Calvin's company of pastors
Subtitle: pastoral care and the emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609
By: Scott M. Manetsch
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 448
ISBN-13: 9780199938575
Subjects: Reformed Church; Pastoral theology; Church history; Religious refugees; History
Description: In Calvin's Company of Pastors, Scott Manetsch examines the pastoral theology and practical ministry activities of Geneva's reformed ministers from the time of Calvin's arrival in Geneva until the beginning of the seventeenth century. During these seven decades, more than 130 men were enrolled in Geneva's Venerable Company of Pastors (as it was called), including notable reformed leaders such as Pierre Viret, Theodore Beza, Simon Goulart, Lambert Daneau, and Jean Diodati. Aside from these better-known epigones, Geneva's pastors from this period remain hidden from view, cloaked in Calvin's long shadow, even though they played a strategic role in preserving and reshaping Calvin's pastoral legacy. Making extensive use of archival materials, published sermons, catechisms, prayer books, personal correspondence, and theological writings, Manetsch offers an engaging and vivid portrait of pastoral life in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Geneva, exploring the manner in which Geneva's ministers conceived of their pastoral office and performed their daily responsibilities of preaching, public worship, moral discipline, catechesis, administering the sacraments, and pastoral care. Manetsch demonstrates that Calvin and his colleagues were much more than ivory tower theologians or "quasi-agents of the state," concerned primarily with dispensing theological information to their congregations or enforcing magisterial authority. Rather, they saw themselves as spiritual shepherds of Christ's Church, and this self-understanding shaped to a significant degree their daily work as pastors and preachers. - Publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.         ) and index.
Table of contents: title: Geneva and her reformation; title: The company of pastors; title: Vocation and ordination; title: The pastor's household; title: Pastoral rhythms; title: The ministry of the Word; title: The ministry of moral oversight; title: Pastors and their books; title: The ministry of pastoral care.