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Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies
The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life (The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies
"Today's pastors -- often expected to be multi-tasking marvels who can make their churches "successful" -- are understandably confused about their role. Craig Barnes contends that the true calling of a pastor is to help others become fully alive in Christ, to be what he calls a "minor poet," or a poet of the soul. As such, pastors are to read the major poets of Scripture and history in light of the dust and grit of daily parish life."
The Pastor as Minor Poet eloquently calls pastors to search for a deeper understanding of what they see -- both in the text of Scripture and in the text of their parishioners' lives. A critical part of this poetic vision involves discerning key subtext beneath these texts, which allows pastors to preach the heart of the Word and to understand the hearts of their people.
146 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2008
69 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
September 6, 2009
This book was surprisingly good. You have to get past a few things -- like the fact that Walter Brueggemann liked it, or the occasional mainline denominational angst that peeps out here and there. It is that kind of thing that makes Brueggemann such a trial to read, but then, Brueggemann is a severe case. And because Barnes is a mainliner you have to work your way around the periodic pastoral "he or she" stuff. But set all that aside . . . "Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"Seriously, in addition to all that, there is some really good stuff here. And it is the kind of good stuff you are unlikely to find in other places. It is not a huge tome, and working pastors ought to get it and read it.
January 27, 2023
Oh my god! I both recognize the value of the insights this book makes about church life and find it incredibly frustrating to have yet another white man making huge speculations about the state of their parishioners’ souls. It’s possible to be a good faith leader and not analyze everyone. Let’s let Sally speak for Sally!
March 3, 2025
We need more pastors not communicators, more shepherds not leaders in the church. And this book helps us get there.
July 17, 2019
This was my second time through and it was all the richer than when first became and pastor and first read it five years ago.
His use of the minor poet metaphor for pastoring was refreshing giving the plethora of managerial and instrumental pastoral imageries out there. I really appreciated that he didn't attempt to circumscribe all of pastoral life by this metaphor either. He didn't oversell it as THE END OF ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, GUARANTEED TO EXPLODE THE MINISTRY. For me that was liberating and allowed his ideas to work in my soul. I am hopeful they will bear fruit.
The early chapters were convicting and reminders of early ordination-convictions. The latter chapters were empowering. Reflecting on how much I got out of this book it is a wonder how small it is....
His poetic retelling of a day-in-his-life of ministry was validating and also embodied the minor poet metaphor he was describing in a way I would hope to be able to do in 25 years.
I think I'll pick it up again 5 years from now...
His use of the minor poet metaphor for pastoring was refreshing giving the plethora of managerial and instrumental pastoral imageries out there. I really appreciated that he didn't attempt to circumscribe all of pastoral life by this metaphor either. He didn't oversell it as THE END OF ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, GUARANTEED TO EXPLODE THE MINISTRY. For me that was liberating and allowed his ideas to work in my soul. I am hopeful they will bear fruit.
The early chapters were convicting and reminders of early ordination-convictions. The latter chapters were empowering. Reflecting on how much I got out of this book it is a wonder how small it is....
His poetic retelling of a day-in-his-life of ministry was validating and also embodied the minor poet metaphor he was describing in a way I would hope to be able to do in 25 years.
I think I'll pick it up again 5 years from now...
July 21, 2022
Such a beautiful book on what it means to be a pastor, and how to minister well to the men and women God has placed in our lives. I'm in the early years of ministry, so hearing Barnes reflect on his own life in ministry and preaching gives me a fresh perspective. Definitely will come back to reread this one in the future; It's that good.
February 18, 2011
Having read this book, I have now started to regard my own “reverend mister,” and all pastors, differently. I judge them differently, too: not on the basis of how “successful” they are — how well they run a meeting, make me chuckle during a sermon, model a pious life, or offer sincere smiles to each visitor at the church door after the service — but by how well they are able to awaken in me a deeper awareness both of God’s everlasting truth and of the spiritual subtexts buried (sometimes quite deeply) in my own life.
. . .
Give The Pastor as Minor Poet as a thank-you to your pastor. (I did.) Pastors love new books, and their wives love it when those books don’t have to be purchased out of the family coffers. Please, though — read it yourself before you give it away. It will help you, as it helped me, learn to expect and appreciate the very best sort of ministry from your pastor, and to ask the right sort of questions.
[Excerpted from a longer review at http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2011/02... Disclaimer: I'm not only an avid reader of Eerdmans books, I'm also a lower-level employee of the publisher.]
. . .
Give The Pastor as Minor Poet as a thank-you to your pastor. (I did.) Pastors love new books, and their wives love it when those books don’t have to be purchased out of the family coffers. Please, though — read it yourself before you give it away. It will help you, as it helped me, learn to expect and appreciate the very best sort of ministry from your pastor, and to ask the right sort of questions.
[Excerpted from a longer review at http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2011/02... Disclaimer: I'm not only an avid reader of Eerdmans books, I'm also a lower-level employee of the publisher.]
November 25, 2014
This book took me too long to read. It has many rich insights and passages to be reread and taken to heart. I have been privy to the type of preaching that Barnes advocates and it is deep and connects with the soul as well as the mind. Good stuff.
March 24, 2022
This book is the most invigorating and helpful book on Pastoral ministry I’ve read in years. Next to “The Contemplative Pastor” this book is now nestled in the core of my vocation.
“Poets don’t make arguments; they reveal mysteries.”
“Poets don’t make arguments; they reveal mysteries.”
August 31, 2021
Interesting book with several good nuggets
June 18, 2025
What a beautiful little book. I'd recommend this as a helpful framework for anyone considering a call to pastoral ministry.
March 23, 2021
Easily one of the top 10 books on pastoral ministry I've ever read. It's so specific to what I do, that I'm not sure it would be as helpful for someone that doesn't regularly meet with people to talk through spiritual concerns and life challenges; or someone that doesn't prepare biblical texts for public speaking.
All that being true, it's the most meaningful book I've read on the life of a minister in years. It squarely addresses that "thing behind the thing" in every conversation, sermon, and experience.
All that being true, it's the most meaningful book I've read on the life of a minister in years. It squarely addresses that "thing behind the thing" in every conversation, sermon, and experience.
August 1, 2015
Even though I intuitively grasped the main points of this book before I read it (especially the stuff about preaching), I found it really helpful in explaining WHY certain aspects of ministry are the way they are. In making me conscious of certain needs and patterns, this book encouraged me to interrupt habits of thought or action and think them through, thus acting more sensitively and "poetically" to the somewhat repetitive and day-to-day aspects of the pastoral life.
December 21, 2018
A wonderful book on the subversion of pastoral life. Found myself highlighting something good on nearly every page. That’s a win for me.
March 25, 2025
M. Craig Barnes (a long time dean of Princeton Seminary) offers a vision of pastoral ministry that is at once deeply theological and profoundly human. He argues that the pastor is not merely a preacher, administrator, or counselor, but a kind of poet- one who helps people see the deeper meaning behind their lives by speaking truth with beauty, subtlety, and wisdom. The book is a refreshing call to recover the pastor’s role as an interpreter of reality, someone who can see through the surface of things and articulate God’s work in the ordinary.
Barnes writes with the kind of clarity and depth that makes for an engaging read. He draws from literature, personal experience, and pastoral reflections to craft a compelling case for ministry that moves beyond pragmatism. His emphasis on the "minor poet" is especially helpful, rejecting the idea that pastors must be grand visionaries or celebrity figures. Instead, he calls them to a quieter, humbler role. One that listens deeply, speaks carefully, and resists the temptation of self-importance.
This work has been valuable to my own philosophy of ministry, particularly as we seek to reenchant faith in an age where even the church often bows to disillusionment. Barnes reinvites the post-Enlightenment pastor into the mystical and transcendental, reminding us that our work is not simply to impart information or manage an institution, but to point people toward a reality deeper than what they can see. That alone makes the book worth reading.
It is easy to forget that Scripture itself is a work of poetry, that God speaks in song, in lament, in visions that shake the heavens. The pastor is called not merely to explain these things but to awaken people to them, to help them see that the world is charged with the grandeur of God. And so, we wait for the day when our poetry is made real, when the minor chords of this life resolve into the great and final symphony of the new creation. Until then, let us join in concert to that ancient song and be faithful poets of the Word.
Barnes writes with the kind of clarity and depth that makes for an engaging read. He draws from literature, personal experience, and pastoral reflections to craft a compelling case for ministry that moves beyond pragmatism. His emphasis on the "minor poet" is especially helpful, rejecting the idea that pastors must be grand visionaries or celebrity figures. Instead, he calls them to a quieter, humbler role. One that listens deeply, speaks carefully, and resists the temptation of self-importance.
This work has been valuable to my own philosophy of ministry, particularly as we seek to reenchant faith in an age where even the church often bows to disillusionment. Barnes reinvites the post-Enlightenment pastor into the mystical and transcendental, reminding us that our work is not simply to impart information or manage an institution, but to point people toward a reality deeper than what they can see. That alone makes the book worth reading.
It is easy to forget that Scripture itself is a work of poetry, that God speaks in song, in lament, in visions that shake the heavens. The pastor is called not merely to explain these things but to awaken people to them, to help them see that the world is charged with the grandeur of God. And so, we wait for the day when our poetry is made real, when the minor chords of this life resolve into the great and final symphony of the new creation. Until then, let us join in concert to that ancient song and be faithful poets of the Word.
February 15, 2021
This book by Craig Barnes (or President Barnes as I will call him now and probably forever) is good. I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to his philosophy of what a pastor should be doing in the church and the pulpit as I only ever saw him as a professor and president of the seminary. But I think this book illustrates why every seminary professor should be a minister or at least have worked in a church for a good amount of time. President Barnes brings a new take to pastoral ministry as he gives a new metaphor for the life of the pastor that we don’t usually hear: that of minor poet. I found this to be helpful for me and how to interpret my life and the lives of my parishioners in ways that would lead to a better engagement with the God of the universe rather than seeing myself as some sort of prophet,or king, or priest. Instead I’m a poet and a minor one at that.
I found the first part of this book to be more compelling than the second half. His personal illustrations and the layout of his argument were good and convincing. I found the second part to be less interesting as he worked through his process. This is partly because I think he overworks himself and partly just because I disagree with some of his takes. But I still found it to be helpful and will be implanting a few of his suggestions.
I liked this book and I’ll probably return to it again in the future to mine it for ideas. I think it would be well worth the read for those in the pastorate or any other ecclesiastical employment where you are teaching or preaching.
I found the first part of this book to be more compelling than the second half. His personal illustrations and the layout of his argument were good and convincing. I found the second part to be less interesting as he worked through his process. This is partly because I think he overworks himself and partly just because I disagree with some of his takes. But I still found it to be helpful and will be implanting a few of his suggestions.
I liked this book and I’ll probably return to it again in the future to mine it for ideas. I think it would be well worth the read for those in the pastorate or any other ecclesiastical employment where you are teaching or preaching.
August 14, 2022
“As an introvert, chatting has never come easily for me. But eventually I figured out that it is not so much a gift as a skill that anyone can learn. I still don’t enjoy it very much, but a time came when I discovered that not only could I do it, but I needed to do it…The most significant turning point in my attitude about chatting, however, came when I learned how to listen through it.”
Though this book misses on some areas, it was a very enlightening and refreshing read. I have oft become overindulged in the illustration of shepherding in the ministry. However, M. Craig Barnes presents a fascinating look into a newer illustration of the pastor’s role as a minor poet. In this, the pastor weaves through several aspects that come about with God, the congregation, and their own lives with each having their own various voices. As a minor poet, the pastor is able to combine all of these areas in spectacular fashion that makes its way known most prominently through the preaching of the Word on the Sabbath. Through this, there the congregation sits, “frantic and frazzled, but daring to hope that there really is a sacred Word that can fill their deep yearning. The name of that Word is Jesus Christ, and the minor poet gets to reveal his mysterious presence every Sunday.”
Though this book misses on some areas, it was a very enlightening and refreshing read. I have oft become overindulged in the illustration of shepherding in the ministry. However, M. Craig Barnes presents a fascinating look into a newer illustration of the pastor’s role as a minor poet. In this, the pastor weaves through several aspects that come about with God, the congregation, and their own lives with each having their own various voices. As a minor poet, the pastor is able to combine all of these areas in spectacular fashion that makes its way known most prominently through the preaching of the Word on the Sabbath. Through this, there the congregation sits, “frantic and frazzled, but daring to hope that there really is a sacred Word that can fill their deep yearning. The name of that Word is Jesus Christ, and the minor poet gets to reveal his mysterious presence every Sunday.”
November 14, 2018
Barnes has written a short but dense defense of the role of the pastor. He is concerned that too many pastors have lost their way, thinking of themselves as entrepreneurs or therapists. He is realistic about the pressures and the diverse problems a pastor faces in the contemporary church. He just does not think our job is to solve all those problem. Our calling instead is to find God's grace in each situation and to push people toward an encounter with Jesus. This means that rather than being a multitasker, a pastor is a minor poet. It is the poet who takes times to probe beneath the surface at the less-than-obvious-but-more-important meaning of an event. It is the poet who moves slowly enough to allow real issues to emerge. Pastors are not major poets. They do not create material or meaning. They are minor poets who apply scripture, which is the major poetry of the church. Barnes' book will drive you back to the roots of your calling. His practical, compassionate yet challenging tone is very different from other "professional" books. I found it well worth the time.
April 7, 2025
In The Pastor as Minor Poet, Craig Barnes argues that the true calling of a pastor is to help others become fully alive in Christ, a role he describes as that of a minor poet, or a poet of the soul. Unlike major poets who craft grand, new narratives, minor poets uncover the sacred meaning already present in everyday life, helping people perceive the deeper realities beneath their experiences. In this sense, pastors serve as interpreters of life, reading both Scripture and the lives of their parishioners through the lens of daily ministry.
With expressive clarity, Barnes urges pastors to embrace both the calling and the craft of the minor poet, seeking a deeper understanding of the truths woven into Scripture and the hearts of their people. A vital part of this poetic vision is the ability to discern the unspoken subtexts beneath these narratives, allowing pastors not only to preach the words of Scripture but to reveal the very heart of the Word. By doing so, they guide their congregations beyond cultural distractions and into the deeper truths of the gospel.
With expressive clarity, Barnes urges pastors to embrace both the calling and the craft of the minor poet, seeking a deeper understanding of the truths woven into Scripture and the hearts of their people. A vital part of this poetic vision is the ability to discern the unspoken subtexts beneath these narratives, allowing pastors not only to preach the words of Scripture but to reveal the very heart of the Word. By doing so, they guide their congregations beyond cultural distractions and into the deeper truths of the gospel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2022
Even at a short, 136 pages, the author managed to overuse his title imagery of pastor as minor poet. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was really starting to like the book early on with his discourse on communion and beholding through the vehicle of a meal. However, about 1/3-1/2 way through I felt the poet lens had run itself dry, and I found his “day-in-the-life-of” episodic chapter intros much more interesting that the rest of the chapter. Ironically enough this interest in the illustration vs the substantive content is what he cautions against in the latter pages of the book. Not a horrible book, but dry IMO (and I enjoy poetry) and not one I’d recommend that readily.
July 11, 2025
Read for my Pastoral Counseling and Ethics class Aside from some of the language that shows some clear differences that I have with Barnes’ ecclesiology (to be fair, he doesn’t try to hide it), this book was very helpful. One of my favorite books that I’ve been assigned to read at DTS. Barnes does a really good job at being honest about the difficulties and personal thoughts/convictions that can come up within pastoral ministry.
The book starts with some heady and abstract vocabulary that takes a little bit to understand.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters regarding preaching and the pathos of the pastor.
Overall, I recommend it.
The book starts with some heady and abstract vocabulary that takes a little bit to understand.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters regarding preaching and the pathos of the pastor.
Overall, I recommend it.
March 4, 2019
Insightful and challenging
Dr Barnes calls pastors to deep work that speaks important truths about God and life while never claiming to have all of the answers.
His pastor's heart is clearly on display, and the insights he gives into his pastoral thoughts (Not always as holy as any non pastor might imagine, but familiar to other pastors) bring humor and humanity to his advice.
Highly recommended.
Dr Barnes calls pastors to deep work that speaks important truths about God and life while never claiming to have all of the answers.
His pastor's heart is clearly on display, and the insights he gives into his pastoral thoughts (Not always as holy as any non pastor might imagine, but familiar to other pastors) bring humor and humanity to his advice.
Highly recommended.
January 16, 2025
This was an excellent book suggested to me by Pstor Wilson at a preaching conference some years ago.
There are objectionable items regarding mainline assumptions and errors - female preachers.
BUT, the thesis is marvelous and the book is full of rich insights for exegetes, counselors and preachers. Pastors would be greatly enriched by considering what pastor Barnes has to say.
There are objectionable items regarding mainline assumptions and errors - female preachers.
BUT, the thesis is marvelous and the book is full of rich insights for exegetes, counselors and preachers. Pastors would be greatly enriched by considering what pastor Barnes has to say.
February 4, 2018
An essential book for thinking about the daily poetry of the pastoral calling. Filled with encouragement, and solidarity in the often challenging work of mining past the superficial to the deep well of gospel truth beneath the lives of those whom we are called to love.
March 8, 2018
Excellent. Only problem is the last third is reduced to a handbook on preaching rather than the expansive reflections on pastoring as such that characterized the first two-thirds, which formally ends up reducing the pastorate to preaching, even if that wasn't Barnes' intention.
March 21, 2019
This book captures the quintessential life of the poet—looking at the subtext of reality—and applies that to the life of the Spirit of Christ working within us. It’s beautifully written. I highly recommend it.
October 15, 2019
Definitely gives you a lot to think about. I understand and appreciate the concept a
Definitely gives you a lot to think about , have some reservations, but ideas that can certainly be used, different kind of attitude to be applied
Definitely gives you a lot to think about , have some reservations, but ideas that can certainly be used, different kind of attitude to be applied
October 2, 2021
Gritty and uplifting
A call for artistic pastoring and preaching in a day of CEO pastors and.consumer congregants. An excellent return to the heart of Christ for wayward and distracted clergy
A call for artistic pastoring and preaching in a day of CEO pastors and.consumer congregants. An excellent return to the heart of Christ for wayward and distracted clergy
December 12, 2023
Warm, pastoral, and grounded. This book helped me to see gracious orthodoxy. It also helped me to understand what the life of a pastor would likely look like. I feel more prepared to counsel and preach after reading this!
August 27, 2025
This offered a frame of reference/perspective for pastoral ministry that I had never heard before, and the idea of seeing a pastor as a minor poet of creation, bringing to surface the "subtext," has helped me greatly, especially in counseling contexts.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews