This book explores the vital, common, yet surprisingly often misunderstood and neglected vocation of people gifted to combine academic and priestly roles in church, church-related, and secular academic contexts. The works of those who unite priestly and academic functions into one vocation have been vital to the Church since its first-century foundations. The Church would have no practically informed theology or liturgy, and arguably no New Testament, if not for individuals who have been as gifted at researching, writing, and teaching as at conventional ministry skills like preaching and pastoral care. With a specific focus on Anglicanism as one useful lens, prominent voices from around the Anglican Communion reflect here on their experiences and expertise in academic-priestly vocation. Including contributions from the UK, USA, and Australia, this book makes a distinctive and timely offering to discussions that must surely continue.
"The essays in this necessary book exemplify why it is so important that the priestly and scholarly vocations find their home in one person. This book will begin a conversation that has long been needed."
- Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University, USA
"It is a delight to read contributions from those who preside at table on Sunday and engage students in the classroom on Monday. And we need such publications-those that foster good conversation about this and other dual vocations where the two sides of the duality can be held in dynamic tension."
- Gordon T. Smith, Ambrose University, Calgary, Canada, in International Jornal of Christianity & Education
"I found this book to be cathartic in its recognition of the problem and stimulating in its encouragement to persist."
- Tim Howles, Keble College, University of Oxford, UK, in Theology