MacRaven - Dave Haxton's Weblog

Fri, 17 Mar 2006

Students Flock to Seminaries, but Fewer See Pulpit in Future

This really highlights a subtle, but interesting, difference between larger religions, such as Christianity, Islam or even Hinduism, and smaller movements, such as Heathenry.

Not having "professional" clergy, the Heathen clergy that I know all work another job - from the assembly line or the cash register to tenured professor and electrical engineer. We're structurally different in other ways, too. Most Heathen kindreds have at least two, if not three, "clergy" persons (the goði, or priest, the gyðia, or priestess and the Lawspeaker, who serves as a stand in goði and also as the 'president' or secular head of the group. All are generally considered equals - there are no "associate pastors", so to speak, along the ancient paths.

There's always been quite the debate in Heathen circles about the need for professional clergy, too. Some see it as an intrusive custom from the East, best left with the monotheists, while others feel that without it, we'll never be a "real" religion.

I guess I fall somewhere along that spectrum: as commonly thought of a "Heathen pastor" is a contradiction in terms. But at some point we need to develop some sort institutional leadership paradigm that somewhat analogous to the "parish ministry", especially as we grow. I know that if I had the time and cash (that is, if I were to win the lottery), I'd like to get myself to a public university for a degree in Indo-European Studies and give it a shot...

Protestant seminaries' enrollment is up, but a larger portion of the graduates are interested in taking their religion into other careers.

(link) [New York Times]

/Asatru | 2 writebacks | permanent link

On 3/17/2006 16:21:44
Mark Rouse wrote

This is a pretty interesting phenom. There has been a movement in the last 10 years or so parallel to the Christian community that has been tagged the "Emergent Church". I say parallel because most of the people involved would be run out of traditional churches. My kind of people. As you know, I'm a big fan of Jesus, but not a big fan of the American church. The "Emergent Church" (google that sometime - you'll find it interesting) is an attempt to live a Christ-like lives without all the superficial trapping of the modern church. Professional clergy is not even on the radar screen of most emergent groups. The truth of the matter is that professional clergy is something that the church inherited from the polytheistic culture of Rome. When Constantine legalized the Christian faith, he created the first church building and first professional Christian priests, because that was the way the heathens of Rome did things. The atrocities committed in the name of Christ came from this structure, not the teaching of Jesus. So, the emergent church has been looking at the church before the time of Constantine for guidence in how things should be. Peter was a fisherman. Paul was a tent maker. A friend of mine is starting an emergent fellowship called "The LowerRoom" (http://lowerroom.wordpress.com). He is a network engineer. So a good question to ask would be: If the big religions have tried and failed with a corporate structure and professional clergy, why would a small religion want to emulate their mistakes? Take care, Mark

On 3/18/2006 10:39:17
Dave H wrote

Interesting, indeed.

You're right that the Romans simply moved the professionals from one religion to another: the term for the chief priest of the Roman State religion (religio Roma) was "pontifex maximus" - aka "Pontiff" aka "Pope"... And I must confess that heretofore, Heathenry has followed the pattern you describe in your "Emergent Church" - ordinary folks picking up the ideas and running with them. What concerns me is that these forms may not meet the expectations/needs of the members - i.e. "clergy counseling", weddings, funerals, namings, etc., etc. And not just due to the lack of professional clergy, either, but also to the lack of "professional space". I assume that the "Emergent Church" is mostly headquartered in homes, as are most Heathen kindreds, and no home can supply the physical majesty that is a vital component of some rituals. Hopefully what'll happen in the future is that we'll pick up some of the professionalism that you guys are dropping - and meet you about halfway (in that sense, anyway ;>). In short, the organized Christian church in America has too much of a good thing - we Heathens don't have enough of it. Thanks for the comment, and Be well, Dave H.

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