Faith as a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership [Paperback]

Christian Scharen (Author), Miroslav Volf (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2008

Christian ministry is deeply concerned with proclaiming the transforming power of Gods gift of faith in the daily lives of disciples. How is it, then, that so often Christian faith fails to orient our lives? Christian Scharen offers the compelling argument that such a way of life needs communities and leaders that build and communicate faith as foundation. Pastors will be able to impart this vision of faith, he cautions, only if they themselves are compelled by it and if their parishioners find that the model helps them make sense of life as a whole. Faith as a Way of Life is one response to this call for reflection on Christian faith as an orienting force impacting every aspect of daily life. Scharen examines the powerful languages that can replace faith language - emotion-driven therapeutic and results-driven managerial models - and shows how their domination leads to faith becoming a weak sibling. He directly engages the problems these languages often lead to with the hope of fostering pastoral leadership grounded in a vision of faith as a way of life. Faith as a Way of Life is an engaging and encouraging examination of how pastoral leaders can model and mediate faith as the beating heart pumping life-blood through every sphere of life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christian Scharen is assistant professor of worship at Luther Seminary. His other books include One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God and Public Worship and Public Work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 137 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (June 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802862314
• ISBN-13: 978-0802862310
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christian Scharen teaches worship and practical theology at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, MN, having previously taught at Yale University Divinity School in New Haven. Originally trained in theological ethics, ethnography, and social theory, Scharen's work brings a lively Christian imagination to critical engagement with culture. His writings have appeared in The Cresset, Books & Culture, The Christian Century, Dialog, Generate and others. He is married to Sonja, a nurse-midwife and has two children, Isaiah and Grace. He loves old churches, A Prairie Home Companion (a must from Lutherans in diaspora), and dark beer. On that last one, he'd especially like to recommend the New Glarus (WI) Unplugged series Smoked Rye Ale.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Primer on Practical Theology, December 9, 2008

By 

Christopher L. Dart "cultural ponderer" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faith as a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership (Paperback)

Inspired by the Yale Center for Faith & Culture's "Faith as a Way of Life Project" of 2003-07, this book is an attempt to summarize its findings; its main gist is to encourage Christian pastors with ways to help develop holistic faith and practice in their congregations. Scharen's biggest cultural critique falls upon the common compartmentalization of our lives, since people tend to place "religion" or "faith" into one of those many compartments, rather than letting it act as the overarching metanarrative that guides one's life.

Challenging both the results-oriented "managerial" model and the felt-needs/highly individualistic "therapeutic" approach adopted by many American churches, Scharen builds his case for a faith that is trans-compartmental utilizing both established social theory (Weber, Bellah) and theology (predominately Lutheran/Reformed) to show how Christians can engage one another and the broader society in faithful and transformative ways. This isn't a how-to book in the classical sense, but Scharen does a good job at balancing theory and real-life examples to suggest how one can work towards his paradigm. I also appreciate the relative balance of his views; where many similar social-engagement books seem to be as captive to Leftist politics as others are to the Religious Right, Scharen's work seems to be more Christ-centered, allowing more room for alternate views and acknowledging "grey areas," and is thus more applicable to a broader audience, allowing for greater impact, especially among his diverse pastoral audience.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gathering and Scattering as Pastoral Leadership, December 4, 2008

By 

CTQNelson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faith as a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership (Paperback)

The above editorial review gives a good overview of the topics covered however it misses the one thing that sets Scharen's book apart from others of its kind. What Scharen accomplishes that others do not is to display the "interconnection and coherence of the whole". By approaching the topic from an admittedly generalist viewpoint he is able to take the reader through a hermeneutical circle of 1) observing the obstacles that prevent faith from impacting daily lives in various spheres, 2) reflecting on these situations theologically and 3) sharing stories of Christian leaders who have tried out ideas with varying degrees of success. The image that Scharen uses to pull these activities together is that of gathering and scattering. Like the process of breathing, collecting inward in community and then expanding outward in daily life are not two separate activities that we do but rather God's life giving rhythm for our lives.