement nonetheless:
"Christoformity is not the inevitable consequence of forming the right habits, nor is it simply the result of intentions and willpower. Rather, Christ is present in our word at its core through the Spirit, and the grace of God operating through the Spirit is the only path of Christoformity. Christocentricity is only possible through Pneumacentricity: we can only find Christ at the center if we are open to the Spirit taking us there."
Amen!
P.S. If you like my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. I wrote this review for InfluenceMagazine.com. It is posted here by permission.
September 21, 2023
Scot McKnight is a professor of theology and has, it seems, never been a pastor. Nevertheless he holds the office of pastor in very high esteem. He says, "I calculate that pastoring is between ten and twelves times more complicated than professoring ..." (p.3). He identifies a defining characteristic and duty of the office of pastor as cultivating a culture of becoming more like Jesus, quoting Matthew 10:24-25: "it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher." This process and goal of becoming more like Jesus he characterises as nurturing a culture of Christoformity. Pastors are, McKnight argues, culture makers and he sets out eight cultural domains which the pastor must inhabit and model, for example: friendship, generosity, witness and wisdom. I agree that living out and modelling these elements of Christlikeness are a key part of the work of a pastor. The pastor must live and work in a way which demonstrates and cultivates those Christlike values in his church. McKnight affirms that Christoformity is a work done by God through his Spirit; the pastor's role is simply "to nurture it, to plant and to water and to weed and to protect and to provide" (p.6).
There is much to recommend in this book. In particular the call sounded to pastors to be genuinely Spirit-filled believers committed to their own spiritual formation, "by being a person who prays and reads the Bible and kneels before God for grace and power to fulfil the impossible calling" (p.13). On this front McKnight several times draws on Eugene Peterson's seminal works on pastoring - some over 30 years old now, but as important today as ever, I think.
There are some elements that are not so strong. I like the chapters on friendship and siblings, but I think McKnight is reaching a little when he characterises Paul's relationship with Timothy as "a friendship of equals" and that Timothy was "Paul's closest friend." He also characterises the two epistles to Timothy as "about pastoring and leading churches" whereas there is much contemporary scholarship that would disagree that these are in fact the primary subject matter of those epistles.
There are some sections which seem decidedly north American, which might not apply so well to Australian churches, though reading them may help us understand our American brethren better. For example, after very persuasively identifying the significance of storytelling, McKnight outlines the "New American Story" as statism: "the theory that the state ought to rule and the state can solve our problems" (p.105). I found his proposal in this regard compelling, and it helped round out my view of the situation facing American ecclesiology. Another example would be his explanation for why wisdom is little valued in American church: juvenilization. That is, the process by which the church adopts the beliefs, characteristics and practices of youth culture as normative for people of all ages. Interesting, but I don't think this is prevalent in Australia.
Overall, McKnight's thesis and his call to action is persuasive, with a great deal of food for thought for all pastors. We are called to nurture a culture of becoming more like our rabbi and master, Jesus, and we must start with ourselves.
There is much to recommend in this book. In particular the call sounded to pastors to be genuinely Spirit-filled believers committed to their own spiritual formation, "by being a person who prays and reads the Bible and kneels before God for grace and power to fulfil the impossible calling" (p.13). On this front McKnight several times draws on Eugene Peterson's seminal works on pastoring - some over 30 years old now, but as important today as ever, I think.
There are some elements that are not so strong. I like the chapters on friendship and siblings, but I think McKnight is reaching a little when he characterises Paul's relationship with Timothy as "a friendship of equals" and that Timothy was "Paul's closest friend." He also characterises the two epistles to Timothy as "about pastoring and leading churches" whereas there is much contemporary scholarship that would disagree that these are in fact the primary subject matter of those epistles.
There are some sections which seem decidedly north American, which might not apply so well to Australian churches, though reading them may help us understand our American brethren better. For example, after very persuasively identifying the significance of storytelling, McKnight outlines the "New American Story" as statism: "the theory that the state ought to rule and the state can solve our problems" (p.105). I found his proposal in this regard compelling, and it helped round out my view of the situation facing American ecclesiology. Another example would be his explanation for why wisdom is little valued in American church: juvenilization. That is, the process by which the church adopts the beliefs, characteristics and practices of youth culture as normative for people of all ages. Interesting, but I don't think this is prevalent in Australia.
Overall, McKnight's thesis and his call to action is persuasive, with a great deal of food for thought for all pastors. We are called to nurture a culture of becoming more like our rabbi and master, Jesus, and we must start with ourselves.
November 5, 2024
Really good discussion of what Paul’s role as a pastor looked like in the ancient church. McKnight focused on how Paul saw Christoformity as the end goal for the church and how this must be the direction pastors today take. In the age of celebrity and domineering pastors, this is a refreshing perspective.
February 8, 2020
This is a great book for pastors, one I'd encourage all pastors to read. My hope for the book, though, was for a more focused discussion about a vision of the cruciform life as a focus for pastoral ministry and discipleship, thus 3.5 stars.
December 31, 2019
A must read for anyone in ministry and church leadership.
March 5, 2022
A book that will make you at one and the same time fall in love with the pastoral vocation and be humbled by how high a calling it is.
September 1, 2025
Audiobook. Solid perspective on who Paul was as a pastor. Not a commentary on pastoring today but an offering from which contemporary pastors can certainly yield insight.
October 19, 2019
What might Paul have to say to pastors and churches living in the 21st century? What message might we hear in an age where many churches (including mine) are experiencing decline and church growth experts offer us a pathway to success. This pathway is judged mostly by numbers -- how many people fill the church's seats. Is this how Paul (let alone Jesus) understood ministry? Scot McKnight is a biblical scholar and not a pastor, but he seems to understand the realities faced by pastors. With this book, he offers us a possible vision for pastoral ministry that is defined in not in terms of cultural success (something Paul never experienced) but in terms of developing a culture in congregations that conforms to the person and message of Jesus.
McKnight teaches New Testament at Northern Seminary and has written a multitude of books but is best known for his blog "Jesus Creed." I will confess that I don't always agree with Scot. Our theologies and understandings of the faith at times diverge. He's more "evangelical" and I'm more "progressive," though both labels are fluid. While I might not affirm everything found in this book, as a pastor I found much to be thankful for. Most importantly it is Scot's challenge to the contemporary measures of success that bedevil pastors and churches who find themselves chasing the latest theory of church growth only to be disappointed.
The question raised here concerns the nature of pastoral ministry. In an age of specialization, McKnight starts with the premise that pastors are general practitioners or4 perhaps "teachers in a one-room schoolhouse on the prairie." In other words, we do more than one thing. We preach, we teach, we provide pastoral care, and offer administrative leadership. The life we live is complicated. As Scot notes, quoting Paul, pastors are called to be "all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22). With that in mind, Scot offers his premise -- pastors are called to be culture makers. The culture pastors are called to nurture is "Christoformity." Cruciformity involves "bio-formity," "cruci-formity," and anstasi-formity."
Standing at the heart of this vision is a call to relationality -- of knowing your people. While not impossible for pastors of large churches, this is a vision that fits small to medium congregations where pastors can get to know not just staff and a few lay leaders, but congregants. Another way of putting what Scot has in mind here is spiritual formation, which he believes is the pastor's first responsibility. It can involve preaching and teaching but it is more than that. Part of this calling is the responsibility of being an example to others. With Paul as the center of this book, McKnight reminds us that Paul invited the churches to imitate him as he imitated Christ.
Having affirmed the premise that pastors are, following Paul's lead, called to nurture a culture of Christoformity, McKhight uses the rest of the book to define this calling in conversation with Paul's letters. In the course of seven chapters, we are introduced to cultures of friendship, siblings, generosity, storytellers, witness, world subversion, and wisdom. Regarding friendships, he addresses the challenge of making friends (not always easy for clergy). This includes friendships with other clergy and then the age-old question of whether pastors can have friendships with congregants. He gets at this question by engaging Aristotle's view of friendship, which Paul seems to adapt. The aim of friendship according to ancient sourches was to lead to a growth of virtue. There are of course different forms of friendship, but the way Paul understands friendship involves a covenantl view, noting that Paul uses the word agape rather than philia to describe his understanding of friendship. From friendship, we move to a culture of siblings. This is perhaps a better description of the church. Terms such as adelphos and adelphe (sister) appear regularly for the congregation. Indeed, so common is the usage of adelphos for the church (in a non-gendered form), that it is perhaps a better descriptor than body of Christ or church. In other words, the church is a family. Why family? Because it is the most basic of human relations. If church is family, of course, we must talk about boundaries, and he does. I struggle here but it is worth engaging. Both friendship and sibling suggest relationality, rather than an institution!
From these foundations, we move to a culture of generosity. This conversation involves economic stewardship, concern for the poor, economic justice. Now Scot has expressed in other places some concern about the current pursuit of social justice, focusing on building the community of faith. It's a point where I disagree, but there is good material here about conversations about finances and generosity.
Cultures of storytelling and witness seem to fit together. Regarding storytelling, it is interesting how Scot addresses the challenge of statism, which he calls the "new American Story." Here he draws on his engagement with anabaptist traditions, challenging the more transformative visions of the church., which he believes leads to an embrace of statism. There is some truth here. On both left and right there are visions of embracing political cultures that undermine the Gospel. I'm more open to engagement with political forces, but this is a good warning. The culture of witness involves preaching -- He suggests that there are three stories to be told -- that of the Gospel, that of the pastor, and that of the congregation. In the course of this conversation, McKnight raises the question of whether Paul was a convert, and what that meant, especially if Paul didn't really change religions. Key here for pastors is being an embodied witness -- letting what we say connect with how we live.
The call to engage in forming a culture of world subversion is intriguing. Here he addresses the question that emerges most prominently in the Corinthian letters, where Paul encounters Corinthian worldliness, which includes the rise of personality cults. Bringing that into our time, he addresses the "drive for celebrity." There is part of human nature to want to be great, but according to Paul, it is a call to be faithful. IN his concluding section of the chapter, McKnight points to the preface of the 1961 edition of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis wrote that "we must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment." (p. 167). According to McKnight this description fits the realities of Paul's churches and many pastors and churches.
The final chapter addresses Paul's vision of a culture of wisdom. Though we might not equate wisdom with Paul, especially since he challenges the attraction to worldly wisdom, McKnight lays how out how wisdom fits Paul's of ministry. He does so in addressing what he calls a culture of "Juvenalization" in the church. This is not a diatribe against millennials, but a reminder that wisdom comes with age and experience and that something can be learned from the elders. As one who is moving through his 60s, I did find this chapter affirming. But what is wisdom here? First is conservative, by that he doesn't mean resistance to change but recognizing the value of the past as we move through the present into the future. It involves "receptive reverence," or listening to instruction (something that is found in the Hebrew Bible). It involves the "fear of God," Which is reverence and obedience to the ways of God.
Scot confesses that he's not a pastor. He doesn't see this book as a manual for pastors. He's not intending to tell us how to do our job, for he hasn't experienced personally this reality. At the same time, he wants to point us to Paul as a possible guide to pastoral ministry, one that is committed to nurturing this culture that conforms to Christ's life and message. This leads, he believes to maturity in Christ.
One may find places of disagreement, perhaps based on experience as a pastor, but this is a worthwhile read for pastors (even those who struggle with Paul!). It is rooted in scholarship but accessible as well. For those of us who haven't experienced worldly success as pastors, this might even be a word of encouragement!
McKnight teaches New Testament at Northern Seminary and has written a multitude of books but is best known for his blog "Jesus Creed." I will confess that I don't always agree with Scot. Our theologies and understandings of the faith at times diverge. He's more "evangelical" and I'm more "progressive," though both labels are fluid. While I might not affirm everything found in this book, as a pastor I found much to be thankful for. Most importantly it is Scot's challenge to the contemporary measures of success that bedevil pastors and churches who find themselves chasing the latest theory of church growth only to be disappointed.
The question raised here concerns the nature of pastoral ministry. In an age of specialization, McKnight starts with the premise that pastors are general practitioners or4 perhaps "teachers in a one-room schoolhouse on the prairie." In other words, we do more than one thing. We preach, we teach, we provide pastoral care, and offer administrative leadership. The life we live is complicated. As Scot notes, quoting Paul, pastors are called to be "all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22). With that in mind, Scot offers his premise -- pastors are called to be culture makers. The culture pastors are called to nurture is "Christoformity." Cruciformity involves "bio-formity," "cruci-formity," and anstasi-formity."
Standing at the heart of this vision is a call to relationality -- of knowing your people. While not impossible for pastors of large churches, this is a vision that fits small to medium congregations where pastors can get to know not just staff and a few lay leaders, but congregants. Another way of putting what Scot has in mind here is spiritual formation, which he believes is the pastor's first responsibility. It can involve preaching and teaching but it is more than that. Part of this calling is the responsibility of being an example to others. With Paul as the center of this book, McKnight reminds us that Paul invited the churches to imitate him as he imitated Christ.
Having affirmed the premise that pastors are, following Paul's lead, called to nurture a culture of Christoformity, McKhight uses the rest of the book to define this calling in conversation with Paul's letters. In the course of seven chapters, we are introduced to cultures of friendship, siblings, generosity, storytellers, witness, world subversion, and wisdom. Regarding friendships, he addresses the challenge of making friends (not always easy for clergy). This includes friendships with other clergy and then the age-old question of whether pastors can have friendships with congregants. He gets at this question by engaging Aristotle's view of friendship, which Paul seems to adapt. The aim of friendship according to ancient sourches was to lead to a growth of virtue. There are of course different forms of friendship, but the way Paul understands friendship involves a covenantl view, noting that Paul uses the word agape rather than philia to describe his understanding of friendship. From friendship, we move to a culture of siblings. This is perhaps a better description of the church. Terms such as adelphos and adelphe (sister) appear regularly for the congregation. Indeed, so common is the usage of adelphos for the church (in a non-gendered form), that it is perhaps a better descriptor than body of Christ or church. In other words, the church is a family. Why family? Because it is the most basic of human relations. If church is family, of course, we must talk about boundaries, and he does. I struggle here but it is worth engaging. Both friendship and sibling suggest relationality, rather than an institution!
From these foundations, we move to a culture of generosity. This conversation involves economic stewardship, concern for the poor, economic justice. Now Scot has expressed in other places some concern about the current pursuit of social justice, focusing on building the community of faith. It's a point where I disagree, but there is good material here about conversations about finances and generosity.
Cultures of storytelling and witness seem to fit together. Regarding storytelling, it is interesting how Scot addresses the challenge of statism, which he calls the "new American Story." Here he draws on his engagement with anabaptist traditions, challenging the more transformative visions of the church., which he believes leads to an embrace of statism. There is some truth here. On both left and right there are visions of embracing political cultures that undermine the Gospel. I'm more open to engagement with political forces, but this is a good warning. The culture of witness involves preaching -- He suggests that there are three stories to be told -- that of the Gospel, that of the pastor, and that of the congregation. In the course of this conversation, McKnight raises the question of whether Paul was a convert, and what that meant, especially if Paul didn't really change religions. Key here for pastors is being an embodied witness -- letting what we say connect with how we live.
The call to engage in forming a culture of world subversion is intriguing. Here he addresses the question that emerges most prominently in the Corinthian letters, where Paul encounters Corinthian worldliness, which includes the rise of personality cults. Bringing that into our time, he addresses the "drive for celebrity." There is part of human nature to want to be great, but according to Paul, it is a call to be faithful. IN his concluding section of the chapter, McKnight points to the preface of the 1961 edition of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis wrote that "we must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment." (p. 167). According to McKnight this description fits the realities of Paul's churches and many pastors and churches.
The final chapter addresses Paul's vision of a culture of wisdom. Though we might not equate wisdom with Paul, especially since he challenges the attraction to worldly wisdom, McKnight lays how out how wisdom fits Paul's of ministry. He does so in addressing what he calls a culture of "Juvenalization" in the church. This is not a diatribe against millennials, but a reminder that wisdom comes with age and experience and that something can be learned from the elders. As one who is moving through his 60s, I did find this chapter affirming. But what is wisdom here? First is conservative, by that he doesn't mean resistance to change but recognizing the value of the past as we move through the present into the future. It involves "receptive reverence," or listening to instruction (something that is found in the Hebrew Bible). It involves the "fear of God," Which is reverence and obedience to the ways of God.
Scot confesses that he's not a pastor. He doesn't see this book as a manual for pastors. He's not intending to tell us how to do our job, for he hasn't experienced personally this reality. At the same time, he wants to point us to Paul as a possible guide to pastoral ministry, one that is committed to nurturing this culture that conforms to Christ's life and message. This leads, he believes to maturity in Christ.
One may find places of disagreement, perhaps based on experience as a pastor, but this is a worthwhile read for pastors (even those who struggle with Paul!). It is rooted in scholarship but accessible as well. For those of us who haven't experienced worldly success as pastors, this might even be a word of encouragement!
June 11, 2019
While I don't fully agree with Scot McKnight on some theological items I still find his writing to be thought provoking. So, when I was given the opportunity to read an advance copy of this text I agreed to do so.
The book is about Pastoring. Specially about how Paul viewed Pastoring. Paul may not have written volumes on the thought of Pastoring, but by his actions and his letters you get a glimpse into the heart of a man committed to seeing spiritual growth in his disciples and in the church's which he planted.
While the book is mostly for those in pastoral ministry or in any type of Spiritual nurturing ministry I think that even the pay person will gain some good insights into the Apostle Paul and his view on our growth and maturity in Christ.
The introductory chapter (1) is very thought provoking, I read it three times to delve into its depths and it set me to thinking much about my own style of pastoring and whether or not I am actually doing the ministry that God called me to. It was a great refresher and thus a great reminder of the areas where I have been falling down.
As I said earlier, I appreciate Scot McKnights thought process, while I don't always agree. But this is a very excellent study in the life of Paul and how we can gain encouragement for how we do ministry.
Enjoy!
The book is about Pastoring. Specially about how Paul viewed Pastoring. Paul may not have written volumes on the thought of Pastoring, but by his actions and his letters you get a glimpse into the heart of a man committed to seeing spiritual growth in his disciples and in the church's which he planted.
While the book is mostly for those in pastoral ministry or in any type of Spiritual nurturing ministry I think that even the pay person will gain some good insights into the Apostle Paul and his view on our growth and maturity in Christ.
The introductory chapter (1) is very thought provoking, I read it three times to delve into its depths and it set me to thinking much about my own style of pastoring and whether or not I am actually doing the ministry that God called me to. It was a great refresher and thus a great reminder of the areas where I have been falling down.
As I said earlier, I appreciate Scot McKnights thought process, while I don't always agree. But this is a very excellent study in the life of Paul and how we can gain encouragement for how we do ministry.
Enjoy!
December 27, 2019
What makes a pastor a pastor? What is the New Testament vision for the pastorate vis-à-vis modern conceptions? New Testament scholar and prolific author Scot McKnight attempts to answer such questions and more in his latest.
First, McKnight takes us on a journey of what we many times allow the role of pastor to become; we often unwittingly reduce the pastor to being little more than a performer.
McKnight writes, “Some people who want to pastor think pastoring is about preaching sermons and studying all week…” (p. 2). The role of pastoring to McKnight is to cultivate and nurture “Christoformity” (conformity to Christ). While this certainly involves preaching, it is never to be limited to preaching.
One can be the greatest, most gifted, and charismatic orator, and yet a pastor is “not a pastor if he or she is not pastoring people during the week” (p. 3).
Ivory tower pastors have become far too prevalent. This type of “pastoring” appeals to our individualism, perhaps especially in America, but goes against pastoring as modeled by the apostle. Paul generally knew those he proclaimed God’s word to, and seemed to enjoy their company. Relationality is key in pastoring, but is many times overshadowed by the apparent meat and potatoes that is preaching and teaching. Performance is often overemphasized while relationality is reduced to a mere footnote.
Similar to the pastor as performer is the danger and prevalence of the celebrity pastor.
“Mastering the proper gesture, knowing where the camera is…, knowing the right color to wear, focusing on the most emotive story rather than the Word of God—these are all at work in the celebrity pastor who understands Sunday mornings as a performance. That’s not pastoring, and it is decidedly non-Christoformity” (p. 28).
A pastor’s primary role is to cultivate conformity to Christ among his congregants. To do this, pastors must cultivate “A Culture of Listening” (p. 16). A culture of listening requires the pastor to feed his or her own soul with God’s Word before ever expecting the congregants to do so. Pastors must know well to listen to the text of Scripture before expecting those in the pew to do the same.
A sinister darkness is brought up by McKnight when he notes many Christian leaders who “work…hard at nurturing [their] image and reputation” and do so at all costs, even going to great lengths to destroy their critics. When doing so, they may claim that it is for God’s glory, though they (at this point) have deluded themselves. Ego-drunk, self-deluded Christian leaders who scoff at accountability have become far too common.
It is important to note that pastor celebrities are not simply common in specific denominations, but they seem to, in fact, transcend them. The Reformed crowd, sometimes big on witch-hunting the more “crazy” or outlandish celebrity pastors, have produced celebrity pastors of their own. Some of this is inevitable in a hyper-Internet age. But some of this is a product of Christians being worldly and carnal, prone to prizing power while scoffing at apparent weakness. Eugene Peterson got it right when he wrote, “Church leaders frequently warn against the drugs and the sex, but at least in America, almost never against the crowds.” This is indeed a phenomenon and temptation that transcends mere denominational boundaries.
McKnight takes some pressure off pastors when noting that spending twenty hours per week on sermon prep is not central to pastoring. Central to being a pastor is maintaining devotion to God. While it sounds elementary, pastors need to constantly be reminded of the shepherding and care-taking of their own souls.
While pastors are called to nurture Christformity in those they serve (=others), they must also be nurturing Christoformity in themselves. Pastors are called to be Christians first and pastors second, not vice versa. Before we get to what pastors “do,” we must first get past but they are to “be:” Christians and devout lovers of God.
Pointing out that the same term used in Genesis 2:24 (Adam *cleaved* to Eve) is used also to describe our relationship to God, the author writes, “…the pastor’s responsibility is to cling to the Lord in love, adoration, worship, obedience, and faithfulness” (p. 12). What comes before pastoral performance? Even before sermon preparation? The pastor’s love for and devotion to God. This often is the very thing sacrificed on the altar of “performance.”
Clinging to God is not the first thing one thinks of when they think of pastoring. Pastoring is far too often reduced to great oration, or skills at organizing public events. It is interesting to note that by Paul’s own admonition he was a weak orator. While oration and delivery were certainly important to Paul, they were almost certainly not the holy grail of pastoring.
Many have grown tired of the pastor that preaches well but doesn’t know anyone’s name in his congregation. This book is not another book written with mega-church pastors in mind, or a book full of business principles that is masquerading as a book on ministry. McKnight has produced a book written to the pastor in the trenches.
Full of wit, wisdom, and clarity, McKnight here exposes the many ways in which pastoring today seems to have no biblical leg to stand on. With a commitment to Scripture as well as a rugged commitment to Christ-centeredness, this book stands as a warning to the American church and her tendency to prize power and fame, and is a call to recover the New Testament vision of pastoring. Written in a very readable fashion and not without some humor, everyone considering ministry should pick up a copy.
Rooted in realism as well as in the world of the New Testament, this is the best resource on pastoring that I have encountered, and one of the best books on Paul the apostle, beautifully capturing Paul’s vision and legacy for what it means to pastor.
Thoughtfully written, I don’t just feel *Pastor Paul* is an important book: I feel it’s urgent.
First, McKnight takes us on a journey of what we many times allow the role of pastor to become; we often unwittingly reduce the pastor to being little more than a performer.
McKnight writes, “Some people who want to pastor think pastoring is about preaching sermons and studying all week…” (p. 2). The role of pastoring to McKnight is to cultivate and nurture “Christoformity” (conformity to Christ). While this certainly involves preaching, it is never to be limited to preaching.
One can be the greatest, most gifted, and charismatic orator, and yet a pastor is “not a pastor if he or she is not pastoring people during the week” (p. 3).
Ivory tower pastors have become far too prevalent. This type of “pastoring” appeals to our individualism, perhaps especially in America, but goes against pastoring as modeled by the apostle. Paul generally knew those he proclaimed God’s word to, and seemed to enjoy their company. Relationality is key in pastoring, but is many times overshadowed by the apparent meat and potatoes that is preaching and teaching. Performance is often overemphasized while relationality is reduced to a mere footnote.
Similar to the pastor as performer is the danger and prevalence of the celebrity pastor.
“Mastering the proper gesture, knowing where the camera is…, knowing the right color to wear, focusing on the most emotive story rather than the Word of God—these are all at work in the celebrity pastor who understands Sunday mornings as a performance. That’s not pastoring, and it is decidedly non-Christoformity” (p. 28).
A pastor’s primary role is to cultivate conformity to Christ among his congregants. To do this, pastors must cultivate “A Culture of Listening” (p. 16). A culture of listening requires the pastor to feed his or her own soul with God’s Word before ever expecting the congregants to do so. Pastors must know well to listen to the text of Scripture before expecting those in the pew to do the same.
A sinister darkness is brought up by McKnight when he notes many Christian leaders who “work…hard at nurturing [their] image and reputation” and do so at all costs, even going to great lengths to destroy their critics. When doing so, they may claim that it is for God’s glory, though they (at this point) have deluded themselves. Ego-drunk, self-deluded Christian leaders who scoff at accountability have become far too common.
It is important to note that pastor celebrities are not simply common in specific denominations, but they seem to, in fact, transcend them. The Reformed crowd, sometimes big on witch-hunting the more “crazy” or outlandish celebrity pastors, have produced celebrity pastors of their own. Some of this is inevitable in a hyper-Internet age. But some of this is a product of Christians being worldly and carnal, prone to prizing power while scoffing at apparent weakness. Eugene Peterson got it right when he wrote, “Church leaders frequently warn against the drugs and the sex, but at least in America, almost never against the crowds.” This is indeed a phenomenon and temptation that transcends mere denominational boundaries.
McKnight takes some pressure off pastors when noting that spending twenty hours per week on sermon prep is not central to pastoring. Central to being a pastor is maintaining devotion to God. While it sounds elementary, pastors need to constantly be reminded of the shepherding and care-taking of their own souls.
While pastors are called to nurture Christformity in those they serve (=others), they must also be nurturing Christoformity in themselves. Pastors are called to be Christians first and pastors second, not vice versa. Before we get to what pastors “do,” we must first get past but they are to “be:” Christians and devout lovers of God.
Pointing out that the same term used in Genesis 2:24 (Adam *cleaved* to Eve) is used also to describe our relationship to God, the author writes, “…the pastor’s responsibility is to cling to the Lord in love, adoration, worship, obedience, and faithfulness” (p. 12). What comes before pastoral performance? Even before sermon preparation? The pastor’s love for and devotion to God. This often is the very thing sacrificed on the altar of “performance.”
Clinging to God is not the first thing one thinks of when they think of pastoring. Pastoring is far too often reduced to great oration, or skills at organizing public events. It is interesting to note that by Paul’s own admonition he was a weak orator. While oration and delivery were certainly important to Paul, they were almost certainly not the holy grail of pastoring.
Many have grown tired of the pastor that preaches well but doesn’t know anyone’s name in his congregation. This book is not another book written with mega-church pastors in mind, or a book full of business principles that is masquerading as a book on ministry. McKnight has produced a book written to the pastor in the trenches.
Full of wit, wisdom, and clarity, McKnight here exposes the many ways in which pastoring today seems to have no biblical leg to stand on. With a commitment to Scripture as well as a rugged commitment to Christ-centeredness, this book stands as a warning to the American church and her tendency to prize power and fame, and is a call to recover the New Testament vision of pastoring. Written in a very readable fashion and not without some humor, everyone considering ministry should pick up a copy.
Rooted in realism as well as in the world of the New Testament, this is the best resource on pastoring that I have encountered, and one of the best books on Paul the apostle, beautifully capturing Paul’s vision and legacy for what it means to pastor.
Thoughtfully written, I don’t just feel *Pastor Paul* is an important book: I feel it’s urgent.
June 18, 2023
I loved this book. As he closes, McKnight says he hasn’t done anything new, and I agree, but his approach to the topic and his rhetoric challenge me to be a better pastor. I really encourage anyone in church leadership to read this.
November 13, 2021
I was disappointed with this book. Despite the fact that there is an abundance of material on almost every conceivable aspect of Paul's theology, it is surprising to see lacune in the work on Paul as a pastor. Since I am interested in pastoral theology, I thought this book would be a good contribution to the literature. I was disappointed.
It is not that it is a bad book. In fact, there is some very helpful material. I especially appreciated the chapters on generosity and "subversion." The latter looks at Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church and how he turns the human pride that they valued on its head with astonishing humility. This chapter is powerful and an essential message in a day of celebrity pastors.
But there were two major weaknesses of the book. From the beginning of the book, McKnight states that he is not a pastor. Both weaknesses are probably rooted in the fact that he writes as an academic and not as someone who has extensive experience in the realities of daily church ministry. The first is that the author seems to miss the heart of Paul,s pastoral theology. A careful reading of Paul's letters shows that at the heart of his pastoral ministry is a profound theology of the individual and the church "in Christ." Practical theology is always rooted in a clear sense of what the believer (and believers) is in Christ. McKnight seems to miss that point and dives into matters like the importance of a pastor building a "culture of friendship." That is certainly important but that is not where Paul starts or the foundation of his work with people.
The other weakness of this book is that it lacks the "pathos" of Paul's pastoral ministry. McKnight writes as a careful academic scholar and that is fine, but for Paul, the matters of which he writes were of consuming importance. His heart and his soul were invested in the churches in a profound pastoral attachment. So this book reads as a scholar writing about pastoral ministry and not as a pastor who is investing his life in shepherding the flock of God. Since the pastoral "heart" is such an essential asepct of ministry, its relative absence in this book is a significant shortcmoing.
It is not that it is a bad book. In fact, there is some very helpful material. I especially appreciated the chapters on generosity and "subversion." The latter looks at Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church and how he turns the human pride that they valued on its head with astonishing humility. This chapter is powerful and an essential message in a day of celebrity pastors.
But there were two major weaknesses of the book. From the beginning of the book, McKnight states that he is not a pastor. Both weaknesses are probably rooted in the fact that he writes as an academic and not as someone who has extensive experience in the realities of daily church ministry. The first is that the author seems to miss the heart of Paul,s pastoral theology. A careful reading of Paul's letters shows that at the heart of his pastoral ministry is a profound theology of the individual and the church "in Christ." Practical theology is always rooted in a clear sense of what the believer (and believers) is in Christ. McKnight seems to miss that point and dives into matters like the importance of a pastor building a "culture of friendship." That is certainly important but that is not where Paul starts or the foundation of his work with people.
The other weakness of this book is that it lacks the "pathos" of Paul's pastoral ministry. McKnight writes as a careful academic scholar and that is fine, but for Paul, the matters of which he writes were of consuming importance. His heart and his soul were invested in the churches in a profound pastoral attachment. So this book reads as a scholar writing about pastoral ministry and not as a pastor who is investing his life in shepherding the flock of God. Since the pastoral "heart" is such an essential asepct of ministry, its relative absence in this book is a significant shortcmoing.
September 23, 2019
Our modern world and its diverse expectations put a dark thick fog over the glorious calling of a pastor. We are pulled in every possible direction and must adapt to fulfil each need. Sometimes, we wonder, what is the essence of our calling? What does God say about the crux of our task?
Enter Pastor Paul by Scot Mcknight. This book attempts to dispel the fog and help us to see what it means to be a pastor. Mcknight argues that pastoring first of all is about spiritual formation. Our job as pastors is to create and nurture culture that promotes spiritual formation that is to say we are to foster Christlikeness culture. Exploring Pauline epistles, Mcknight suggests that in all we are meant to meditate Christ. And this is the crux of our task.
Mcknight is an engaging writer and this book is sprinkled with good illustrations.
If you are a pastor or a concerned laity, this book is for you.
Enter Pastor Paul by Scot Mcknight. This book attempts to dispel the fog and help us to see what it means to be a pastor. Mcknight argues that pastoring first of all is about spiritual formation. Our job as pastors is to create and nurture culture that promotes spiritual formation that is to say we are to foster Christlikeness culture. Exploring Pauline epistles, Mcknight suggests that in all we are meant to meditate Christ. And this is the crux of our task.
Mcknight is an engaging writer and this book is sprinkled with good illustrations.
If you are a pastor or a concerned laity, this book is for you.
November 10, 2019
McKnight writes about Paul as a pastor and explains that Paul understands the pastoral task to be one of nurturing Christoformity. Pastors should nurture Christoformity in their congregations. Jesus served and gave himself for others, we are called to be formed into the image of Jesus. That’s Christoformity. The Holy Spirit longs to form us into the image of Christ.
What better place for a person learning to be a pastor to begin than by studying the pastoring of Paul? This book was incredibly encouraging to me with its focus on growing in the image of Christ. Pastors pastor people, so if the pastor wants to lead a congregation in growing in their Christlikeness, the pastor has to take on this same task first.
What better place for a person learning to be a pastor to begin than by studying the pastoring of Paul? This book was incredibly encouraging to me with its focus on growing in the image of Christ. Pastors pastor people, so if the pastor wants to lead a congregation in growing in their Christlikeness, the pastor has to take on this same task first.
October 27, 2021
A very interesting approach to the Pauline letters in the New Testament. The author sees pastoral work as caring for people as the pastor cultivates a Christoform culture characterized by nine snapshots (listening, service, wisdom, among others). McKnight acknowledges he is a scholar rather than a pastor, but tries to find dialogue partners (Eugene Peterson, Wendell Berry, Fleming Rutledge, besides conversations with personal friends pastors). I only found the footnotes to be a little too crowded — a rather scholarly tendency of assuring they are well-grounded — which blurs one's vision to which books would be more important than others for a pastor trying to dive deeper. Other than that, the book was great, and I was reading it in a slow pace, with time to reflect on it.
August 14, 2022
I appreciate Dr. McKnight’s biblical and historical insights into the pastoral wisdom of Paul. Like many of his books on biblical theology it is readable and full of insights for the reader. Also, like many of his books, it suffers from repetition. I believe this is worth reading and thinking about from numerous perspectives, not the least of which is pastoral, but plan to skim sections where he tries too hard to make accessible an idea he has clearly shared through his work with the text. His work on the Corinthian church and christoformity in Paul’s pastoral ministry is worth the price and the time.
January 19, 2020
This book was a gift in mainly one way: helping us see Paul’s mission and passion through the lens of a pastor’s role. In essence it was a book on discipleship since McKnight unearths and points us too his word for Paul’s goal with both Christians and churches, Christoformity. That each church, pastor, discipler would see that their main goal is to nurture Christoformity in people (and church). This formation would equally contrast the surrounding culture, whether it be Corinth, Rome, NYC or Montreal.
The chapters on subversion and wisdom alone are worth the book.
The chapters on subversion and wisdom alone are worth the book.
March 14, 2024
A pretty great read. This was my first experience with Scot McKnight's work and I took particular appreciation from his consultation of many sources, even those from antiquity such as Aristotle, Plutarch, and Seneca to name a few. I am currently engaged in pastoral ministry, which comes with its unique challenges, but the seven "facets" of Christoformity McKnight touches on are all crucial to a healthy, biblical church. I especially appreciate his conversations on creating a culture of Friendship and Wisdom in the Church: A special task indeed!
December 2, 2021
All followers of Jesus are called to discipleship. All disciples are called to make disciples! But what is a pastors job when it comes to discipleship in the church? Scot McKnight lays out what the specific role of a pastor is when it comes to discipleship.
I could not recommend this book more to anyone working in a pastoral role. He is an incredibly intelligent theologian but also incredibly accessible. This is gonna have to be an annual read.
I could not recommend this book more to anyone working in a pastoral role. He is an incredibly intelligent theologian but also incredibly accessible. This is gonna have to be an annual read.
January 10, 2020
One of the best books on pastoral theology I've read to date. (Not comprehensive, by the author's own admission, but practical, timely, and filled with McKnight's excellent scholarship.) It has sparked so much hope in me for the church, if pastors would only gather around the vision of Christoformity McKnight outlines.
October 28, 2020
Fantastic. McKnight has a knack for understanding the times we live in as the church and writing to current realities of the church through an accessible yet scholarly lens. I always enjoy his footnotes and bibliographies as much as the writing itself. He’s becoming as much of a modern sage as Tim Keller or Eugene Peterson or Dallas Willard or Marylin Robinson, etc.
March 16, 2021
Great and helpful book. It's very interesting to look at the Church Universal today and see how far we have strayed from a Christoform pattern of life. Really helpful for pastors and laity alike.
There's a large chunk devoted to the temptation toward celebrity for pastors that I think every pastor in the North American world (as it is something uniquely common over here).
There's a large chunk devoted to the temptation toward celebrity for pastors that I think every pastor in the North American world (as it is something uniquely common over here).
December 18, 2019
Scot does a great job reminding us who are in a church ministry context what it means to lead. Using Paul as the filter, you'll better understand how we are called to be effective in the call to point people toward Jesus.
January 15, 2021
I 'read' the audio version from audible. This is an excellent book as I have come to expect from McKnight. I think if I had read this book 2t years ago, I might still be in ministry. A great book for pastors, but I suspect a better book for parishioners.
January 24, 2022
This was a slow start for me, but I particularly enjoyed chapters on story, witness, and subversion. I like thinking of Paul as pastor rather than public theologian—focused first on the spiritual formation of the early church and modeling Christoformity that subverts and transforms.
January 28, 2022
An important read for any pastor or aspiring pastor. What is the call of the job? McKnight's careful reading of Paul as a pastor offers an important corrective to the 21st century understanding of pastor prevalent in much of the church today.
November 6, 2019
I have really enjoyed other books by Scot McKnight, but I found this one too academic in tone for my taste. There were some very helpful insights, but getting to them required some effort.
November 22, 2019
Essential reading for anyone in pastoral ministry
Read
April 6, 2021It was more pastor-oriented than I thought it would be. Still a great resource though, and a good vision of what pastoring is meant to be.
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