Maybe it's because I hang around the mainline, but I don't see that; the pastors I know, where they live is where they preach. I'd be interested to know on what basis this assertion is made.

I think some pastors feel constrained to preach only on what they think we can "know" from scripture and shy away from more speculative areas of theology - areas where they may hold personal opinions but about which reasonable Christians can differ and where they don't feel themselves to be on sure footing, making proclamations from the pulpit.

I don't think this needs to be the case but I think it's true for some, and leads to a focus on credal essentials (and maybe the doctrinal tenets of their particular denomination or tradition) but silence on other areas where their own beliefs or hopes may be to the left of many in their congregation.

This was true of C.S. Lewis, to an extent. He focused most of his published writing on "mere Christianity" as he understood it and you have to really know his corpus well, or to have read some of his letters or biographies, to realize that some of his beliefs on non-salvific issues skewed outside what many evangelicals would consider acceptable territory.

Acient Mariner, like almost every assertion I make it's based almost entirely on my personal experience. Not so scientific eh? And possibly wrong...probably even. But here's my experience:

My father-in-law is a pastor (a former mainline denomination president). He votes Democrat, is anti-war, drinks daily, smokes cigars, cusses when it's funny (to him), believes women should be allowed to pastor, doesn't have a problem with gay marriage amendments (doesn't think a marriage is defined by the government but only by God so who cares) and on and on. These are "liberal" views in his denomination and he'd never be in leadership if all of this was known to the public so he sits on it. He just never mentions it. He doesn't lie and preach the opposite either.

The same sort of thing is true of my dozen or so friends who pastor churches and/or author books - some of them family members I know very well and have watched move slowly from middle to left of it.

How well do you know your pastor pals really?

Shaun, thanks for answering my question; I appreciate it, and I'm glad to hear your experience. As for me, we all talk shop about as bluntly as it's possible to--we have to, for our sanity, if nothing else. We can trust each other in a way in which we can trust very few people. So, yeah, I know them well, both their beliefs and their doubts, and I know that where they are and what they believe is where they preach from, and lead from. We do have things we can't say publicly, but they're much more personal. (Calling one of one's elders a string of four-letter words, for instance, while tempting, would be somewhat deleterious to one's job security, after all . . .)

As for your father-in-law, he sounds like he'd fit in with the mainline as I know it just fine . . . :)

(Oh, and while I have the opportunity--thanks for your music, too. Good stuff. :) )

Hey Shaun,

Yeah, no kidding - what AM said! Thanks for the music. I think your song Should I Tell Them is fabulous. Wish I could write like that.

Should I tell them that I am a perfect example
Of all You can do with a life.

Love that line!

Thanks for visiting our little blog :-)