The Minister as Moral Theologian: Ethical Dimensions of Pastoral Leadership by Sondra Wheeler (review)

Sondra Wheeler packs a lot of prudent advice into this slender volume. The Minister as Moral Theologian addresses the pastor's responsibilities as a moral leader and exemplar within a congregation and is meant to accompany Sustaining Ministry: Foundations and Practices for Serving Faithfully (also published by Baker Academic in 2017), which engages discussions of ministerial power, professional boundaries, fiduciary responsibility, codes of conduct, sexuality, countertransference, and self-care. While these two books might fruitfully be read together, this review focuses upon the former.

In this book, Wheeler seeks to address a deficiency in the literature on "ethics for ministers" by instead writing about "ministers as ethicists" (xiii), attending to the spiritual practices and virtues needed for developing and sustaining the character necessary for moral leadership in a congregation. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the ethics of duty, consequences, and virtue and describes the church as a moral community of deliberation that provides the context for "growing together in holiness" (11). The task of the moral leader is not to provide answers but rather to model a holy life, provide tools for discernment, and nurture a congregational context conducive to "reform and reconciliation" (10). Chapter 2, "Preaching on Morally Difficult Texts and Occasions," is the strongest of the book. She draws on virtues of faith, love, trust, honesty, compassion, and justice as she offers, for example, seven general guidelines for "preaching in the face of disaster" (37–42). Wheeler writes with a passionate voice of faith that takes seriously the gospel message and admits the complexities of living out that witness. Chapter 3, "Teaching about Moral Issues," discusses sources and method in Christian ethics in order to equip the pastor to teach a congregation and its members "how to think" as a discerning community of faith (68). Chapter 4, "Giving Moral Counsel," emphasizes the pastor's role as a representative of the Christian community. Here, she asserts "build[ing] up the Body of Christ, particularly its most vulnerable members" as the standard of Christian behavior (91–92). To help individuals "illuminate their choices" according to this standard, the pastor needs the virtues of "humility, patience, and restraint" (102–3). Chapter 5, "Serving as a Moral Example," invokes 1 Corinthians 13 to present "love as a practical norm" (119–25) for the minister's role as "public disciple" (115). The book concludes with a brief discussion of congregational conflict, followed by practical guidance about handling the pressures of the high standards of ministry.

My seminary students overwhelmingly like this book, although those preparing for chaplaincy find its congregational focus too narrow. Wheeler's practical advice for ministry rings true, drawing on wisdom gleaned during her twenty-five years as a seminary professor. Nevertheless, while her depictions of the church as a community of moral discernment and the role of pastor as moral exemplar inspire, they seem insufficient to address the bitter realities of division, conflict, and abuse that often arise within congregations. Such problems often go far beyond "strong disagreement . . . or a personal breach arising from some harm or offense between members" and a call to extend mercy (125–26). The moral complexities associated with sexual abuse in our churches surfaced by the #ChurchToo movement strain the limits of a virtue-based, moral exemplar approach to pastoral leadership. Furthermore, in a culture in which discipleship is so rarely stressed and in an age in which many students enter seminary with limited church experience, I cannot help but wonder how many of them have the depth of character formation within Christian community to fully understand and live out her wise counsels. Despite these challenges, Wheeler has provided us an important vision of what ministerial leadership could and ought to be.