Review: The Pastor As Minor Poet, M Craig Barnes, Eerdmans 2009
This book explores questions of pastoral identity and roles through the lens of poetry.
Its not a book of poems about pastors! Nor is it advocating that pastors give themselves to verse!
Rather, Barnes advocates a pastoral calling to penetrate below the surface of things to get to their meaning. Or, the move beneath naked realism to the truth below.
The book is structured around a series of pastoral scenes in the life of a pastor. These scenes introduce explorations of the nature and craft of the pastor's poetic calling and each scene is discussed in the following chapter. Part two gets down to soem detailed discussion about developing this poetic craft.
I found it a helpful and interesting book to read. Interesting because of the approach taken. Helpful in that it opens up another 'view' of pastoral ministry in a way that is easily understood and which challenges surface interpretations and responses.
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