Being Salt: A Theology of an Ordered Church

Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2008 by Biale, Wendy Lann

Being Salt: A Theology of an Ordered Church. By George R. Sumner. Eugene, Ore.: Cascade Books, 2007. 110 pp. $15.00 (paper).

Clergy burnout and diminishing vocations are not primarily a result of overwork or the unique stresses on the modern church, but of lack of meaning and true understanding of ordination. George Sumner s improbable starting point for addressing this crisis is to ask: "Why ordination for life?" Being Salt's three responses each addresses the prior question: "What is the church?" The reflection on indelible orders in this book has produced a thoughtful theology of an ordered church.

Avoiding a "theology of glory," Sumner presents the priest as counter-symbol by virtue not of a required personal giftedness, but rather a pointing away from self toward Christ. In the offering at the altar, in the proclamation of the Word, and in daily parish life, the priest reminds the church of justification by faith in Christ. With the derivative authority the priest exercises by virtue of pointing toward Christ, the priest must be counter-symbol to the congregation, which can be distracted by worldly concerns and values. Through catechesis and exhortation, the priest maintains for the church faithfulness to the church's witness to Christ. The priest, then, is an icon of self-evacuation in order to take on the person and mission of Christ-an icon not of Christ, but of the church. Just as the church must be the Body of Christ without ceasing, so must the priest represent the church back to itself without ceasing.

The priest is also the sign of the oath. The covenant that Christ extends to the church is "that people of all the earth can be forgiven their sins and restored to God through faith in Christ" (p. 48). When we gather as church, we respond to this, God's pledge. Through baptism we take the solemn oath to renounce lives of sin and to take on the life of the covenant. It is by such oath-taking and oath-keeping that we are defined. Our moral health depends upon our ability to keep this oath, albeit through reliance on Christ. The priest who takes this same oath takes an additional oath to be a symbol to the community of the "avowed life that arises for the Church as a result" of accepting God's pledge to us (p. 51). As a symbol of the life our oath demands, the priests life must reflect significant and lasting virtue, not only as an example for how others should live, but as a reflection to the community of the ordered quality that is the very nature of being church. Just as married life is symbolic of the "depth and duration" of Christ's presence among us, the permanence of the ordained ministry communicates the same unqualified fidelity of the covenantal life for the church.

Last, Sumner calls the priest the church in miniature. It has been the perduring experience of the church to struggle between the need for traditional structures and for repeated reform. The church remains true to its founding and to its mission to the world only when it balances these two imperatives. The priest lives where these collide. The priest's navigation of this tension symbolizes the very nature of church. Were the priest able to escape this tension by serving as priest for "only a season," were the priest to give up rather than model the only viable solution-a radical turn toward Christ-the vocation of priest would lose its symbolic force.

When priesthood is understood not only in terms of function (what the priest does), but also ontologically (what the priest is), meaning arises. The identity of the priest is definite and normative in content because it is rooted in the theological disciplines and traditions founded in Christ. Its sustenance and endurance extends from the promise of Christ, not from personal accomplishment. It is in being a priest that one is a sign of hope for the church. The priest is to "be salt" by preserving the tradition. But the priest is also salt by doing, especially when he or she encourages the renewal for which the gospel calls.

Sumner next applies his understanding of indelible orders to the modern roles of bishop, priest, and deacon, particularly in relation to leadership. This book offers itself to the soon-to-be- and the already-ordained as an inspiring articulation of identity, leadership, and service that is both theological and practical, without becoming a self-help book for clergy. The result of addressing the meaning of ordination is a theology of church which is important for, and easily accessible to, the laity. Its brevity and clarity make Being Salt a good starting point for those who wish to talk about "being church" within congregations.

WENDY LANN BIALE

Graduate Theological Union

Berkeley, California