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The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life
(Eerdmans, 2009)

Description
Today’s pastors — often expected to be multitasking marvels who can make their
churches "successful" — are understandably confused about their role. Craig Barnes
contends that the true calling of a pastor is to assist others in becoming fully alive in
Christ — to be a "minor poet." The pastor absorbs the wisdom of major poets — the
biblical poets as well as the church’s theological poets — and distills its essence for
parishioners.

The Pastor as Minor Poet calls pastors to continually search for the deeper, truer
understandings of what they see — both in the text of Scripture and in the text of their
parishioners' lives. Discerning the subtexts beneath these texts reveals the core truths that allow pastors to preach the heart of the Word and to understand the hearts of the people to whom they minister. Written with a seasoned pastor’s depth of understanding and a poet's sensibility and sensitivity, this book will minister to and inspire pastors everywhere.

Author
M. Craig Barnes is the Robert Meneilly Professor of Leadership and Ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and serves as senior pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh. His other books include Sacred Thirst: Finding God in the Desert of Our Longing and Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls.

Endorsements
"Barnes knows all about being a pastor, how to use authority, how to lead, how to listen, and how to provoke. He knows, moreover, that it finally all comes down to faithful words that can conjure alternative scenarios of the future. In a society cold with technical reason, this summons to poetic truth is of huge importance."
—Walter Brueggemann

CICW Liturgical Studies Series with Eerdmans
This series is designed to promote reflection on the history, theology, and practice of Christian worship and to stimulate worship renewal in Christian congregations. Written by pastoral worship leaders from diverse communities and scholars from a range of disciplines, these volumes seek to nurture worship practices that are at once spiritually vital and theologically rooted. To find all the books in this series, go to Publications and under "Publisher," select "Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing."