Faith As a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership (Paperback)

~ Christian Scharen (Author), Miroslav Volf (Foreword)
Key Phrases: religious rejections, pastoral leaders, prophetic religion, New York, Grand Rapids, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Foreword by Miroslav Volf

Christian ministry is deeply concerned with proclaiming the transforming power of God's gift of faith in the daily lives of disciples. How is it, then, that Christian faith so often fails to be an orienting force that impacts every aspect of our lives?

In Faith as a Way of Life Christian Scharen articulates a vision of pastoral leadership grounded in substantive faith language. He examines other powerful languages in our culture -- emotion-driven therapeutic and results-driven managerial models of leadership -- and shows how their domination leads to faith becoming a weak sibling. Highlighting concrete examples of excellent pastoral leadership in action, Scharen offers creative practical theological reflection on how faith can truly inform our family life, our work, our politics, our leisure -- literally all of life -- and how pastoral leaders of all kinds can foster faith as a way of life.

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: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (June 3, 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.com Sales Rank: #359,684 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 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)

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.

2 of 2 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

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.