Are All Christians Ministers?

John N. Collins

The Liturgical Press, $11.95, 168 pp.

Among the remarkable developments in post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism, one of the most remarkable is the transmutation of the notion of "ministry." From a word that was hardly employed before the council--save to refer somewhat suspiciously to Protestant "ministers"--it has become almost universally invoked and applied to a seemingly endless variety of pastoral services and activities, whether directed to "church" or "world." This "paradigm shift" in the use of the term "ministry," whereby it has come to signify a universal function constitutive of and incumbent upon all the baptized, would lead many to respond spontaneously to the title of John Collins's book, A re All Christians Ministers?, with a heart-felt "Yes !" By contrast, the author's signal contribution to a discussion desperately in need of theological critique lies in his careful examination of the New Testament evidence which leads him to respond with a provocative "No!"

Collins argues that our current situation, in which the notion of ministry has been extended rather indiscriminately, has been promoted in part by questionable translations of key New Testament texts. He acknowledges the enthusiasm this extension has generated and the energies it has released. Yet, while indulging no revisionist reveries, Collins submits the development to a searching examination in the light and by the norm of the New Testament usage upon which it pretends to depend. For there the term, formed from the Greek root diakon- (whence the theological note of diakonia or the ecclesial office of deacon), refers not to genetic, humble, often social-oriented service (a prevalent and rhetorically influential misconstrual today), but to authoritative proclamation and mediation of the saving event that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Collins illuminates his fundamental contention by a nuanced description both of the Hellenistic background and the actual New Testament employment of the terms. He holds, for example, that in Acts of the Apostles 6, the Seven are not commissioned to serve at table as lowly functionaries, but authoritatively to minister the Word, according to the apostolic mandate, to those at table. Their task is not social service, but proclamation and instruction as Stephen and Philip's subsequent actions manifest, where they appear as authoritative proclaimers of God's Word of judgment and salvation.

Collins further proposes that, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul differentiates between "ministries" and "activities." These are not equivalent concepts. Though both embody God's gift to the church and hence are "charismatic," ministries entail a specific and indispensable role of teaching and discernment within the community. Ministries thus promote the church's good order and upbuilding in Christ: for "the body will perform only as well as it is educated." Poor teaching makes for a slack body; false teaching for a dysfunctional one.

Finally, he insists that in Ephesians 4:11-13, the author, as the classic theological tradition has maintained, describes the work proper to ministry as one whereby men and women "equipped the saints and nurtured them to maturity in knowledge and love." As Collins himself puts it: "A minister is one appointed to the task, and in this instance the task is that of providing believers with the teaching which sustains them in faith and knowledge....When we late twentieth-century Christians turn [the author of Ephesians] word into a nondescript service within the capacity of any believer, we gravely distort his meaning." Ministers, therefore, stand both within and "over against" the body of believers.

The outcome of Collins's study is to delineate a specific identity to ministry: one that is more expansive and accessible than its restriction in pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism to "priesthood;" yet not so inclusive as to surrender all differentiation among the baptized members of Christ's body. He recognizes, with some bemusement, that such assertions risk appearing "reactionary" in an ecclesial and theological climate more given to correct slogans than to discriminating investigations. Yet the thrust of his analysis moves beyond hardened institutional polarizations to recover the radical newness of the New Testament vision. For the work of ministry in the early church "supposed a profoundly religious engagement with the Christian mystery, and was named ministry by virtue of this engagement." Surely no less is required today.

A noteworthy feature of Collins's study is its implicit recognition that reflection upon the specificity of ministry proceeds from a wider Christological and ecclesiological vision. What we understand ministry to be about depends upon whom we consider Jesus Christ to be and what we deem the nature and purpose of Christ's church to be.

A merely moralistic view of Christ or a utilitarian approach to church necessarily impoverishes the sense of Christian ministry, leveling it down to a least common denominator assimilation to what any concerned citizen would undertake. Whereas a scripturally inspired engagement with the mystery of the world's salvation in Christ and a whole-hearted adherence to the church as sacrament, celebrant, and witness of that salvation promotes a sense of ministry conscious of its immense dignity and responsibility. Such ministry is authoritative, not because of its office-holder, but because it derives from the Lord who commissions and serves as living norm of its exercise; to whom, ultimately, all ministers must render an account of their stewardship.

As the "paradigm shift" in Roman Catholic theology of ministry proceeds apace, this stimulating essay will help bring clarity and depth to a debate often deprived of both. It may even help to advance the ardent hope that Coleridge, in other circumstances, thought vital. "Great good, therefore, of such a revolution that alters not by exclusion, but by an enlargement....that includes the former, though it places it in a new point of view."