The Pastor - by Eugene H Peterson (Paperback)

About the Book

An inspiring memoir of faith, humility, and the joys and struggles of answering God's call, from the most well-known pastor in the world.

Book Synopsis

The heartening, transformative story of an unlikely pastor, and one answer to the oft-neglected question: what does it actually mean to be a pastor?

Eugene Peterson never wanted to be a pastor. But, in 1962, when he was asked by the Presbyterian Church to begin a new church in Bel Air, Maryland, he surprised himself by answering the call. Suddenly at the helm of the newly-established Christ Our King Presbyterian Church, Peterson--who had little conception of what it really meant to be a pastor--dedicated his life to understanding and fulfilling his vocation.

In The Pastor, Peterson shares the stories and lessons from his thirty years in that single pulpit. The result is a quietly powerful and inspirational book, a true gift to anyone looking to grow in their faith and live virtuously. Steering away from abstractions, Peterson challenges conventional wisdom regarding church marketing, mega pastors, and the church's too-cozy relationship to American consumerism to present a simple, grounded description of what being a minister means today. With warmth, familiarity, and humor, Peterson offers a contemporary perspective on an ancient vocation, one with authenticity, openness, and faith at its center.

Here is a simple but revolutionary reminder that "preaching is proclamation... but only when it gets embedded in conversation, in a listening ear and responding tongue, does it become gospel."

From the Back Cover

In The Pastor, Eugene H. Peterson, the translator of the multimillion-selling The Message and the author of more than thirty books, offers his life story as one answer to the surprisingly neglected question: What does it mean to be a pastor?

When Peterson was asked by his denomination to begin a new church in Bel Air, Maryland, he surprised himself by saying yes. And so was born Christ Our King Presbyterian Church. But Peterson quickly learned that he was not exactly sure what a pastor should do. He had met many ministers in his life, from his Pentecostal upbringing in Montana to his seminary days in New York, and he admired only a few. He knew that the job's demands would drown him unless he figured out what the essence of the job really was. Thus began a thirty-year journey into the heart of this uncommon vocation--the pastorate.

The Pastor steers away from abstractions, offering instead a beautiful rendering of a life tied to the physical world--the land, the holy space, the people--shaping Peterson's pastoral vocation as well as his faith. He takes on church marketing, mega pastors, and the church's too-cozy relationship to American glitz and consumerism to present a simple, faith-filled job description of what being a pastor means today. In the end, Peterson discovered that being a pastor boiled down to "paying attention and calling attention to 'what is going on right now' between men and women, with each other and with God." The Pastor is destined to become a classic statement on the contemporary trials, joys, and meaning of this ancient vocation.

Review Quotes

"If anyone knows how to be a pastor in the contemporary context that person is Eugene Peterson. Eugene possesses the rare combination of a pastor's heart and a pastor's art. Take and read!" - Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline
"I've been nagging Eugene Peterson for years to write a memoir. In our clamorous, celebrity-driven, entertainment culture, his life and words convey a quiet whisper of sanity, authenticity, and, yes, holiness." - Philip Yancey, author of What Good is God
"A good book for folks who like pastors. And a good book for folks who don't. The Pastor is the disarming tale of one of the unlikely suspects who has helped shape North American Christianity." - Shane Claiborne author of The Irresistible Revolution
"The Pastor describes pastoral life like no other text I have ever read, ever. More than a gifted writer, Eugene Peterson is a voice calling upon the churches to recover the vocation of the pastor in order to experience the renewing of their faith in the midst of an increasingly commercialized, depersonalized, and spiritually barren land." - Dale T. Irvin, President, New York Theological Seminary
"More than a gifted writer, Eugene Peterson is a voice calling upon the churches to recover the vocation of the pastor in order to experience the renewing of their faith in the midst of an increasingly commercialized, depersonalized, and spiritually barren land." - Dale T. Irvin, President, New York Theological Seminary
"Eugene Peterson excavates the challenges and mysteries regarding pastors and church and gives me hope for both. This a must read for every person who is or thinks they are called to be a pastor and for every person who has one." - William Paul Young, author of The Shack
"Peterson found writing as a way to pay attention, and as an act of prayer. It's our privilege to have his words, full of insight and truth. This book might be considered a long prayer for pastors." - Englewood Review of Books
"It's difficult to think of a single person who has had a greater impact in American worship over the past 20 years than Eugene H. Peterson. . . . Now, Peterson is telling us the background story of how a pastor met needs in his local community . . . and it's an eye-opener for anyone who cares about the future of congregations!" - Read the Spirit
"A book full of much needed wisdom that is written with eloquence." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Peterson is a master storyteller. . . . The Pastor is a profound and important meditation . . . serves as a necessary reaffirmation of the true nature of a calling that in current American religious life seems largely lost." - Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
"A burning bush of a book, where a butcher shop becomes a temple and a bully gets saved in the funniest conversion story I have ever read. It is extravagantly well-written, but that is one of its least important features. It is a window, fashioned by a master craftsman, through which we glimpse footprints of the One who still walks in the garden in the cool of the day." - John Ortberg, author of The Me I Want To Be
"This is a unique and invaluable presentation of the way God makes his pastors. It helps one see how to surrender to the utterly unpredictable course of events through which one gains the spiritual substance that enables one to be a pastor--not just in title or position, but in real effects on people. By managing to be where he was Eugene Peterson became, under divine care, a pastor without boundaries. In his life he presents an entirely different (and desperately needed) model of what it is to be a success as a pastor. The book is packed with stories of blazing grace unobscured by holy moly. Just unadorned life under God. If you are hoping to be a pastor, or just to understand what that is, get this book and soak in it for at least three full days with no distraction. It may save your life and make you a blessing." - Dallas Willard, author of The Divine Conspiracy
"If you are hoping to be a pastor, or just to understand what that is, get this book and soak in it for at least three full days with no distraction. It may save your life and make you a blessing." - Dallas Willard, author of The Divine Conspiracy
"Theology professor, author (The Message), and long-time pastor Peterson brings his remarkable storytelling skills and empathic understanding of human nature to this insightful and entertaining exploration of his evolving vocational discernment as pastor and writer. . . . Introspective, thought-provoking, and entertaining reflections from one of America's spiritual leaders." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A gift to anyone who has tried answering the call to pastor, and to a church that needs true pastors. . . . It is a subtle manifesto of hope for our time." - Christianity Today
"Peterson has given us is a model of pastor and congregation that renounces the cultural assumptions that anything ancient is irrelevant, that bigger is better, that we need to show results in the form of solving people's problems. . . . Peterson found writing as a way to pay attention, and as an act of prayer. It's our privilege to have his words, full of insight and truth. This book might be considered a long prayer for pastors." - Englewood Review of Books