The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart
Harold L. Senkbeil
Lexham (2019). 290 pp.
Harold Senkbeil, Director of Doxology, the Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel, has written a practical pastoral theology from the classic model of pastoring as the care and cure of souls. By care of souls, pastors attend to the whole person through the context of the spiritual life; by cure of souls, pastors attend to the Christlikeness of their parishioners. For both aspects of this work, pastors are given the tools to use, the Word of God and the sacraments, by Christ. Thus, pastors engage in the care and cure of souls by the application of Word and sacrament through the whole of life and in its critical moments. Because Christ is the pastor who has given these tools, Senkbeil argues that pastors consider themselves sheepdogs for Christ.
The whole pastoral life—its rhythms, activities, pace, practices, etc.— lives out this vocation. Senkbeil calls this the pastoral habitus—a way of life. Senkbeil illustrates the pastoral habitus using mainly his father but also his mother and their way of life on a farm. Rather—their way of life as farmers. Senkbeil’s father had a nose for farming—a disposition that both fostered and facilitated a set of skills that was the farming vocation. Likewise, the pastor “has a nose” for his people in this way of life, in this habitus.
As Senkbeil fleshes out this theology, there is an expected tension. Pastors are tools of Christ, but at the same time pastors are agents whose action matters. Senkbeil writes, “The Holy Spirit doesn’t work through you as a person, but through the tools you’ve been given by Jesus for the blessing of his church and for the benefit of all the world: the gospel and sacraments” (p. 28). At the same time, Senkbeil holds that Jesus has “entrusted into [the pastor’s] all too human and very flawed mouth and hands the gospel and the sacraments by which the Holy Spirit continues to call, gather, enlighten and sanctify his church on earth” (p. 30), maintaining profound belief the action of the pastor. In one of several poignant and powerful personal stories, Senkbeil writes, I tended Sarah and her family with the only tools I had been given: the firm sure promises of the word of God and his precious sacraments” (p. 50). So, Senkbeil can write of his tending, but using the “only tools” he had been given. Readers might consider The Care of Souls to be a book written in this tension: While the pastor has all the tools they need, there remain models of people who have developed the pastoral habitus and there remain skills that allow the deft use of these tools. Practical-theological topics covered under this mindset include exercise, spiritual warfare, prayer, communion, baptism, counsel, sexuality, and blessing.
Because this book lives in the tension, readers should be mindful of their posture when reading it. Yes, the book is practical—but not for basic management skills. Yes, the book is theological—but the reader coming to it expecting a biblical exegesis of the pastor will only find a total of eighteen resources in the works cited section. Instead, Senkbeil’s theology, richly grounded in his Lutheran theology, is focused on the practices of preaching, prayer, sacraments, and pastoral presence. Readers will find a book that is the habitus of a pastoral life put to paper. Not only is the book richly and theologically practical, it also practices: it is a pastoral book. When Senkbeil writes, “I wrote [this book] just for you” (p. xvii), the reader quickly agrees—and feels under Senkbeil’s pastoral care and ministry.
While the book is Lutheran in flavor, readers from various traditions may engage it. An emphasis on conscience, guilt, and forgiveness of sin is to be expected, but a Wesleyan with a strong theology of personal holiness and sanctification such as me could still have written (though not as well), “[Pastors] are called to be holy, yet we can only become holy and maintain our holiness as we share in God’s holiness by participation in his divine life. He doesn’t expect us, nor are we able, to come up with our own sanctification by working harder at it” (p. 164). Holiness is God’s grace—and so is the pastoral life: both its call and its gift to the church. This is a book filled with faith. With anything but a blind eye to shifting cultural norms, Senkbeil believes in the pastorate because Senkbeil believes in the Christ who calls men to be his sheepdogs and who uses tools he has given to these sheepdogs to care and cure souls.
Educators and potential readers will want to be aware that Care of Souls is written to men. While not explicitly argued, Senkbeil seems to believe that only men should be pastors and writes to men. With this in mind, female readers seeking a pastoral theology and educators in traditions that ordain women will need to be selective with the text and/or position readers to obtain maximal benefit. And yet they should because this is a book rich with practical, theological wisdom, often illustrated with personal experience. Keeping with Senkbeil’s language, it, too, is a tool that the Chief Shepherd will use in the formation of his sheepdogs who care for his flock.
Aaron Perry is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Leadership at Wesley Seminary in Marion, IN. He holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Regent University.
