Another correction first. This page previously reviewed The Contemplative Pastor as a book about money, stewardship, and financial pressure, and it was filed under Finance. That is entirely wrong. There is nothing about personal finance in this book. The old review was invented and has been replaced.
What it actually is
The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction by Eugene H. Peterson was published by Eerdmans in 1993 and runs about 180 pages. Peterson pastored the same Presbyterian congregation in Maryland for nearly thirty years and later translated The Message. He died in October 2018. This is one of the books that made his reputation among pastors.
The argument
Peterson opens by redefining the word pastor with three adjectives, and they are the reason people remember this book.
Unbusy. Peterson says a busy pastor is a lazy pastor, and he means it as an insult. His claim is that busyness is usually vanity, taking on more than anyone asked so that you feel important, or cowardice, saying yes to everything because you cannot bear to disappoint. Either way the busy schedule crowds out the actual work, which is prayer and knowing your people.
Subversive. The kingdom does not arrive by program. It comes in quietly and undermines the existing order from underneath, and the pastor’s work is mostly hidden and slow rather than announced and measured.
Apocalyptic. Not end times speculation. Peterson means the pastor is dealing with ultimate things in ordinary rooms, and should not act as though a hospital visit is a small matter.
The rest of the book covers what he calls the work between Sundays: curing souls, praying with your eyes open, the ministry of small talk, and taking a sabbatical seriously. There are also poems, which surprises people. Peterson was a poet as well as a pastor and the reflections on the Beatitudes are in verse.
Who it is actually for
Pastors, plainly. This is a book about a vocation, and it is addressed to people in it. Peterson is not writing to businessmen or fathers.
That said, the chapter on busyness has escaped the pastoral world for good reason. Any man who has confused a full calendar with a meaningful life will feel it. If you read only one part of this book, read that one.
Style
Peterson writes slowly and expects you to as well. The prose is careful and literary and there is no hurry in it, which is fitting given the argument. If you want bullet points and takeaways, this book will frustrate you on purpose.
Bottom line
A quiet classic on what a pastor is for, and a needed corrective for anyone measuring a life in appointments. Wonderful book, badly miscatalogued here for years.
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