In his book Working the Angles, Eugene Peterson outlines three essential acts of pastoral ministry: prayer, reading Scripture, and spiritual direction. These three acts are, to use a metaphor from mathematics, a holy trigonometry of three inner angles that shape outer, visible acts of ministry: preaching, teaching, and administration. I turn now, in my journey …
The Pastor as Guide on the Spiritual Quest [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 8]
This post continues my reflections on Eugene Peterson’s book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, which began as an attempt to honor Peterson's influence upon me while also reconsidering the essential aspects of pastoral ministry that Peterson affirms. The book explores what he calls the holy trigonometry of pastoral ministry, built around three angles of ministry: …
Recovering Contemplative Exegesis [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 7]
This post continues my reflections on Eugene Peterson’s book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, which began as an attempt to honor Peterson's influence upon me while also reconsidering the essential aspects of pastoral ministry that Peterson affirms. The book explores what he calls the holy trigonometry of pastoral ministry, built around three angles of ministry: …
Real Shepherds: Thomas Oden on pastoral leadership as service
In Thomas Oden's Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry, he takes one chapter to reflect on the analogy of pastor as shepherd. In the midst of that chapter, he strikes at the heart of what I think is missing within much of pastoral ministry as it is currently practiced in North America: pastoral authority approached as service. The …
Continue reading "Real Shepherds: Thomas Oden on pastoral leadership as service"
Hearing with Our Eyes [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 6]
Over the past several weeks, I have been reflecting on Eugene Peterson's book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. I am doing this in part as a way to honor the numerous ways that Peterson shaped my approach to pastoral ministry, but also as an attempt to reconsider - and perhaps recover - the …
Continue reading "Hearing with Our Eyes [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 6]"
Matthew Erickson 