The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need a God (Ministry in a Secular Age)

A New Vision for Pastoral Ministry Today

In Faith Formation in a Secular Age, the first book in his Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, Andrew Root offered an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulated how faith can be formed in our secular age. In The Pastor in a Secular Age, Root explores how this secular age has impacted the identity and practice of the pastor, obscuring his or her core vocation: to call and assist others into the experience of ministry.

Using examples of pastors throughout history--from Augustine and Jonathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. and Nadia Bolz-Weber--Root shows how pastors have both perpetuated and responded to our secular age. Root then turns to Old Testament texts and to the theology of Robert Jenson to explain how pastors can regain the important role of attending to people's experiences of divine action, offering a new vision for pastoral ministry today.

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes and researches in the areas of theology, ministry, culture, and younger generations and is the author of more than twenty-five books, including The End of Youth Ministry? and the six-volume Ministry in a Secular Age set. Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He serves as staff theologian at Youthfront, is a frequent speaker, and cohosts the Ministry in a Secular Age podcast.