|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry Book Review
Author: Thomas C. Oden Book Content: Introduction: What is Pastoral Theology? I. Becoming a Minister II. The Pastoral Office III. What Clergy Do and Why IV. Pastoral Counsel Pastoral Theology Essentials of Ministry is a "must have" resource for all persons contemplating entering the ministry, those who want to understand the role of pastors more clearly, and those ministers who want to review their role in the light of a systematic reflection on the pastoral office in general. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even more than I did his Agenda for Theology. I think he presented his theory of ordained ministry, including a definition of its functions and duties underlying theological principles method, in a succinct and easily understood manner. The whole book is a treasure of resouces for all desiring to increase understanding of this office and what it means to be a pastor. My comments however, are limited to the three chapters that stand out most for me: Women in the Pastoral Office, The Care of Souls and Pastoral Care of the Dying. Women in ministry will find Oden's favorable position on women performing in pastoral capacities quite enlightening, affirming and Biblically sound. He makes some significant observations that certainly challenge the most intransigent opposition. Most of the controversial discussions over the legitimacy of women in the pastoral ministry arise because of hermeneutical differences. In Pastoral Theology, Oden presents his own hermeneutics as well as the hermeneutics of those who object to women's ordination to the pastoral ministry. He argues in support of women on the basis of the larger Biblical picture; he looks for the general principles found inherent in the flow of Scriptures. He also takes into account the historical and cultural dynamics within which the inspired writer wrote. Implicit in Oden's comments is the notion that the issue of women is not simply or merely academic. It lies at the very heart of our struggle to stand together as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Oden brilliantly distinguishes pastoral care of souls from other pastoral functions by illuminating its primary focus on individual need and the personal character of the pastor's involvement with the parishioner. His approach is holistic and deeply human. Though somewhat implied, I wish Oden emphasized more explicitly the need for pastors to have adequate education and psychological qualifications for the task of caring for souls. Certainly with the multi-problematic concerns of people today, with the mental anomalies that grip them tenaciously, does it not seem appropriate that pastors should be intellectually suited and academically prepared for her/his work? The pastor is a "physician of the soul" and just as the physicians today must know far more and practice more expertly to meet people's health need, so likewise, will the physician of the soul. Finally, Oden's treatment of and recommendation for pastoral care of the dying is extremely informative. He delineates pastoral responsibilities and offers helpful guidelines for counseling with the dying and relating to hospital staff. Any reader who has not thought through the importance of the funeral would do well to study these sections intently for there is some very convincing evidence presented. This book is a classic and should be in every pastor's personal library. Even though, as with most books, there are specific areas where we are bound to disagree, overall, the information and ideas presented is worth its weight in gold. Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, is expected to be available soon. You are welcome to visit AMEN Ministries: Your Soul's Service Station for spiritual refreshing, soul edification, browse our newly expanded mini shopping mall or review our recommended books you may want to add to your personal library. Blessings to all!
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Unspoken Dreams - Book Review "Carol Bennett writes a stunning mystery-thriller. Her chilling entrance is one I have encountered only rarely in a book. Here, we have a victim who looks like he had been swarmed by bees in the middle of a storm, but the reader is lead to believe that it was something much more ominous and that it is about to get worse. Going Deeper - Book Review Going Deeper by Jean-Claude Koven is certainly a nicely presented, hard-cover book. This fiction fantasy has an obvious inclination to aid readers who are embarking on their personal spiritual quest. Review: Profit From The Author Inside You I've reviewed a number of eBooks recently, and none of themexcited me, but this one definitely did. If you've ever hadthe slightest desire to write a 'How To' book, I urge youto read 'Profit From The Author Inside You'. The Inspired Heart: A Book Review Spiritual food for the soul: Allow Jerry to take you on his magical and enlightening soul pilgrimage. As he invites you to accompany him along his life adventures, he introduces you to selfless acts of deep, human spirit and his fascinating relationships. Often, by chance encounters, Jerry immerses the reader into impromptu stories of surrealistic wonder and actual life experiences. The Rich Jerk - A Study in Anti-Marketing I've always been fascinated by "anti-marketing", and how powerful its effect can be if done properly, so when I stumbled upon The Rich Jerk salesletter, I was immediately intrigued. Ebook Review: How To Write And Publish Your Own eBook In As Little As 7 Days Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale who are both well known in the Internet online industry wrote this eBook. The 2004 version of this book is 206 pages long though it should be mentioned that less than 100 pages are concentrated on the theme of the eBook whereas the rest of the eBook involves interviews with various successful eBook authors (in the eyes of Edwards and Vitale) and bonus reports. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - A Review If writing was a religion, it shall be easy to deem 'Harry Potter and the half-blood prince' as the penultimate blasphemy, an utmost sacrilege. A book that discredits its own magnitude, it is a joke in the Queens' English that bravely illustrates the argument for its painful ineptitude. J.K. Rowling seems to have found the ostentatious airs of a billion dollar grandeur luxurious and tempting, and so overtly has this affected her capability as an author that after scraping off powerful authoritative fictional successes like "The order of the phoenix" and "The Goblet of Fire", she has downgraded her own standards of preferential fiction. "Harry Potter and the half-blood prince", ironically speaking, lacks the magic. Rowling underscores maturity in her characters and this maturity seems to accompany an intricate and moodily interesting loss of realism. Or is it artistic failure? The dialogues come out as surrealistic even for a surrealistic world like Hogwarts. The book seems to be dependant more on the ratio of its popularity versus its compatibility as a novel. It lacks the individual integrity that places a novel in conjunction with what authors relate to as a total mortality in script; the aggressiveness and energy is averted thoroughly and Rowling seems to be postponing the ideas or concocting ideas that postpone the entire strength of the story-line to what we might perceive will be the subsequent edition. The book seems to be a mere pillar poising the life and breath of the seventh Potter venture. It fails to rejuvenate interest stirred by the earlier specimens, and has more of an exhausted inclination to incite sheer pity for a wasted six hundred pages and a gracious lot of unlimbered bucks. Enron Debacle: Review Of Kurt Eichenwalds Conspiracy Of Fools A True Story Title: Conspiracy Of Fools: A True StoryAuthor: Kurt EichenwaldPublisher: Broadway Books (A division of Random House)ISBN: 0767911784 The New Art of War, Tactics, and Power To rise and flourish in the world, you need to act according to how things really are, and you need to be a good strategist and manager. Most of the tactical information in the world lacks much practical value. However, over the years there have been a few texts written that are infamous for their no holds barred practical content. This includes classics such as Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, Baltasar Gracian's The Art of World Wisdom, and the works of Han Fei Tzu. Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life is another book focusing on the obvious. We've heard it all before. In fact, as stated on the inside flap of this very book, we've been hearing this message from this particular author for 30 years. My guess is we'll be hearing it from him for as long as he can speak. And speak he does. Brian Tracy is one of the top professional speakers in the world; he has given more than 2,000 presentations and addresses as many as 450,000 people each year. He's published 32 books and more than 300 audio and video learning programs. He continues to spread his message because he believes it; he has lived it successfully for decades, and has helped thousands of others learn how to set goals, expand their thinking, and reach their full potential. Kmarts Ten Deadly Sins - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins: How Incompetence Tainted an American Icon was begging to be written. It probably would have surfaced much earlier if not for the fear of many authors that publishing too soon would result in the omission of who knows how many future bewildering tactics by the forever transforming retail giant, K-mart. Actually, contrary to my early assumption, this book is less an indictment of K-mart than it is a combination of warnings and lessons to everyone else. There are so many negative examples in the news today of how NOT to succeed in business. However, many organizations fail to acknowledge or learn from these examples. Spiders Big Catch When I was in college, Spider McGee, Charlie Fox, and I loved to fish off the log boom in the river near my house on summer afternoons. We'd sit and talk about life, drink hot chocolate, and occasionally catch a fish or two. But one day, Spider yelled, "Hey, I got something, and it feels big!" Book Summary: The Rebel Rules What does it take to get in touch with your inner rebel and run a business on your terms? Today's Information Age has spawned a number of rebel business leaders, from Virgin's Richard Branson to The Body Shop's Anita Roddick ?and to Joie de Vivre Hospitality's boy wonder ? the author himself ? people who have the passion, instinct, agility and vision to rewrite the rules of business so it is ethical, respects diversity, and means more to people than simply turning a profit. The Cranberry Bog - Book Review "Scott Underhill takes readers on a stimulating, emotional ride in his book The Cranberry Bog, an environmental suspense novel. Environment Engineer, Jeff Ridge works for the Environment Protection Agency. He and his co-worker, Tara Clemens, are walking on eggshells around an unusual assignment after being called into investigate tainted water at a Bed and Breakfast owned by Joshua and Debra Klickman. Jeff and Tara are quickly exposed to the 'small town syndrome' ? everyone knows everyone else's business. Young, Fabulous and Broke? Suze Orman Has Debt Relief & Financial Freedom Advice Books for You! Are you a parent that has all the financial responsibility in the world on your shoulders and living paycheck to paycheck? Does it seem like there is no way out of this endless cycle of working just to pay your bills? Well, I certainly felt this way. I have been in consumer credit counseling, which was very helpful, but I still felt like a financial idiot. What was I supposed to do to get ahead? How was I going to ensure that my family was going to get the best they deserve which includes the finer things in life AND me? Well, I was sitting at home one day contemplating this and watching my local PBS station when an infomercial came on that was an real eye opener. The Power of 2 - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review The Power of 2: Win Big with People in Your Work and in Life by Anthony C. Scire Please Don?t Just Do What I Tell You, Do What Needs to Be Done - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You, Do What Needs to Be Done: Every Employee's Guide to Making Work More Rewarding by Bob Nelson Book Review: The NEW Game Of Business If you think you've seen and heard everything there is to say, The NEW Game of Business brings new distinctions and a fresh perspective to the world of business. Los Angeles City Re-writes Free Car Wash Fundraiser E-Book The City of Los Angeles Storm Water Program has recently re-written the Detail Guy's Founder's Car Wash Fundraiser book to promote non-polluting fundraising events. The run-off from car wash fundraisers can hurt the environment with all those soapy suds. The City of Los Angeles has strict National Pollution Discharge Elimination System procedures as required by the Environmental Protection Agency. If you run a non-profit group and you are looking to raise funds anywhere in the United States, this free online E-Book is made available thru the City of Los Angeles. Product Review: Affiliate Mistakes Special Report In his ebook "Affiliate Mistakes Special Report," Chuck McCullough teaches you how to spot and avoid or correct ten simple, yet costly errors that can seriously damage your efforts to promote affiliate programs successfully. Instead of writing about the broad based generalities of affiliate marketing, Chuck takes you by the hand and teaches you why most affiliates never make a dime in commission. Then using a detailed and systematic approach, he provides you with an effective, easy to implement solution to correct these mistakes.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |