ARE SERMONS UNDERSTOOD?

Taranaki Daily News, 28 January 1933, Page 5

ARE SERMONS UNDERSTOOD?

MINISTER EXPRESSES DOUBT.

BLAMES THEOLOGICAL TRAINING.

Declaring' that the. present system of theological education was devised with another situation in view, the Rev. Dr. C. N. Button, of Ballarat, .asks in * the current issue of the Presbyterian Messenger whether clergymen. are not talking' “above the heads of their •congregations most of the .time.. He recalls that early in his ministry an intelligent man came to- him after the service and said, “You said something about psychology; what is psychology? ;.and the Incarnation; what is that? Dr. Button adds, “And I thought I was being. simple. Since then I have had young professional men ' tell me more than once that what they hear in the pulpit.' nearly always . seems utterly remote from anything, they know about. Academically trained people . so often forget that there are plenty of intelligent people sitting in the pews whose thinking does not in the least run along academic, abstract, or .even literary lines.** .. Dr. Button considers that it is tune for a thorough review to be made of ■the system of theological education in view of present Australian conditions. In such a review due weight should be given to the opinion of those who are more i ntouch with the practical problems of ministers and congregations than those who are concerned immediately in teaching are apt to be.