The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction

Any pastor who needs and wants to get back to basics will do well to absorb this book. Eugene Peterson, well known as "a pastor's pastor," here speaks words of wisdom and refreshment for pastors caught in the busyness of preaching, teaching, and "running the church."

In The Contemplative Pastor Peterson highlights the often-overlooked essentials of ministry, first by redefining the meaning of pastor through three strengthening adjectives: unbusy, subversive, andapocalyptic. The main part of the book focuses on pastoral ministry and spiritual direction "between Sundays": these chapters begin with poetic reflections on the Beatitudes and then discuss such themes as curing souls, praying with eyes open, the language of prayer, the ministry of small talk, and sabbatical--all with engaging, illustrative anecdotes from Peterson's own experience.

The book ends with several meaning-full poems that pivot on the incarnation, the doctrine closest to pastoral work. Entitled "The Word Made Fresh," this concluding section is a felicitous finale to Peterson's discerning, down-to-earth reflections on the art of pastoring.

• Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work
• Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity
• The Pastor: A Memoir
• Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
• Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health
• A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders
• Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry as a Human Being
• Pastor: Revised Edition: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry
• The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus