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Concerning the true care of soulsGood shepherdCONCERNING THE TRUE CARE OF SOULS We live in an age where a lot of emphasis in ministry is placed upon evangelism. Church leaders seek to do evangelism, model it, and motivate their congregations, all of which is excellent. Giving real spiritual guidance, though, is the Cinderella ministry of the evangelical church today. Churches are unsure as to what pastoral care looks like — and leaders are often just as clueless! Martin Bucer’s book is a timely and nearly 500-year-old pointer to the ministry of caring for Christians. Bucer led the Reformation movement at Strasbourg for 25 years, before he left to take up a teaching post at Cambridge, at Thomas Cranmer’s invitation. His Strasbourg ministry had an enormous effect on church leaders across Europe, most famously on Calvin, his one-time colleague. After five brief chapters looking at the nature of the church and its shepherds, from the Gospels, Acts and the Epistles, Bucer takes us to his guiding text, Ezekiel 34.16, and from it takes ‘the five main tasks of the care of souls’ (p.70), which fill five substantial chapters. The modern reader will notice chapter nine, which is nearly a third of the complete work, exploring the binding and healing of the wounded sheep of Christ’s church. Here Bucer treats at considerable length the nature of church discipline, particularly in its expression in penance. Penance for Bucer is the exclusion of a sinning Christian from church fellowship for a season, and then his public confession and re-admittance at the Lord’s Table. As unfamiliar as many are today with the disciplining of professing Christians who are in sin, this chapter provides important stimulus for thinking about how to deal with sin in the life of the church. What comes through the book strongly is Bucer’s passion for people, and insistence that they are more than worthy of their leaders’ tireless work in caring for them. Pastors who read Bucer’s work will surely have a new passion for investing themselves in the lives of others, and a confidence in the shepherding of the Lord Jesus through their efforts. Peter Beale’s translation is very readable, and an excellent historical introduction by the late David F. Wright sheds important light on Bucer’s context and motivations for writing. The Banner has maintained its very high standards in producing an attractive and sturdy book, which will serve many today. Lewis Allen,
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