138 - Too Many Pastors

Too Many Pastors?
By Jackson W. Carroll and Robert L. Wilson
New York, Pilgrim, 1980. 172 pp. $6.95.

A popular treatment of the authors' previous research, this book suggests that there is an oversupply of Protestant clergy. It is organized under three headings: ( I ) the present predicament, a brief description of the elements of the thesis: (2) consequences of the clergy oversupply, an articulation of several implications of the description; and (3) coping with the job situation, a series of helpful hints for both ministers and churches. The Afterword provides a note of cautious optimism about the possibility of imaginative use of the present time for creative change in our life as a church.

As a sweeping overview, its strength is asking questions, thereby exposing the weighty issues, e.g.. the nature of ministry. Yet it suffers from generalization, which may be unavoidable in any attempt to deal with so many denominations. The data are dated, the thesis is asserted though not necessarily proved, yet the questions are worth considering.

James L. Mechem
The Vocation Agency of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
New York, N. Y.