If You Meet George Herbert On The Road Kill Him

Priestly ministry in the Church of England needs a radical rethink... George Herbert died in 1633. His legacy continues. His poems are read and sung, and his parish ministry remains the model for the Church of England's understanding of how and where and why its priests should minister. But there is a problem. The memory of Herbert celebrated by the Church is an inaccurate one, and, in its inaccuracy, is unfair on Herbert himself and his successors in the ordained ministry. This is a book of the long view. It sets out to assess realistically the context of Herbert's life and to explore the difficulties of parish life today. By examining the status and role of parish clergy since Herbert's time and today, it draws on the work of historians, social anthropologists, psychologists and theologians, and presents their ideas in a readable and passionate style. It argues that the future strength of parochial ministry will be found in a recovery of historic, renewed understandings of priestly ministry, and concludes by outlining more sustainable patterns of practice for the future. In a climate of uncertainty for the future of the church, it will be an encouragement for priest and people, and welcomed by both.

Fairacres Publication 194 The poems of George Herbert (1593–1633) have nurtured the faith of countless Anglican Christians, and others, since their posthumous publication in 1633. Described by the poet as ‘a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master’, Herbert’s poetry weaves together recognition of the glory and diversity of God’s creation and of the ingenuity of human beings in their attempts to map and control that creation, awareness of human frailty and sinfulness, and awed realisation of the infinite love of God. The themes of frailty and forgiveness underlying Herbert’s poetry also mark the season of Lent. In recognition of this, Tony Dickinson takes eight of the poems that tackle these great themes (relevant as much to the twenty-first century as to the seventeenth) and week by week through Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day, unpacks the language in which George Herbert explores them; language that often appears direct and simple, but whose simplicity frequently conceals a depth and density of meaning that few other writers can match.

Combining thematic analysis and stimulating close readings, 'The Collar' is a wide-ranging study of the many ways - heroic or comic, shrewd or dastardly - in which Christian clergy have been represented in literature, from George Herbert and Laurence Sterne, via Anthony Trollope, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, and Graham Greene, to Susan Howatch and Robertson Davies, and in film and television, such as 'Pale Rider', 'The Thorn Birds', 'The Vicar of Dibley', and 'Father Ted'. Since all Christians are expected to be involved in ministry of some type, the assumptions of secular culture about ministers affect more than just clergy. Ranging across several nations (particularly Britain, the U.S., and Canada), denominations, and centuries, 'The Collar' encouragescreative and faithful responses to the challenges of Christian leadership and develops awareness of the times when leadership expectations become too extreme. Using the framework of different media to make inquiries about pastoral passion, frustration, and fallibility, Sue Sorensen's well-informed, sprightly, and perceptive book will be helpful to anyone who enjoys evocative literature and film as well as to clergy and those interested in practical theology.

English-literature scholars have long recognized George Herbert’s frequent allusions to the psalms in his early-seventeenth-century poetry, especially in his collection called The Temple. Biblical scholars have long attempted to categorize the Hebrew psalms according to one overarching principle or another. Most discussions of Herbert’s psalmic borrowings are restricted to explication of individual poems, often with reference to the poet’s own psychology, physical health, family, occupations, and sociocultural context. The current study adds another dimension to the dialogue by examining Herbert’s varying degrees of psalmic reference within categories established by biblical scholars. The resulting data make a case for considering Herbert’s sub-collection called “The Church” to be his psalter, offering a particularly intriguing comparison between one of Herbert’s less-commonly-discussed poems and Psalm 82, one of the biblical collection’s most dramatic works.

This book analyses whether the scientific epistemology of Torrance's Theological Science project is robust enough to withstand the anarchic and distinctively post-modern challenge of Paul Feyerabend: 'The worst enemy of science'.

Explores the author's invitation to be "crazy enough to love like Jesus, to give like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus, to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God like Jesus. Crazy enough to dare to change the world from the nightmare it often is into something close to the dream that God dreams for it"--Amazon.com.

In Pursuing Pastoral Excellence, pastoral counselor and educator Paul Hopkins aims to help pastoral leaders make a lasting and positive difference in the lives of the people and communities they serve. The heart of this book is the stories of seven ordinary pastors whose leadership has become extraordinary. Their stories not only highlight important characteristics and practices that nurture fruitful pastoral leadership, but they invite readers to examine their own stories, to think about the value of longevity in ministry, and to enhance the enduring impact of their own pastoral leadership. Hopkins frames these stories with a discussion of the difficult vocational challenges pastors are facing in a rapidly changing church milieu and a survey of recent leadership studies. He concludes by exploring seven patterns of pastoral leadership that characterize leaders who have an enduring impact, as well as four key elements coming to be recognized as imperative for the cultivation of enduring pastoral fruitfulness.