BASIC ISSUES IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION
OCTOBER, 1992
JOHN M. BUCHANAN
FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHICAGO
Since this project began in the summer of 1990, I have been
thinking about and struggling with and finally agonizing over a
Series of questions which, until this exercise, I had never asked

before,

qt. What skills does one need in order
to be an effective clergyperson? What
does one need to know?

It. How does one learn the skills and
procure the knowledge? Where is it

learned and procured? Who teaches?

One would think that the answers to those questions are
fairly simple. Anda it not simple, at least obvious, particular-
ly for one who has been doing the job for 30 years. The truth
is that the more I thought the less certain I was that I knew
the answers.

This paper will attempt to explore those basic questions on
the basis of my own life experience. While it is risky to do
that, i.e. to describe @ world on the basis of what one can sea
from one's own front porch, I have concluded that to do some-

thing like that is the best way I can serve the overall Basic

Issues in Theological Education project.

zr. What skiljis doas one need t have, and what does one

need to know, in order to be an effective Clergyperson?

First, a clarification. We are ail ministers, We ara
Called, one and ali, to the Ministry of Jesus Christ in the
world. Historically, we have made a lot of trouble for our-
sélves when we have forgotten that the call to ministry is the
Call to discipleship, that it comes to all, that we are all
members of the Priesthood, and that professional leadership in
the church is not the product of a "higher" or “bettert calling.

And yet there are leaders and some lead more effectively

than others, anad it is important not to lose Sight of that

theologians, or to those who are our ecclesiastical gatekeepers,

deciding who géts ordained and who does not. The facts remain,

How does it happen?

A. Formation

ject. I'm embarrassed! Where was I? How could I have missea
it? Ina sense I have spent most of my Basic Issues in Theolog-
ical Education energy for 24 months thinking about formation and

exploring where and how it happened.

I encountered two assumptions about formation, or spiritual
formation, neither of which Seemed, at first, to be true for me.

The first assumption is that formation happens in a congre-
gation. Beginning with baptism, proceeding through experiences
ef Christian Education and confirmation, individual faith is
nurtured, spiritual formation happens, within that extraordinary
complex of relationships which constitute the life of a particu-
lar congregation.

My initial conclusion was that it didn't happen for me that
way. We were steady but indifferent Presbyterians. Compared to
the “tensity and zealotry of Baptist neighbors who attended

~. twice on Sunday, Wednesday evening, for a staggering
number of revivals, traveling evangelists and Bibla Studies, our
Presbyterian attachment seemed virtually negligible. Those
people next door were "formed"!

And then, this past summer, I was invited to return to my
home church to Speak in worship on the eccasion of the congrega-
tion's one-hundredth anniversary, It WaS @ provocative experi-
ence for me. Of course I was "formea" there,

James Fowler, puts it this way:

In a covenant community, a community of faith, a congrega-
tion, formation happens, ‘a formation of affections...a person's
deep and guiding emotions, the weli-spring of a motivation in a
person ~ in accordance with the conmunity's identification with
its central passion, 1

SO, yes, I was formed in a community whose central passion

was differently expressed from mY neighbors! zealotry; formed

spiritually that is, with a particular posture toward the life
of faith in the world. tn that congregation I learned, by
watching, that faithfulness was not contradictory to involvement
in the world, that there was something a little worldly about
this way of being religious, that being a Christian was not a
matter of retreating from the worid to the cloister of like-
minded friends, but of figuring out how to live in the world
with integrity and courage and faithfulness.
I should have known it ail along. The Reformed tradition
Says formation will happen this way. one begins to learn about
leadership and about discipleship in a congregation.
Parker Palmer provides an eloquent illustration:
"T recall attending a Sunday School
Session in a small Black church in the rural
South. Oniy four or five people were
present, but the Meeting functioned strictly
according to Roberts Rules of Order. The
class president presided, a Secretary took
hotes, and a parliamentarian Was available to
resolve questions of proper process, The
whole scene struck me as overdone. With so
few people involved, would it not make sense
to proceed in a more casual manner? When a
raised the question with the pastor he in~
formed me with some vigor that in such class~
es disenfranchised people had a rare, even
Singular Opportunity to learn how to function

in a political setting ~ how to get one's

concerns on the agenda, how to argue one's
case... He argued, and rightly so, that I
had witnessed the formation of citizens, who
were learning skills and gaining the confi-
dence necessary to function effectively."2

And so it happens, in different ways: formation designed
by congregations in response to the realities of the culture,
the particular world in which they live.

The second assumption is that spiritual formation also
occurs in the places of formal theological education which may
or May not be related Closely and intentionally to congrega-
tions.

The Dean of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary,
Steve Hancock, argues that important Spiritual formation happens
in the midst of the process of theological education, whether it
is intended or not.

Early Presbyterians understood it and wanted it that way.
When the Presbyterian General Assembly authorized the founding
of seminaries in 1810, the resolution contained the following:

"Filling the church with a learned and
able ministry without a corresponding portion
of real piety would be a curse to the world,
and an offense to God and the people, so the
General Assembly think it their duty to state
that, in establishing a seminary for training
up ministers...it will be their endeavor to

make it...a nursery of vital piety, as well |

as of sound theological learning, and to train
up persons who will be lovers as well as

defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus. "4

Hancock's research at four Presbyterian seminaries

that:

"Most graduates remember seminary years
as a time of significant spiritual growth,
but most wish their seminary had been more
intentional in helping them grow spiritually.

"Most of the efforts seminaries have
Made to help students in the area of spiritu-
al development have heen outside the formal,
required curriculun.

"Spiritual growth and development of
seminary students seems to come as an indi-
rect result or ‘by-product! of other activi-
ties...field education, service, social
justice, new relationships with professors

ana other students, 4

revealed

John Updike pokes fun at what he thinks happens at a Uni-

versity Divinity School:

sy r

"Believing souls are trucked in like
muddy, fragrant, cabbages from the rural
hinterland and in three years of fine dis-
tinctions and exegetical quibbling we have
chopped them into coleslaw Saleable at any

suburban supermarket. We take in saints and

—?

‘send out ministers, workers in the vineyard
of inevitable anxiety and discontent, 2

It is not, ef course, that Simple. It is not "believing

souls" who come to seminary so much as "seeking souls." But
Updike does have the process right. Formation happens along

Side of learning. Students learn new information and become new
people.

toward a preliminary conclusion:

-Spiritual formation happens in the community of faith,
i.@. a congregation.

‘More, and significant, spiritual formation happens in the
process of theological education, intended or not. In fact, it
would seem that structures of theological education, e.g. a
course in Spiritual Formation, are not as conducive to spiritual
development as actual activity involving other people.

Therefore, it would seem that preparation for ministry
should include life within a community of faith, not as an
elective activity, but as the foundation, or the context, of the

entire enterprise.

B. Management

It has been argued persuasively that the Management model
of clergy professionalism is essentially a sell-out to the
world, a symptom of the church's lack of direction and sense of
identity and mission, a modern variation on the theme of "Whor-

ing after Babylon."

Perhaps. I'll risk arguing that whatever name we use to
describe it and however we adorn it, management is a skill an
effective clergyperson must have and which preparation for
ministry must in some way cultivate.

My argument is essentially theological, incarnationally
theological. "The word became flesh and lived among us." "Wwe
are the body of Christ." We believe, as a matter of creed, in
the "Holy Catholic Church." The Church is in the world. [It may
wish it were not in the world. It may act as if it were in some
other world. It may exhaust its energy critiquing and hating
the world. But insofar as it is the Body of Christ, the Church
is as radically in the worle as he was.

And those who would lead the Church, i.e. enable it to
identify its mission, articulate its mission, assist it to
accomplish its mission, must know something about leading,
enabling, assisting groups, communities, organizations to do
what they want to da.

Thus, management... part gift, part teachable and learnable
Skill. How does one learn it? By reading about it, listening
to good managers talk about it, watching effective managers
manage. And by doing it.

Bishop Fred Borsch has suggested that an effective clergy~
person must know how to lead, should show some evidence of
having led some organization, a club, a team, a class. I think
he's right and I think, furthermore, that the teaching and
learning of management, including leadership, is absolutely

essential to effective professional ministry.

Theological education might begin simply, by not denigrat-
ing a management model ef ministry so that graduate clergy ail
their lives believe that time engaged in administration is time
away from real ministry, drudgery, a necessary evil. And then,
theological education, insofar as it is preparation for minis-
try, might ask the people involved in graduate management educa-
tion about the Management of a congregation. Pinally, prepara-
tion for ministry might include the disciplined necessity of
practicing management and cultivating leadership skills by
managing and leading.

Toward a Preliminary Conclusion:

~The Church is, among other things, an organization which
lives in the world, has goals for itself and is willing to work
for their realization.

-Clergypersons are, whether they wish to be or not, church
managers,

Therefore, preparation for ministry, should include learn-

ing management theory and experiencing management practice.

Cc. Knowledge

The third dimension of preparation for effective ministry
Ras to do with specialized and general knowledge. The curricu-
lar content of theological education traditionally has focused
on theology, history, and Bible. To close the gap between the
academy and parish various bridges have been built: Internship,
borrowing from the traditional medical education model - academ-—

ic discipline followed by a period of resident apprenticeship;

Field Work, practical experience concurrent with classroom study

and, of course, a wide range of academic courses described as

"Practical Theology."

There may be major problems of relevance when the curricu-
dum of theological education is confinea to the centuries-old

formula of theology, history and Bible, but even more critical

problems when "Practical Theology" becomes a "how-to" cong lomer—

ate of wise tid-bits from the life and experience of a tired

practitioner.

{ Edward Farley observes:

\ "The very structure of theological
studies alienates the whole enterprise from
praxis. Hence proposals on behalf of praxis
made to that structure are quickly and easily
absorbed and trivialized. Practical theology

never has existed and does net now exist.

The closest it ever came was a Gleam in

Schleirmacher's eye, "6

And Don S. Browning puts the matter ina helpful new con-

text:

"The process of practical thinking,
+ whether it be religious or secular, is indeed
|
wi
complex. To think and act practically in

fresh and innovative ways may be the most

complex thing humans ever attempt. I wish it
were otherwise. Life, especially modern

7 >
| life, would be so much simpler. (7)

10

Browning proposes an intriguing alternative to the classi-
cal format of theological education - theolegy, history, Bible,
augmented by praxis... All theology is practical, that practical
theology is not a "sub-speciality" but "theology as such." Pro-
fessor Browning would upset the apple cart of theological educa-
tion arguing that "practical thinking is the center of human
thinking and theological and technical thinking are abstractions
from practical thinking. "7

Browning is, I believe, onto something important. "We
never move from theory to practice, even when it seems we do.
Theory is always embedded in practice, "8

if he is even close to the truth there are enormous impli-
cations for how theological education and preparation for minis-~
try actually happen. To assume that successful scholarship in
theology, history and Bible is equivalent to preparation for
ministry is naive. To assume that resolution is the addition of
@ course in Practical Theology or a field work requirement is no
less naive.

Somehow theological education and preparation for ministry
must occur in a place and time and context in which individuals |

are living the questions, dealing with the people, managing the

institution, - eh

é
fe

=
" a _ ~ ae t
foward-a.preliminary conclusion: uid Go - 6 MCE ELUM, —~

-Knowledge of theology, history and Bible are requisite but ¢
alone do not prepare for ministry.
-Praxis is always, by the very nature of theological educa-

tion, subject to trivialization.

11

-All theology is practical theology because that is the way
human beings think.

Therefore, the Church is the primary place where prepara-
tion for ministry happens, or perhaps more consistently, the
Church is the locus where theological education can become

preparation for ministry.

Ii. How and where does one tearn to skills and procure the

knowledge?

How and where did I learn? Who taught me?

I wandered into the B.D. program at the Divinity School of
the University of Chicago for two reasons:

~ it was not a denominational seminary.

- a college advisor had suggested it as a place I might
spend a year or two pursuing the kinds of theological
questions I was asking at the time without anybody press-
ing me about professional ministry.

I found, to my Satisfaction, that both reasons were actual-
ized in experience. And, ironically, it was the Divinity
School's neglect of Practical Theology which contributed in a
major way to my learning how to be a minister.

By blessed accident, at the end of my first year at Divini-
ty School, I ran out of patience with the endless pursuit of
abstractions in the lecture hall. And I simultaneously ran out
of money. The latter was no small crisis. I was married, and
the father of a newborn daughter. A resolution to our fiscal
crisis appeared in the form of a small Union Church, in a blue

collar community in the Calumet region of Northern Indiana,

12

which had been subsisting for years by way of, or in spite of,
the efforts of a string of student pastors from the Divinity
School of the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological
Seminary. It was a fateful decision. Mo one thought it was a
good one. The school worried about the daily twenty-five mile
commute. My parents were hoping I would come to my senses and
go to law school. Sue and I saw it as a way to pay next month's
bills, a real house with a real back yard and $50.00 per week!

I had only the vaguest notion of how to do what the trust-
ing souls of that small congregation had agreed to pay me $50.00
a week, and the use of a real house with a real back yard, ta
do.

Whatever I know about being a minister, I started to learn
it there. They didn't teach me, but they were the patient and
graceful context in which I could and did learn. In fact, =I now
Know that a creative dynamic was set off by my being there which
suddenly and dramatically transformed the academic rigor of the
University of Chicago into preparation for ministry. Browning
is right! Abstract thinking follows practical thinking.

I continue to try to exegete that experience.

—_— How did I learn to preach?

I never sat for a course on preaching. There was none
avallable. I listened to preachers. I had been listening all
my life but I listened with concentrated, white-knuckle intensi-
ty after I was living with the necessity of preaching weekly. I
listened to preachers in chapel - Joseph Sittler and James

Nichols and Marcus Barth ~ and I rea@ everything I could find,

13

books of sermons and homiletics texts. I apprenticed myself to
preachers without their ever knowing it. I learned to preach by
the necessity of preaching and I am now convinced that the fact
that the necessity occurred while I was still in the environment
of theological/education was critical.

When Granger Westberg lectured about "grief work," I lis-
tened differently, I know, because I was still reeling emotion-
ally from sitting at Johnny Johnson's bedside, holding his hand,
as he died. He was not an abstraction, nor even a patient at
the University Clinic upon whom Westberg's students called on in
order to "write it up" for class. His widow and teenaged sons
lived a block away from our house. They were in the pew the
next Sunday after he died and they were going to hear what I
said. The church was the context for theological education to
become preparation for ministry.

A 60S social activist, committed to Civil Rights and the
immersion of the Church in local political issues, I plunged
into local politics with Kennedyesque determination and vigor,
took public stands on particular issues. Whether the town
should drill a new well or pipe in water from Lake Michigan was
by far the "hottest" local issue. I was for lake water and in
the process offended and infuriated my members who wondered what
lake water had to do with the Gospel, and I wrote a letter to
the editor of the town paper that was unkind and hurtful to a
local politician. It was happening while I was reading, listen-
ing, arguing, in courses in Social Ethics.

goneone-angge Ale. the twenty-five mile daily commute

was the key to my learning, that I was living in two places

14

thoroughly and simultaneously. And I am prepared now to suggest
that it may be a helpful paradigm for the future. cork
on 2)
AND SO, TO A PROPOSAL PUL
I'm grateful for my experience at a university divinity
school, for the academic study of religion, and for the rigor-
ous, critical approach to theological inguiry as an expression ya
of the human pursuit of truth. et
But when theological education needs to become preparation
for ministry, its locus should change, and the teaching respon-

sibility should intentionally broaden.

I propose that preparation for ministry happen situational-

ly, in places where praxis is daily necessity. ‘ BA Wyn = rue;
( E a _ Gece

I propose residential experience as absolutely necessary,\ chyheck
Can |e
not in a graduate dormitory or a university neighborhood, but in teh. lores

a parish, a neighborhood where church people and non=church WW +?
people live, move and have being.

I propose Teaching Parishes, large urban congregations,

clusters of inner-city ministries, and rural churches, to which
students in preparation for ministry, would be assigned and in
which they would live and minister.

I propose intentional mentoring, apprenticing of students
in preparation for ministry with experienced practitioners in-a
context of reflection and critique.

I propose to acknowledge where and how spiritual formation
happens, in the community of faith; and to encourage those who

think about and plan for the theological education of the future

15 —2

to force the issue of praxis by simply moving the location, or
dividing the location between classroom and parish; to cele-
brate, that is, that theological common ground upon which we all
stand - namely that "the Word become flesh and lived among us, ™

not in classroom or cloister alone, but among us, in the world,

in communities of faith, congregations, parishes, the Church.

Lo

16

FOOTNOTES

1rowler, James W., Becoming Adult, Becoming Human, Harper,
San Francisco, 1984, p. 115.

“Palmer, Parker, The Company of Strangers, Crossroads, New York,
1981, p. 83.

sHancock, Steve C., The Pluralistic Vision, Presbyterians and
Mainstream Protestant Education and
Leadership, Edited by Coalter, Mulder
and Weeks, Westminster/John Knox Press,
Louisville, 1992, p. 72ff.

4tpid.

Updike, John, Roger's Version, A Novel, Alfred A. Knopf,
New York, 1986, p. 114.

Srarley, Edward, Theology and Practice Outside the Clerical
Paradigm, Historical Perspectives, p. 30.

7Browning, Don S., A Fundamental Practical Theology,
Introduction, Can Theology be Practical?
p. it.

Sthid.

1?