As One with Authority, Second Edition

Description: Congregations today face both old and often new, unprecedented challenges--spiritual, moral, technological, and economic--for which there are no easy solutions. Facing such challenges calls for pastors able to lead with authority in ways at the same time faithful to the gospel and appropriate to the congregation's setting and the issues at hand. Yet many pastors are unsure of their authority, often experiencing conflict as they attempt to lead. Others have abused their authority and brought mistrust and suspicion to ordained ministry, making it difficult for other clergy to lead. In this book, a new and revised edition of his earlier, highly regarded work on pastoral authority and leadership, Jackson Carroll brings together theological and sociological perspectives to provide an interpretation of pastoral authority as reflective leadership, a style of leadership that involves vision and discernment, and that is appropriate for the many roles in which pastors engage--preaching, worship leadership, teaching, counseling, and shaping the congregation's corporate life. In this new edition Carroll draws on what he has learned from many conversations with pastors and lay leaders since the book's initial publication as well as insights from others. He also introduces helpful new case material from practicing pastors and incorporates the perspectives of several recent leadership theorists and practitioners to deepen and enhance the discussion of pastoral authority as reflective leadership. Endorsements: "When a book is described as a 'classic, ' it means it stands the test of time. Its message is as important today as when the author first put pen to paper. Jackson Carroll's As One With Authority is a classic. This book remains essential reading for every church leader who wants to understand the unique kind of leadership needed in congregations. This is one of those rare books that should never sit neglected on a shelf. It is meant to be read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested--and shared with a new generation of pastors." -Michael Jinkins President Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary "Based on solid theological and sociological research, and several decades of astute observation, Jackson Carroll has updated his classic work on As One With Authority, and just in time to benefit those clergy who are questioning their authority. Jackson clarifies the narrative of pastoral authority as reflective leadership and takes us back to those biblical roots as old as Paul, Jesus, Isaiah, and Moses. This is a penetrating exposition of the biblical vision of the way pastoral ministry should be done, and is the first book every beginning student of ministry should read. I recommend it most highly." -Robert E. Cooley President Emeritus Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary "Pastors need the expertise that allows them to read the social situation and interpret their traditions, but also an ear for the calling and vision that lends their work 'sacred weight.' Building on the insight sociology has to offer and his own keen theological sensibilities, Carroll speaks here 'as one with authority.'" -Nancy T. Ammerman Professor of Sociology of Religion Boston University About the Contributor(s): Jackson W. Carroll is the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Professor Emeritus of Religion and Society at Duke University Divinity School, where he also was project director of Pulpit & Pew: Research on Pastoral Leadership. An ordained United Methodist minister, he has most recently authored God's Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (2006). He has also written extensively on pastoral ministry and congregations, including Mainline to the Future: Congregations for the 21st Century (2000).