I return every year to read Gregory the Great's Pastoral Rule, because in it I've found so much focus and reflection for my own pastoral ministry.This weekend, though, I turned to a different text. It's one I haven't read for at least 16 years. But George Herbert's Country Parson is filled with so much wisdom, too, that it's a shame I haven't re-read this classic until now. I'll now have to add it to my list of annual re-reads.
George Herbert's Priest to the Temple, or, The Country Parson: His Character, and Rule of Holy Life continues to stand as a classic in the theology of ordained ministry. Particularly striking is his catholic understanding of priestly ministry, his high standards of pastoral responsibility, and the similarity of his spiritual and pastoral counsel to that of Gregory's Pastoral Rule. Herbert certainly stands in the patristic and medieval tradition of pastoral theology. While his ideals for the time and effort required of a good priest might not be applicable in our day, The Country Parson still has much to offer for contemporary ministry and ascetical theology.
Today, though, I want to focus on the three that captivated my attention this weekend: The relation between the ordained ministry's dignity and the duties associated with it, the priest's parental and sacerdotal roles, and the knowledge and learning required for the ministry.
Herbert calls the priest "the Deputy of Christ for the reducing of Man to the Obedience of God", and lays out "both the Dignity thereof, and the Duty: The Dignity, in that a Priest may do that which Christ did, and by his authority, and as his Vicegerent. The Duty, in that a Priest is to do that which Christ did, and after his manner, both for Doctrine and Life" (p. 55). While his main concern in this book is more on the duty side, his understanding of ordained ministry can't be reduced to mere function, and one could easily see an "ontological" understanding at work in his thinking. From the outset he distinguishes between parish priests or parsons and priests employed in universities or as private chaplains (pp. 55-56). Moreover, he notes, "The Country Parson, when a just occasion calleth him out of his Parish ... leaveth not his Ministry behind him; but is himself wherever he is" (p. 78). Thus Herbert distinguishes the priestly office from specific ministerial duties, what a priest is from what a priest does. That is not to say that ontology and function can be divorced. Herbert is helpful here in that he grounds both the dignity and duty of the priesthood in Christ, such that authority and responsibility, ontology and function, are held together in him.
Although Herbert wrote in the wake of the English Reformation, two fairly catholic images of the priesthood appear in his writing. First, more than once he speaks of the priest as a "spiritual father" or "father to his flock" (e.g. pp. 78, 110). This motif is important for how a minister should relate to the people, caring for them, being merciful, desiring to bless them. In some ways Herbert's vision for this relationship may seem too masculine or paternalistic by modern standards, but it still conveys the sort of loving authority and genuine spiritual care required of a priest. Secondly he sees the priest as having a sacerdotal function in worship, "presenting with himself the whole Congregation, whose sins he then bears, and brings with his own to the heavenly altar to be bathed, and washed in the sacred Laver of Christ's blood" (p. 60). Here the priest is portrayed as a mediator between the people and God, though this mediation is clearly subject to that of Christ. Likewise the priest speaks to the people with God's authority, being "in God's stead to his Parish, and dischargeth God what he can of his promises" (p. 82). This goes along, once again, with the dignity of ordination, rooted in the authority of Christ. Both of these motifs -- spiritual fatherhood and sacerdotal mediation -- convey the weight of responsibility that priests must carry -- and must keep in mind in their ministry.
Finally, Herbert has a lot to say about the knowledge and learning required of the ordained. Herbert expects priests to know not only the Scriptures, but "the Fathers also, and the Schoolmen, and the later Writers, or a good proportion of all, out of which he hath compiled a book, and body of Divinity" (p. 59). Yet priests should also have a knowledge of common things so that they can use them for illustrations in teaching the people. Moreover, training for ministry "must be not only to get knowledge, but to subdue and mortify all lusts and affections: and not to think, that when they have read the Fathers, or Schoolmen, a Minister is made and the thing done" (p. 56). With such spiritual formation and sanctify of life in mind, Herbert says, "The Country Parson's Library is a holy life" (p. 104). So he presents high standards of education for clergy, but also understands that theological studies must be oriented toward spiritual growth in loving God. Herbert is helpful in affirming all aspects of a priest’s knowledge: Intellectual, practical, and spiritual.
I found his comment about the nature of one's library itself as a spiritual discipline particularly meaningful, since I've been in the process of rebuilding my own pastoral library, and being rather judicious as to the books I buy, and the ones I don't. Those who know me best, know what a challenge this is. (Here's my "wish list" of what remains, since it's nearly birthday time.)
Herbert's little book isn't one I recall reading at seminary. I think I read it in graduate school, as part of a seminar on the history of Christian ministry -- but even then it was only recommended. So I haven't touched it since, I'm nearly positive. But this is a beautiful exposition of the dignity and responsibility of the pastoral office. While this vision of "the Form and Character of a true Pastor" may be difficult to apply in our time, it still challenges us in concrete ways "to go as far as we can in pleasing of [God], who hath done so much for us" (p. 54).
This is a book that every pastor should read once a year.