Pastor as resident theologian: more than hypothetical.
This is the sister article to Is your pastor a resident theologian? It is a personal account of the societal expectation that the pastor be theologian as well.
I fielded my share—perhaps more than my share--of theological questions over the years. “Tom, what do you think?” I enjoyed searching for and engaging others with answers and more questions. In May 2008 a strange thing happened. People stopped asking me what I thought. They started asking me what the answer was. There was an expectation that when I was called to the full time ministry that I was imbued immediately with all theological knowledge. The folks that asked me these questions knew that I hadn’t even been to my first session of the schooling required by our denomination, but their syntax had changed.
These were not, “let’s see if we can get him questions.” I have lived in that world before and I know those type of questions when I see them (hear them). This was a subtle, but definite paradigm shift. Wow! I doubt that the folks asking the questions even noticed. The expectation of pastor as resident theologian is not hypothetical. It is alive and well, at least in western Oklahoma.
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Couldn't pass up the chance to share this short video.
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