Sublime

These new churches in suburban America were the height of secular: no time-bending gravity permeated their walls. They looked more like Johnson & Johnson headquarters than the Duomo. But these buildings played an important part in the recasting of the pastor.

special “revelations” aside, theology should be derived from common Christian experience.

‘Caleb likes taking trouble: he is one of those men who always do more than any one would have thought of asking them to do,’ answered Mrs Garth. She was knitting, and could either look at Fred or not, as she chose – always an advantage when one is bent on loading speech with salutary meaning; and though Mrs Garth intended to be duly reserved, she

Augustine is our contemporary. He has directly and indirectly shaped the way we understand our pursuits, the call to authenticity.

A congregation that carries children, as Meredith’s does, is a life-community, a community not hunting resources but encountering resonance. This congregation’s life is not in its innovation but in its encounter with the concrete others whom it ministers to and is ministered by.

The pastor today still feels a sense of God’s calling, but the blurring of divine action and the fragility of belief keep the call from being a deep well that pastors can draw from for vocational identity and direction in ministry.