Reflections on Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay on "The American Scholar", says that there are three elements that go into the making of a good scholar. They are 'nature', 'books', and 'action'.

There are applications and connections from this for pastors as well. I do consider myself to be a bit of a scholar (all that there studyin') but not enough to give myself that title. But how should these three parts of the making of a scholar apply to ministry?

EMerson says that nature is the greatest teacher. I think he was a deist, but I'm not sure. Christians can substitute God for nature. Sme do this anyway. But it is God who is indeed the greatest teacher and no pastor can truly be called that who does not put him slef at God's feet to learn.

Books also, but they can be secondary. They teach us about the past (Emerson again) and what great men have thought and taught. Obviously our greatest book is Scripture, but there are so many other deep and almost magical writings on God, Jesus, faith, etc. As pastors, we need to familiarize ourselves with what great men of God have written in the past. And, to an extent, we need to hold onto the past. No pastor is an original. Doctrine is built upon the foudation of the apostles' teaching. There is a need to pastors to connect with what has gone before them.

Action is the third part. I'm going to go into a little more detail on this in the next post.