Throughout Christian history, the most impactful pastors by and large have been writers.
There’s Paul of Tarsus, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Augustine of Hippo, to name a few ancients. There’s Anselm of Canterbury, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards, for medievals and early moderns. Last but not least, there’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Fleming Rutledge, and Eugene Peterson, for us today.
The fact is: some of the best theological writing has emerged from the gritty, life-on-life demands of full-time pastoral ministry.
Now, I do not claim to occupy a space even close to these giants! I do know, however, that writing, good writing, emerging from the soil of local church ministry, can profoundly nourish both congregation and pastor. Upon the recommendations of others, then, I have decided to include writing as part of my formal responsibilities as pastor.
To date, much of my writing has been to a specialized, academic audience. For example, I currently write short reviews for Wiley’s Religious Studies Review, offering summary-analyses of the latest theological scholarship. I am also usually working on a paper to present at the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual meeting(s), a guild which draws professors, researchers, and religious leaders alike.
As pastor of this congregation, I feel a burden to write, but especially to write for you.
What I plan to do at first, then, is write about what I am reading. Whether it’s Wendell Berry’s poetry, Athanasius’s treatise on the Incarnation, or John Steinbeck’s religious allegory in East of Eden, my aim is to connect these literary worlds with the concrete world(s) in which you live. The following posts, then, will serve not as mere flags of my own literary interests. My hope, rather, is that they will provide fresh insights from a variety of places so as to enrich you spiritually today.
I look forward to embarking on this journey together, and I hope my articulations serve you well. May they be a spark which ignites a conversation, an idea which provokes fresh insight, an image which charts a trajectory as you navigate Christian life today.
Jonah Bissell
Associate Pastor