Pet Peeve #4: Theologians in the Wild

I know that most Bellevue Tce readers won't care about this, but I'm going to write it anyway...

In our (beloved) denomination, when a minister doesn't 'have' a church, he is considered a 'Minister at Large.' Many such men are tireless in their love and care for God's church and are wonderful to have around. One can imagine, however, a 'minister at large' who is truly 'at large'. Having no paddock of his own to roam in, he runs from field to field, knocking over fences and generally making a nuisance of himself.

Inspired by the term 'minister at large', I've coined another: Theologians in the Wild. The right and most natural home for theologians is the church. Their concerns should ultimately be the building up of believers and they should be involved in some kind of pastoral ministry (not necessarily full time). A 'theologian in the wild' is a theologian who has left his/her natural habitat and gone ferral - often in the academy.

And this peeves me. Because we need our cleverest theologians with us - looking at the bible with us, giving us insights into tricky systematics, helping us fight heresy and resist laziness and simplism in our own bible reading. And they need us - to remind them that not everyone has a 170+ IQ and that there's a big world out there waiting to hear the gospel. But where are they?

I'm still waiting for "Barth for Beginners" to be written. Or perhaps "Bonhoeffer for Babies". Or "Torrance for Toddlers." Any takers?

[end of rant]