The Pastor and the Modern World: Reformed Ministry and Secular Culture

by William Edgar, R. Kent Hughes, Alfred Poirier

It’s a high calling to serve the people of God, and a hard one in today’s world. Pastors need wisdom, encouragement, and guidance to serve people living in the context of secularism. In The Pastor and the Modern World, they get exactly that. Three seasoned pastor-scholars―William Edgar, R. Kent Hughes, and Alfred Poirier―come to the aid of today’s pastor, bringing their experience to bear on cultural engagement, the craft of preaching, and the care of souls. How has secularism infiltrated culture and the arts, and what is a Christian response to it? How does a pastor prayerfully construct a message that moves the hearts of his congregants? What can we learn from Gregory of Nazianzus about being a “physician of souls”? These questions are answered, with many more, in a volume that’s sure to encourage pastors to take up their call with fresh enthusiasm and Spirit-led vigilance.

Genres: Theology, Leadership

114 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

William Edgar (DTheol, University of Geneva) is professor of apologetics and coordinator of the apologetics department at Westminster Theological Seminary. His books include Reasons of the Heart, The Face of Truth, and Truth in All Its Glory.

Reviews

[Zach Barnhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 great lectures here, but Kent Hughes' was simply superb. I know I will return to it often.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is primarily meant for pastors, it also applies (although to a lesser degree) to elders and other church leaders. A compilation of three lectures on the topic of Evangelism and Culture at Westminster Theological Seminary, these writings focus on how leaders should respond to “the changing tides of contemporary culture.” William Edgar’s article “Are We Really Secular?” is the longest, yet seeks to cover far too much ground, often relying on terms that aren’t well-defined. His intent is admirable, yet the subject probably requires a book-length treatment. R. Kent Hughes’s “The Heart of the Pastor and the Pulpit” offers a more practical approach focusing on Jonathan Edwards’s examination of “the affections,” or, the heart, inclinations, and will of pastors in preaching and serving their congregations. The book closes with Alfred Poirier’s “Gregory of Nazianzus: The Pastor as a Physician of Souls,” comparing and contrasting the work of a pastor with that of a physician, touching mainly on the example of 4th century theologian Gregory of Nazianzus. Again, although primarily for pastors, the book is applicable for many in church leadership. If nothing else, it gives us a clearer look at what pastors do (or should be doing).

[Erik Bonkovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s hear it for the old alma mater!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the last chapter, I will reread that specific chapter again in the future, over and over again.

[Mr. Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book given to me from my (former) pastor, so that might color the review here.

To set the stage a bit, this book is the product of three men (Edgar, Hughes, and Poirier) who each held the academic chair established at Westminster Seminary, named for the late John Boyer (per the foreword). "The occupant of the chair...is called to aid sound, reliable, moral, and personal resilience in Christians by teaching gospel-centered biblical ethics for the Christian life." The book is made up of three lectures from the men who spoke on what they chose to. They're disconnected in some way as a result, yet strangely quite connected as well.

Edgar asks "Are We Really Secular?", and answers that question by a brief yet concise treatise that consists of sociology and philosophy, weaving through Weber's rationalization and a discussion on modernity to connect, at multiple times, with their interface with the church and Christianity. A line I found of note: "privatized, compartmentalized, and individualized religion attracts less commitment, is harder to maintain, and is more difficult to pass on intact to the next generation, it fails to make up the ground lost by, and declines faster than, traditional religion.", as he cites Steve Bruce. Has science replaced religion? That's something he wrestles with a bit. Has culture? He even includes a pretty expansive appeal to the arts...but things culminate here: "a truly Biblical worldview is not vaguely spiritual but highly definite: beginning with the ontological Trinity, centered in the Incarnation, anchored in the verbal revelation of Scripture." I'll reserve his conclusions for myself (and those who join in reading).

Hughes then follows up with "The Heart of the Pastor and the Pulpit", and Poirier ends with "Gregory of Nazianzus: The Pastor as a Physician of Souls". Both of these could get the treatment I gave the first above, but I'm not doing all of that because...

...if you're in pastoral ministry. If you're a thinker with respect to the ministry of the Church and how the pastoral vocation interfaces with various aspects of the world-to society, in the pulpit, and in the church proper...you should read this book. And I mean that from not an exclusively Reformed perspective, though I'm sure that has some influence here as well.

I enjoyed this read and will be coming back to it from time to time.

(thanks, pastor)

[John Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading books like these. The pastoral ministry is, as the final essay rightly reminds us, "the sciences of sciences and the art of arts". it is a lifelong journey of learning, reflecting, failing, travailing, suffering -- Yet generation after generation pastors are raised up from amongst the people of God to care for their souls and to proclaim the good news of Christ.

While we wrestle with what it means to be secular, how we can effectively preach the Bible, and what, in fact, a pastor really is we go forward with God's grace. He gives wisdom and grace abundantly -- some if it is even found in this book.

[Adam Kareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short work of three collected lectures we get a good range of insight into the pastor and relating to the modern world. The first lecture is ball about secularization - what it is and how it is changing the church. The second is about the pastor and preaching, while the third is a look at Gregory of Nazianzus and his work on pastoring. Each lecture has its benefit- with the last two being more encouraging and challenging to the role of pastor and the first being insightful to ministry in the present age.

[Kelton Zacharias · Rating 4 out of 5]

All too brief! The first lecture was a bit beyond me, but the second on the pastor’s heart and the third on pastors as a “physician of the soul” were superb.