Pastor-Theologians
Bangor, Maine
Pastor Theologians of Bangor, Maine is an ecumenical gathering of local pastors who have agreed to meet together regularly in order to read, write, and have conversation about Christian theology. Particular attention is given to the great Tradition of the Christian Church. The general approach of group members to each other and theological and Biblical resources is, perhaps, best characterized as a willingness to participate in occasions of faith seeking understanding.
Statement of Purpose
"The so-called "crisis of the church" is neither organizational nor programmatic, but theological. The heart of the matter is the loss of the church's identity as a theological community, occasioned by the distance at which the church lives from the source and sources of its faith and life.
"Thus the renewal of the church begins, at least on the human level, with the recovery of those sources and practices which historically have enabled people to encounter and to be encountered by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. It begins, as well, with the recovery of the identity of the ordained minister or priest as theologian and scholar." [Wallace Alston, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey]
National Pastor-Theologian Program, A Brief History
Center of Theological Inquiry and Wallace Alston
Under the leadership of its Director the Reverend Dr. Wallace Alston, the Center of Theological Inquiry of Princeton, New Jersey secured a grant from the Lilly Foundation to address the "crisis in the church"--the crisis of the loss of the church's identity as a theological community. Some denominations (notably the Presbyterian Church USA) have programs with similar understanding of pastors as theologians. Dr. Alston's vision and the Lilly grant created a national, broadly ecumenical Pastor-Theologian Program.
Dr. Alston saw that the key theologians for the church are local pastors. He set about to design this broad, nation-wide, ecumenical effort to draw local pastors and priests into conversations with leading academic theologians. The local clergy would read theology together, discuss topics with other theologians and Biblical scholars, and would produce written papers and publications on matters of theological import to the church. All these elements would begin a process of renewal in Christian churches in America.
The program, enriched by the insights and contributions of Robert Jenson, Research Scholar in Residence at the Center, and coordinated by Administrative Assistant Kathy Morley and other Center Staff members, continued under Center sponsorship and Lilly funding for nine years. It was very successful. Several publications were produced. A network of pastor-theologians and academic theologians was established with mutual great benefit. The program took on international importance as well.
The network of pastor-theologians would spread, according to the program design, when participants in the regional groups of the national program, after their three years of study and writing, would organize and facilitate groups of pastors-as-theologians in their own locality. The national program provided a syllabus and some modest funding. Through these groups, the renewal of the church would develop a grass-roots and self-perpetuating culture of shared theological learning and conversation adapted to the needs and possibilities of particular groupings of churches in particular localities.
The Rev. Dr. James L. Haddix of All Souls Church in Bangor was selected as a participant in the second three-year phase of the national Pastor-Theologian Program. He was a member of the Northeast group.
“Action Shots” of the Northeast Group of the National Pastor-Theologian Program. Left, on break at Newport, Rhode Island; Right, end of the day at western Connecticut meeting
At the end of that cycle, Haddix was invited to stay on as part of a research group at the Center of Theological Inquiry to study the Pastor-Theologian Program and participate in writing a volume showing what it takes to make Pastor-Theologians for the Church. Pastors and theologians of various denominations, men and women, from across the United States contributed to this project. The book was published as The Power to Comprehend with All the Saints: The Formation and Practice of a Pastor-Theologian, published in 2009 by Wm B. Eerdman's Publishing.
Trinity Conference Center (left), a frequent meeting place for the Northeast group, the CTI Research Group, and the National Steering Committee of the Pastor Theologian Program.
National Pastor Theologian Research group (three tables worth) between sessions at Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina.
"If you are a theologian, then you will pray; and if you pray truly, then you are a theologian." Evagria of Pontus from The Philokalia
"If theology fails to recover its connection to vigilance and prayer, as well as to the received prayer and liturgy of the Church, then it will have no reason to continue in the future history of humanity as a dry and rationalistic exercise. . . It will simply fill up our libraries with intellectual dissertations, which may be excellently argued but hardly able to inspire the human soul toward the life-giving and life-saving love of God. Authentic theology, however, can sustain the world; it nourishes the entire community." His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Encountering the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today, New York, New York: Doubleday, 2008, pp. 55-56.
Pastor-Theologian Program, Bangor, Maine
Dr. Haddix brought the Pastor-Theologian program back to Bangor and, in 2004, convened the first meeting of the Bangor Pastor-Theologian Program. Haddix was encouraged and supported in this effort by colleagues and by President William Beardsley of Husson University in Bangor. President Beardsley provided the group with a meeting place at the Dyke Family Business Center of the University. Dr. Robert A. Clark, now President of Husson, continues important support and encouragement for this work. The Rev. Elaine Hewes of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bangor offers support through accommodations for visiting guest theologians and scholars. This is a shoe-string operation, to be sure--no Lilly funding--but it remains a vital program nonetheless. Pastors and academics alike recognize the importance of such a program.
Left: The Dyke Family Business Center at Husson University, photo from the Husson web site.
The original 2004-2005 group had 15 members: two Episcopal priests; two United Church of Christ ministers; three Baptist ministers of Independent and American Baptist congregations; a Pastoral Counselor (ordained in the Disciples of Christ); a Congregationalist University Chaplain; two ministers of the Christian Reformed Church (one serves a Baptist church); a President of a local seminary with a United Church of Christ and Baptist background; a faculty member of another local seminary; an Advent Christian minister; and an Orthodox Presbyterian minister. The member from Gardiner, Maine traveled the farthest. Most were from churches in the immediate Bangor area.
Bangor's Pastor-Theologian group meets for one full day each October, November, December, February, March and April. Until recently, topics were guided by the national Pastor-Theologian syllabus. Lately, members of the local group have helped choose the course of study and conversation. Dr. Haddix is convener and moderator. Arrangements for guests, travel and financial support have been administered through All Souls Church with particular assistance of the office manager Mrs. Darcel Bryant. Marcus LoGiudice, Assistant Director of dining services at Husson University and the staff of the Dyke Family Business Center also provide important support for this program.
Meetings are structured around particular topics and the interests and publications of individual guests with suggested readings. The group honors the theological insights and learning of its members who sometimes make major presentations based on their own research, teaching, preaching, and writing. Guests come from across the nation (and the world) and across the usual dividing walls that beset modern Christianity. Since remuneration is necessarily small, the resource theologians, Biblical scholars and academics who lead the group do so out of love for the Church and her ministers. Without this love of church, the group could not continue.
While people affiliated with both Bangor seminaries sit at the table, the work of the group remains firmly grounded in the parish and in the life of local churches. The geographical spread extends from Scarborough in the south to Millinocket in the north and from Mt. Desert Island in the east to Pittsfield and Athens in the west.
In the 2004 letter of invitation to prospective members, the ground rules for the group were made clear. Dr Haddix wrote: "Our work together will require intellectual rigor and discipline, and it will seek to strengthen, practically and spiritually, our various pastoral and vocational callings all for the sake of the Church of Jesus Christ in Bangor and environs. In Bible study and over certain theological texts we, as pastors and teachers of the church, will engage a theme . . . Jesus Christ, Savior, and the Human Condition . . . Necessarily a group such as ours must be focused and committed. It is not my intention to make it exclusivist, but it is absolutely essential that it be small enough to allow its participants to engage in serious conversation and to create a trustful, collegial atmosphere . . . Group members must commit to six scheduled meetings. I hope you will think of it as a retreat, a time to join with colleagues in study and reflection for the strengthening of our common work in this place and time."
Primary funding for the group comes through All Souls Church, particularly the Charles Nason Memorial Fund which has several educational foci, and the gifts, larger and smaller, from participants who are able to make financial contributions. Membership is by invitation. Local pastors and priests of the Bangor region are free to petition for consideration if a vacancy occurs. Collegiality, friendship and trust remain key values of the group. Dr. Haddix is always eager to consult with colleagues and interested parties who would like to establish other such groups.
Some Guests of the Bangor Pastor Theologian Program
As Director of The Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, the Rev. Dr. Wallace Alston, who shaped and led the national Pastor-Theologian program, wrote that the renewal of the church begins, "at least on the human level, with the recovery of those sources and practices which historically have enabled people to encounter and to be encountered by 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit.' It begins as well with the recovery of the identity of the ordained minister or priest as a theologian and scholar." He said a "significant part" of the current crisis in the church arises from "the hiatus between academic theology as an intellectual discipline and ecclesial theology as a confessional stance . . . . [T]heology is not true to itself when it is simply an academic discipline. Christian theology, being by definition incarnational, cannot be done in isolation from the church and the world."
A partial record of guests of the Bangor Pastor-Theologian program is listed in the left sidebar. This listing of guests is a record of incarnation: words in and from flesh that, to us and through us, witnessed to the Word and opened us more fully to that Word. [Guest information was current at the time of their visit(s) to Bangor and may not reflect the present moment. More information on each guest is available from other sources (e.g., blog sites, academic or profession web sites, Wikipedia, etc.). Biographical information was often taken from such sites.]