Program
Doctor of Ministry
Year Approved
2015
First Advisor
Senapatiratne, Tim
Abstract
Throughout churches in the Reformed tradition, there is a growing interest in renewing Eucharistic practices. This growing interest has led to a series of discussions among Reformed clergy regarding the role of pastors in the Eucharistic context. According to some church leaders, many Reformed pastors have a faulty sacramentality that stems from a misunderstanding of John Calvin’s pastoral vision. Instead of compelling faith in action through the Eucharist, where communicants share the grace they receive, this sacramentality leads them to be passive recipients that keep Eucharistic grace within the church. Unlike other research, which addresses the aforementioned issue by only clarifying Calvin’s pastoral vision, this project makes use of the vision and sacramentality of Ulrich Zwingli. Through a review of literature and interviews, this project shows that the Reformed tradition’s dominant Calvinistic template of pastoral ministry does not promote the sharing of eucharistic grace. Therefore, in addressing the pastoral sacramental issue of this project, the research presents the formulation and implementation of a Zwinglian pastoral template. In Zwingli’s pastoral vision, Eucharistic grace is not restricted to the Church, and the aim of pastoral ministry is enabling parishioners to put faith into action. In presenting a Zwinglian template called the “Healing Shepherd,” this project does not discard the Calvinistic template. Rather, this project seeks to bring balance between the pastoral visions of Zwingli and Calvin by presenting one template as incomplete without and complementing the other. The end result of both templates working together is a “New Reformed pastor,” who compels communicants to be agents of healing by sharing Eucharistic grace with the world. The result is a “Healing Shepherd” who fosters faith in action through the Lord’s Table.
Degree Name
Doctor of Ministry
Document Type
Doctoral thesis
Recommended Citation
Williams, S. J. (2015). The New Reformed Pastor: Zwinglian Wisdom for Modern Ministers [Doctoral thesis, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/662
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