c. 2003 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) America’s clergy are reading a broad range of theologians, Bible scholars and inspirational writers, at times crossing liberal-conservative and Protestant-Catholic divides to share spiritual writers from different traditions.
What they do not put at the top of their reading lists, according to a national survey, are women and black writers.
The survey of pastoral reading habits conducted for the Pulpit & Pew research project at Duke Divinity School showed Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest known for searing honesty and personal vulnerability, was the favorite author of both Catholic priests and mainline Protestant clergy.
C.S. Lewis, an Anglican layman who thrilled children with his “Chronicles of Narnia” series and generations of Christian thinkers with such works as “Mere Christianity,” was the top writer crossing over the favorite lists of all Christian clergy.
However, not a single woman or black writer made the Top 10 lists of Catholic, mainline Protestant or conservative Protestant clergy.
More than 800 clergy from 80 denominations responded to the 2001 random telephone survey conducted for the Duke research project by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. The results are to be part of a book to be published next year.
Each cleric was asked, “Other than the Bible, what three authors do you read most often in your work as a pastor?”
Nouwen, Pope John Paul II, the biblical scholar Raymond Brown and spiritual writer William Bausch were the top four authors selected by Catholic clergy. Nouwen, United Methodist theologian William Willimon, spiritual writer Frederick Buechner and popular author Max Lucado were the top four of mainline Protestants.
Lucado, leadership author John C. Maxwell, theologian and devotional writer Charles Swindoll and biblical scholar John MacArthur led the list of those read by conservative clergy. In addition to Lucado, the popular inspirational writer Philip Yancey, Lewis and Maxwell were on the Top 10 lists of both mainline and conservative Protestants. Lewis was No. 11 on the Catholic list.
Overall, the results suggest clergy from the three main Christian groups live in distinct intellectual and cultural worlds, said Jackson Carroll, director of the Duke research project.
Sixteen percent of the clergy surveyed were black; 9 percent were women.
The Episcopal spiritual writer Barbara Brown Taylor was the first woman to show up on any list _ No. 12 in the favorite authors of mainline Protestant clergy. The popular black Pentecostal writer T.D. Jakes was No. 11 on the list of writers conservative Protestants turn to in their work as pastors.
(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)
X X X
What clergy are reading
More than 800 U.S. clergy were asked, “Other than the Bible, what three authors do you read most often in your work as a pastor?” Here are the Top 10 authors as picked by Catholic, mainline Protestant and conservative Protestant clergy in the 2001 telephone survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
CATHOLIC
Henri Nouwen
Pope John Paul II
Raymond Brown
William J. Bausch
Walter J. Burghardt
Scott Hahn
Anthony de Mello
William Barclay
Richard P. McBrien
Karl Rahner
MAINLINE PROTESTANT
Henri Nouwen
William Willimon
Frederick Buechner
Max Lucado
Eugene Peterson
C.S. Lewis
Marcus Borg
John C. Maxwell
Lyle E. Schaller
Philip Yancey
CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANT
Max Lucado
John C. Maxwell
Charles Swindoll
John MacArthur
Warren Wiersbe
Philip Yancey
Rick Warren
C.S. Lewis
Matthew Henry
Charles Spurgeon
DEA END BRIGGS
