Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 70:2 (Fall 2008)
Article: Pastor-Scholar To Professor-Scholar: Exploring The Theological Disconnect Between The Academy And The Local Church
Author: Gerald L. Hiestand

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WTJ 70:2 (Fall 2008) p. 355

Pastor-Scholar To Professor-Scholar: Exploring The Theological Disconnect Between The Academy And The Local Church

Gerald L. Hiestand

Gerald Hiestand is a Pastor of Adult Ministries at Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and president of the Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology.

I. Introduction: The Theological Disconnect Between the Academy and the Local Church

I was meeting with an associate pastor of a large metropolitan church when he leaned in a bit and lowered his voice, “The fact is, they’re not real big on the seminary around here. You can sometimes get the impression they’d rather hire guys straight out of the market place. We’ve just seen too many young guys coming out of the academy, able to parse Greek verbs and discuss process theology, but having no real idea what the church is about.” His comments, though unsettling, did not come as a shock. Since the inception of the evangelical seminary—beginning with Andover in 1808 and followed by Princeton in 1812—pastors, laity, and professors alike have long lamented the disconnect between “academic” scholarship and the theological needs of ecclesial minis-try.1 Simply put, the theology coming out of the academy is often not viewed by practitioners and parishioners as particularly relevant or necessary for ecclesial ministry.2 Though often overstated, this unfavorable assessment of academic theology has been difficult to shake.3

Alister McGrath, in a recent work on the future of evangelical theology, discusses this theological disconnect. Recounting his personal experience with the occasional irrelevance of academic theology, he writes,

WTJ 70:2 (Fall 2008) p. 356

I recall an occasion back in the 1970s when a leading British theologian gave an address to a group of us who were preparing for ministry in the Church of England.... He related how he regularly had to visit little old ladies in his parish, and was obliged to converse with them over cups of lukewarm overbrewed tea. We all politely tittered (as we were clearly meant to) at the thought of such an immensely distinguished theologian having to suffer the indignity of talking with little old ladies whose subject of conversation was grandchildren, the price of groceries and the pains of old age. After his lecture, we wished he had spent rather more time with these people. The bulk of his lecture was unintelligible, and made no connections with real life—the issues of relationships, the cost of living, and the pain of the world. It was academic in the worst possible sense of the word.

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