Pastoral Theology. The recognition of four great divisions of the subject of theology (q. v.), viz. Exeget- ical. Historical, Systematic or Dogmatic, and Practical (q. v.), is now very general among theological writers and teachers. On this plan of division pastoral becomes a subdivision of practical theology. Whereas practical theology embraces whatever relates to the organization and the outward life and influence of the Church, e. g. polity, liturgies, homiletics (q. v.), and missionary agen- cies, foreign and domestic, pastoral theology limits it- self to the personal and official duties of the pastors of churches. Even with this limitation, it covers a very wide field of study and discussion. The pastor, as the acknowledged head of a Church, not oifly has relations with its individual members touching their whole moral and religious life, but also with whatever is done by the
PASTORAL THEOLOGY
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PASTORAL THEOLOGY
Church ill its public capacity. Hence, though he docs not t'orm the polity of the Church to which he belongs, unless it be a single and independent congregation, yet he is expected to administer that polity, while at the same time he is the chief celebrant or director of its worship, whether with or without prescribed forms. Sucli duties require him to be educated in the science of theology in all its branches, and skilled in such an application of its teachings as will produce appropriate practical results.
While it is generally conceded that the character and work of pastors should be modelled after the scriptural idea, yet there are wide variations in the development of that idea, growing out of different systems of Church polity, as well as of divergent doctrinal theories.
I. In the Koman Catholic Church, while the term "priest" has superseded that of " pastor," yet the idea of pastoral obligation is strongly expressed in the term "curate," which is officially given to the priest of a parish, or one to whom is committed the cure of souls. According to high Roman Catholic authority, the fol- lowing are the duties of curates :
1. Instruction, including (1) catechization ; (2) preach-
2. The administration of the sacraments, viz. of bap- tism, of the Eucharist, of penance, which involves con- fession and absolution, of extreme unction, and of mar- riage. The sacraments of confirmation and of orders are administered by bishops. The sacraments first named being regarded as essential means of salvation, curates are most solemnly charged with the obligation to administer them through whatever danger of war, pestilence, or peril of life. It is specially enjoined on curates to visit the sick, and to be constantly in a state of grace to administer the sacraments appropriately.
3. Pastoral vigilance. — Vigilance, or watch -care, is one of the most essential parts of pastoral obligation. It is not enough for the curate to preach the Word of God, to administer the sacraments, he must also be at- tentive to watch over the conduct of his parishioners, considering the welfare of all in general, and of each one in particular, that he maj- answer to God for their souls.
4. The saying of masses for their pa rishioneis. — This duty is rigorouslj' prescribed for Sundays and feast-days. Votive masses, masses for the dead, and private masses may be said on other days.
Besides these special duties, curates are held to cer- tain other obligations common to all ordained eccle- siastics of the Koman Catholic Church, such as celibacy, the wearing of ecclesiastical dress, and the recitation of the divine offices. This latter duty consists in the dail}' recitation of the prayers prescribed in the (Latin) Breviari/ (q. v.) for the several canonical hours, viz. matins before light, primes at sunrise, tierces at 0 A.^I., sextes at mitl-day, 7wnes at 3 P.M., vesjjers at sunset, and compline on retiring for the night.
The minuteness of prescription in ecclesiastical law for all these duties leaves little to the discretion of the clerics who arc subject to them ; and had it been pos- sible for Church law to supply right dispositions of heart corresponding to so many outward ceremonies, the system above described might be pronounced per- fect, except in its departures from scriptural truth, as in the pretended veritable sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mass, and in the assumption of human power to forgive sins.
II. The lieformation reacted with great force against the whole system of priestly prerogatives which had become incorporated in the Church of Rome, and es- peciallj' against auricular confession. In the Protestant churches, therefore, not only was the mass rejected, but all the so-called sacraments, except baptism and the Lord's Supper. Celibacy was not enjoined on the clergy, nor the ceremonious recitation of long prayers in a dead language. On the other hand, positive demands were made upon all who proposed devoting themselves
to the service of the Church that they should have a pure and established religious character, that they should lead holy lives, and give evidence not only of true faith in Christ, but of a divine call to the ministry of the (iospel. Correspondingly to this, they were re- quired to be diligent in the reading and study of the Scriptures, and in all moral and religious duties.
Some churches, as the Lutheran and the Church of England, retained, in their ritual, forms of general con- fession, not for private utterance in the ear of a priest, but for the puljlic acknowledgment of sin before Al- mighty God. In the High-Church or Romanistic re- action of recent times, oftbrts have been made in both those churches to re-establish at least a modified con- fessional.