[B-Greek] "Why do we make pastors translate?"
Alexander Ring
akring at mac.com
Sun Dec 13 11:50:51 EST 2009
On Dec 13, 2009, at 8:06 AM, Gene Baker wrote:
> The fellows I spend quality time with generally are glad to be able
> to use
> their language training and skills in sermon preparation and study.
> That
> being said, quite a number also saw no practical reason to spend
> their time
> in learning something they didn't see having a direct bearing on their
> calling.
If I might take this discussion even further afield....
I believe one of the problems is this "direct bearing on their
calling" business. I know within my own denomination there are often
calls for more "practical" courses at the seminary, and more
"practical" papers at pastoral conferences. More classes/papers on
counseling, on using illustrations in sermons, on working with youth,
podcasting, ad infinitem. Sadly, the seminary I attended recently
dropped the course on Galatians to make way for more "practical"
courses. But time and time again I find that it is papers on specific
texts that become the most practical for me as a pastor. Reading
through the text and discussing it I find all sorts of applications to
sermon prep, to counseling, to visiting with parishoners, to working
with youth.
And this is why we should make pastors translate. Their main task is
to be proclaimers of God's Word to their flock, which means they need
to be familiar with that Word themselves. Practical courses have their
place, but in the end most of these are about a specific task with
some spiritual application, not about Scripture itself. Translating-
knowing the Hebrew and Greek-gives them a more intimate knowledge of
that Word so that they can have discussions like these, and being fed
themselves are better able to feed their flocks.
Alex
Rev. Alexander Ring
11221 Farwest Dr
Lakewood, WA 98498
akring at mac.com
The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic,
and to some extent even antibiotic -- in short, the closest thing to a
genuine panacea -- known to medical science is work. -Thomas Szasz,
author, professor of psychiatry (b. 1920)
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