Absolutely not, says Sarah Coakley.
Credit: Harvard University
Coakley is a celebrated academic theologian. She is also a committed churchwoman, ordained as a priest in the Church of England.
Recently she sat down with Duke’s Faith & Leadership blog for an interview later titled, provocatively, “Ministry Is Not Easier than Theology.” In it she confronts the worrisome gulf — hardwired, she argues, in how modern seminaries are structured — between pastoral (or practical) theology on the one hand and other theological disciplines, like systematics and biblical studies, on the other.
It highlights a larger conversation that is ongoing in the evangelical world about what a seminary education should look like in the first place.
I invite you to peruse the interview and then tell us what you think. In your experience, is Coakley right? Is pastoral theology devalued in seminary?
And if you want to read more of Coakley, note that we have more than a few of her works in our collection at Rolfing, and even more in our I-Share network.
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