Jan 27, 2025
When most people hear the word “doctor,” they think about medical doctors. However, lawyers are Juris Doctors or Doctors of the Law, Ph.D.s are Doctors of Philosophy, and Th.D.s are Doctors of Theology. So what is a Doctor of Ministry? Unlike their Ph.D. or Th.D. counterparts, who are called to be professors in philosophy or theology, D.Min. graduates may be good teachers but do not necessarily have expansive mastery in broad areas of philosophy or even theology. And, a Doctor of Ministry is for sure not a medical doctor. You wouldn’t want medical advice from me. I would prescribe Tums and Aloe vera or some combination of the two for everything—ask my kids. If a Doctor of Ministry can’t help you with a legal or medical issue and might not even know all the details of philosophy or theology, what good is a D.Min. degree anyway?
After three significant years in the D.Min. program, Dr. Winn Collier helped us consider what would be commencing in our graduation and transition after our cohort ended. He reminded us that we would become stewards of a holy and ancient way of pastoring, different from what so many call pastoring.
As Dr. Collier spoke of an integrated, whole, and healthy way of pastoring, I recalled the Douay-Rheims translation of Ephesians 4:11-13:
And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Until we all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.
This is the only translation I know of that translates the Greek didaskalous as “doctor” instead of the more common “teacher.”
The reason I like this translation is probably a stretch. Paul tells the Ephesian congregations that God gave these gifts to the Church “to equip the saints” (Ephesians 4:12). The word for “equip” is katartismon, where we get the word catharsis. Among other uses, the word translated “equip” is a medical term used for binding up wounded limbs, setting bones, fixing teeth, and applying salve. But in Ephesians, the patient needing this cathartic healing is the human body of Christ—members who are not functioning, or are wounded, inflexible, or traumatized.
The body of Christ needs Pastor-Doctors. Pastor-Doctors who look you in the eyes. Curious Pastor-Doctors who ask diagnostic questions for the sake of healing—and who pay attention. Pastor-Doctors who are present when they are with you. Pastor-Doctors who know that the soul is as real as the body and that the soul greatly impacts the body.
The body of Christ needs Priest-Doctors who are good at referring everything to the Great Physician. Priest-Doctors who diagnose, intercede, and prescribe the balm of grace to the brokenhearted. Priest-Doctors who feed Christ’s precious flock a diet of the healing gospel.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks disparagingly about pastors who “have healed the wound of my people lightly” (Jeremiah 6:14).
Doctors practice. I love the grace of that word.
It takes time and patience to practice medicine, law, or philosophy. It also takes time to practice ministry. We don’t always get it right, but we want to. We want to get better.
Maybe a good way to think about a Doctor of Ministry is more like a Doctor of the Parish Church (Doctor Ecclesiae Parochialis) or a Doctor of Souls or Soul Care (Doctor Animarum or, better, Seelsorger).
I want to practice this kind of medicine. Not a Doctor of the Universal Church, but a Parish-Doctor, which is good and right because it is what I am called to do at Blessed Trinity Church in San Pedro, CA.
In a world overrun by ego and animosity, the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination seeks to help nurture faithful, contemplative, joyful, holy, and deeply human ways of being. Through retreats, theological reflection, art, and conversations, the Peterson Center aims to continue the conversation that Eugene encouraged, pondering the questions that shaped his Christian imagination.
Articles