The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
I have a book problem. Most pastor-theologians I know have a book problem too. The problem goes something like this: a thorny issue hits the congregation and as the pastor, I have a responsibility to educate myself on the issue. Especially because of my background in research and writing, my first impulse is to buy books - lots of books - on whatever issue is at hand.
I read as much as I can about issues trying to understand the major themes and tension points, while trying not to neglect too many other pastoral responsibilities in the process. But it's those “other pastoral responsibilities” that eventually overtake the reading, research, and understanding-the-issues work. And here is the frustrating reality: I rarely ever get to the bottom of an issue to where I am totally confident I understand it. The number of one-chapter-read books I have is shameful - I tell myself I will get back to it when I stick a pen in the book to hold my place, but it becomes piled over by other books dealing with other issues or it goes cold because my energy is needed elsewhere in the vortex of pastoral leadership. This leaves me with the distinct feeling of being a hack on lots of different issues. I know some things about current issues but I don’t really know these things as well as I could. And because I know what it’s like to really know something well, I’m constantly dissatisfied by my partial understanding. This short article is to encourage pastor-theologians that that is ok and, in fact, there just might be a biblical model for it.
Here is a snapshot of my research the past year. The number one issue I’ve tried to understand is racial disparity in the US: my goal was to understand the issue broadly to the point that I could trace how that issue is experienced very locally and tangibly in the church I pastor. So, to understand the issue, I needed up-to-date research on US history, a knowledge of the history of racism as a concept, local manifestations of how broad racists practices have been experienced by my Denver-specific community. An appreciation of how white, black, and multicultural churches have practiced racial justice (or injustice) in my local context and more broadly in the West. An appreciation of the historic causes of racial trauma, how this trauma is expressed in my own community and strategies for addressing this trauma while also never minimizing its actual impact and the permanence of its scars. To be able to speak with any integrity on this issue I needed to read and meditate on hundreds of pages of material. I just counted and I have 39 books on race related issues in my library. Only nine have been read all the way through. Most have been “mined” but there are still 8 that I’ve never opened. This is one issue.
What about depression and anxiety? What about gun violence? What about the homeless problem? What about drug use? What about the more direct challenges to the Christian faith that disciples of Jesus have to deal with constantly? The role of technology in spiritual formation? The tension between science and faith? LGBTQ+ questions? The role of politics? Ethics and IVF? What about (gasp) the Enneagram. From where I sit, each one of these issues is massively complex. My inbox is full with questions from parishioners (and others!) asking for guidance. Non-Christains in my neighborhood need to know what Christian leaders have to say for themselves in these issues if there is to be any missional or evangelistic groundwork done. So I buy books - lots of books. But only a fraction get read and I constantly feel a step behind.
When the apostle Paul was in Athens, he found himself debating with Stoic and Epicureans philosophers. Both of these philosophical schools were influential, not just in Athens, but across the Greco-Roman world. Based on Paul’s speech later in the story, and based on his own educational background, we can assume he had baseline competence of these philosophies and the twin visions of the good-life they advocated. But these philosophical systems were complex; they were filled with internal tensions, and each had a winding road of adherents, detractors, and sympathizers.
After interacting with Paul for sometime, they hurled an insult at him. Acts 17:18 records it: “What does this babbler wish to say?” The word translated “babbler” is sperologos. The term was used, in a literal sense, to refer to birds who pick up seeds. But used in this context, it refers to a person who picks up bits of knowledge here and there who then tries to spin those random bits of knowledge in a coherent fashion. Barrett translated it as “third-rate journalist.” Today, we’d call a sperologos a hack.
While those professional philosophers tried to insult Paul by using that term, I think they actually provide pastor-theologians today a hopeful vision for effective ministry. By calling Paul a sperologos, they actually reflect that Paul had some insight into their Stoic and Epicurean philosophical systems. Paul himself was not a professional philosopher. I think it's reasonable to conclude that he hadn't read everything he could have read to understand the complexities of each of those systems. But it is just as reasonable to conclude that he had done some reading on those systems. He was trying to connect what he knew about Stoicism and Epicureanism to the gospel of Jesus and the fact of the resurrection. It didn’t land with all his hearers but it did connect with some of them.
While I don’t like thinking of myself as a hack, the truth is I will not be an expert at every important issue I need to understand in order to lead my church with integrity. So the vision of the pastor-babbler is strangely encouraging. I will work hard to understand as much as I can, while still acknowledging basic limitations, trade-offs, and shifting priorities are a part of ministry as well. This vision encourages me to be a steward of the time I do have to research while also trusting God in all of the time I cannot. This sort of ministry was good enough for Paul and perhaps it might be good enough to prompt those who I want to reach to say, “we will hear you again about this” (Acts 17:32).
This resource is part of the series Seeking Wisdom: Reading, Writing, and Theological Reflection in the Life of the Pastor. Click Here to explore more resources from this series.
Dave Morlan is a co-founder and Teaching Pastor at Fellowship Denver Church in Denver, CO. He holds a PhD in Religion and Theology from Durham University and an adjunct professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. Dave is also a member of the St. Anselm Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
