This is Why So Many Christians Feel Something's Missing
Princeton and Preaching: Archibald Alexander and The Christian Ministry by James M. Garretson
In our series, The Pulpit From the Pew, we’ve looked at a fairly wide variety of topics on Pastoral Theology including the pastor’s Call, his Character, and his Work. Last week we looked at the Pastor’s Book, which is an excellent resource for anyone in the ministry, and this week, we continue our study of who the pastor is and what he does, by looking at this book.
Book info
P. #: p. 266, 280 with a bibliography and index
All links to books that are mentioned will be provided below.
Author: James M Garretson
Life: Dr. James M. Garretson is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. He has pastored congregations in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America, and taught at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In addition to this book, he also authored and edited the Trust’s 2-volume set Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry
General info about author: This book is in an interesting way a biography of Archibald Alixander. It looks at his life, his ministry, his character, and his teaching at Princeton as an example of what and how other ministers ought to be.
Overall Summary/review:
Garretson tells us on page xx of his introduction that this is an important topic to study.
This book, even though it’s fairly short, covers practically every aspect of the pastor’s life. (table of contents) So what I will do in this review is follow Alexander through his life as Garretson did (in a nutshell) to give you a taste of what this book is like.
First, Alexander was called to the ministry (p. 17, 33, 37, 52)
Second, Alexander learned the qualifications of ministry (p. 79)
Third, Alexander learned what it means for a minister to be prepared for the ministry (p. 85, 86, 101, 138)
Fourth, Alexander learned what content should be in a sermon (p. 134, 164)
And finally, Alexander, learned that being a minister is difficult work for a mere man (p. 182, 196, 199-200)