Called to Lead: Paul's Letters to Timothy for a New Day

ANTHONY B. ROBINSON is founder and president of the Seattle-based Congregational Leadership Northwest and senior consultant for the Atlanta-based Center for Progressive Renewal. His other books include Transforming Congregational Culture.

Robert W. Wall is Paul T. Walls Professor Emeritus of Scripture and Wesleyan Studies at Seattle Pacific University, where he taught for forty-three years until his retirement in 2021. He has authored numerous books and commentaries on the New Testament.

For a very long time the pastor-to-pastor Pauline letters to Timothy have been marginalized by some and grossly misinterpreted by others. It is now time for us to rediscover these letters and to put them into imaginative conversation with the contemporary realities of church and culture. That is precisely what this fine study accomplishes with exegetical care, theological acumen, and pastoral insight. Seminarians, ministers, and other leaders in Christian congregations should read Called to Lead carefully and consider together its potentially transformative implications for the church.

Lillian Daniel
-- coauthor of This Odd and Wondrous Calling
"Full of down-to-earth biblical wisdom, Called to Lead reminds us that there's not a leadership issue we can come up with that hasn't been addressed by Scripture already. . . . The chapter on lay ministry is already worth the price of the book."
 
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 
"This book is a fine combination of exegetical study and pastoral theology. It would be a helpful resource for pastors, leaders in the church and students."
 
Review of Biblical Literature 
"The book is well-suited for church leaders, educators, church members, and students who desire to explore fresh thinking from the Pastoral Epistles in language relevant to today’s church. It is very well organized, with each chapter having discussion questions to help readers probe the content area further. . . . A very helpful interdisciplinary dialogue in which Paul’s writings to Timothy come to life in helpful and clarifying ways, with a surprising freshness and relevancy."
 
Christian Century
"Many biblical commentaries include both scholarly exegesis and pastoral commentary. But the pairing of these two authors is particularly fruitful. Their writing has the feel of an extended dialogue between two smart and faithful Christians who share common commitments but bring difference areas of expertise to the conversation. The book succeeds in delineating ways in which Acts is both relevant and helpful for church life today."

Catholic Biblical Quarterly 
"Thorough exegesis. . . . Provides the readers with a pastoral interest a rewarding reading of these often neglected epistles."