Rating: 
Summary: resonates with me
Review: Peterson challenges his readers to avoid settling for maintaining merely an image of pastoral work. Using the metaphor of a triangle, he describes the visible lines of pastoral work as preaching, teaching and administration. But the lines of these public activities cannot give any shape to a ministry without the interior angles of prayer, Scripture reading and spiritual direction to hold them together.
Peterson declares, "I don't know of any other profession in which it is quite as easy to fake it as in ours." I'm in seminary now and I am emphatically not hoping for a ministry of "faking it." Working the Angles offers encouragement for the traditional, and traditionally quiet, disciplines of the interior angles. This is a book that I expect will resonate after five, ten and twenty years of pastoral experience.
Rating:
Summary: Good basic text for aspirants and pastors
Review: Peterson's work gives a simple yet accurate image of three necessary ingredients for developing an aspirant into a pastor. He boils it down to three "angles" of prayer, Scripture, and spiritual direction connected by the "lines" of preaching, teaching and administration (5). He rejcts the "gimmicks" that might be offered to short-circuit the process, gimmicks that might polish one's exterior image yet do little to strengthen one's heart, soul, spirit, or relationship with God (7).
His discussion of the angle of prayer is good and solid theologically, yet offers little new information or inspiration. I found this section of the book to be the weakest.
His section regarding Holy Scripture was the one I found to be the best. He makes the interesting and little-expressed point that "reading Scripture is not the same as listening to God" (87). He advocates "contemplative exegesis" to uncover the living story of Scripture through sound and oral tradition rather than printed information. I agree with his insistence that pastors should refrain from distilling Scripture into so many neat packages of morality and lessons, and instead preach and teach the stories with all of their messy, graphic, and even embarassing details. One can visit a museum and see neatly arranged items and artifacts of a country, or one can travel to that country and live, work, and sweat in it, eat its food and speak its language. Again, this section is the strongest.
Regarding spiritual direction, Peterson defines it in somewhat ambiguous terms, which was frustrating to me at first. However, he rightly points out that most such direction occurs in spontaneous and "unplanned but 'just right' moments" (160). Reading this chapter makes me suspect that spiritual direction could be a challenge for those considered to have a "Type A" personality. I strongly agree with Peterson that a pastor needs a spiritual director who will keep him/her balanced and attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Rating: 
Summary: Pray, Read and Talk. Could be better
Review: Eugene Peterson has been thinking about it for a long time and has some advice for pastors out there. Before he gives the advice, he has some words of criticism for them: they've been sucked into the world of "respected" professionals who let money or comfort dictate their career decisons (e.g. the ambulance-chasing lawyer, the salesman who tells you what you want to hear just so he gets the sale). He admonishes pastors who have a similar mentality and advises them to work on their prayer life (especially the Psalms), read the Bible with more fervor, and find a "spiritual counsleor"-- someone who can guide you towards a closer relationship with God.Of course pastors need to read the Bible and pray! This is no new revelation! He did make me more interested in reading the Psalms, though. The section on "how to read" was not to my liking, either. The section on the importance of finding a spritiual mentor, however was quite interesting. Americans seem to have a fascination with Teddy Roosevelt-style "Rugged Individualism." This apparently carries over to the pastor who now thinks he has to be a strong leader of the church instead of realizing that Christ himself acted like a servent for us. He even humbled himself to wash his disciples feet and act as our "whipping boy"--taking a punishment that was rightfully ours as he died on the cross. While I whole-heartedly say that Peterson's last section was the best, there are some good points to his first two sections. I already mentioned a new respect for the Psalms; in fact, the word "respect" is the key theme for most of Peterson's book. Respect the fact that, when you pray, you are talking to your Creator and Redeemer! Don't take that lightly! When you read the Bible, realize that it's your Creator and Redeemer talking with you! Don't read it lightly! That pretty much sums up Peterson's book. Read the introduction to this at your library or bookstore. If you're really into the book after that, go ahead and buy it. Be warned, however, this is Peterson's best writing in "Working the Angles" and the prose kind of goes downhill from there.
Rating:
Summary: Pray, Read and Talk. Could be better
Review: Eugene Peterson has been thinking about it for a long time and has some advice for pastors out there. Before he gives the advice, he has some words of criticism for them: they've been sucked into the world of "respected" professionals who let money or comfort dictate their career decisons (e.g. the ambulance-chasing lawyer, the salesman who tells you what you want to hear just so he gets the sale). He admonishes pastors who have a similar mentality and advises them to work on their prayer life (especially the Psalms), read the Bible with more fervor, and find a "spiritual counsleor"-- someone who can guide you towards a closer relationship with God. Of course pastors need to read the Bible and pray! This is no new revelation! He did make me more interested in reading the Psalms, though. The section on "how to read" was not to my liking, either. The section on the importance of finding a spritiual mentor, however was quite interesting. Americans seem to have a fascination with Teddy Roosevelt-style "Rugged Individualism." This apparently carries over to the pastor who now thinks he has to be a strong leader of the church instead of realizing that Christ himself acted like a servent for us. He even humbled himself to wash his disciples feet and act as our "whipping boy"--taking a punishment that was rightfully ours as he died on the cross. While I whole-heartedly say that Peterson's last section was the best, there are some good points to his first two sections. I already mentioned a new respect for the Psalms; in fact, the word "respect" is the key theme for most of Peterson's book. Respect the fact that, when you pray, you are talking to your Creator and Redeemer! Don't take that lightly! When you read the Bible, realize that it's your Creator and Redeemer talking with you! Don't read it lightly! That pretty much sums up Peterson's book. Read the introduction to this at your library or bookstore. If you're really into the book after that, go ahead and buy it. Be warned, however, this is Peterson's best writing in "Working the Angles" and the prose kind of goes downhill from there.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing suggestions for ministry
Review: Eugene Peterson's book is best read as a collection of suggestions for Christian pastors. In a sense, Peterson does not offer us anything terribly innovative: pray a lot, read the scriptures a lot, and have a mentor. But the book itself is unique in the way he gets this important message across. He does not lay out steps for how you HAVE to operate as a pastor. Rather, he speaks from his practical experience as a pastor for keeping things in proper perspective.
It is refreshing because Peterson's very practical and easy to read book actually helped me pray and read the scriptures anew. As a seminarian, I am all too accustomed to reading texts, and especially scripture, for the sake of study. But Peterson reminds us that proper prayer and reading of the scriptures are essential for our own survival let alone the survival of our flock.
Blocking out time specifically for prayer and study are a must for Peterson. His description of prayer and study alone import to pastors the necessity of setting aside time for these disciplines. It is all to easy for pastors to become burdened with the never-ending details and activities of the church. But Peterson's novel reminds us that if our spiritual life is not in order, then our congregation's life will not be either.
Rating: 
Summary: I Echo My Friend's Review
Review: I have a friend who is a professor at a school of religion. He helps to train our next generation of pastors. He once told me that "Working the Angles" was one of the best books on Pastoral Theology he had read and by far Peterson's best work. I don't think I would go as far as he did with my praise, but this certainly is a book worth owning. It will help you get back to the basics.
Rating:
Summary: I Echo My Friend's Review
Review: I have a friend who is a professor at a school of religion. He helps to train our next generation of pastors. He once told me that "Working the Angles" was one of the best books on Pastoral Theology he had read and by far Peterson's best work. I don't think I would go as far as he did with my praise, but this certainly is a book worth owning. It will help you get back to the basics.
Rating:
Summary: Appropriately Unsettling
Review: In his sharp yet graceful way, Peterson calls pastors to a needed level of introspection. As he notes, "It doesn't take many years in this business to realize that we can conduct a fairly respectable pastoral ministry without giving much more than ceremonial attention to God." Increasingly, the church is using social tools to both chase our rapidly accelerating society and to guage the church's success within our society. As a relatively new pastor, I've already experienced the pressure (my own and otherwise) to minister and measure my ministry by social standards that often have nothing to do with God's direction. Yet, Peterson clearly reminds the reader that faithfulness to God's call is often counter to society's best and most up-to-date wisdom. Through reading this book, my own priorities have shifted for the better.
Rating:
Summary: Appropriately Unsettling
Review: In his sharp yet graceful way, Peterson calls pastors to a needed level of introspection. As he notes, "It doesn't take many years in this business to realize that we can conduct a fairly respectable pastoral ministry without giving much more than ceremonial attention to God." Increasingly, the church is using social tools to both chase our rapidly accelerating society and to guage the church's success within our society. As a relatively new pastor, I've already experienced the pressure (my own and otherwise) to minister and measure my ministry by social standards that often have nothing to do with God's direction. Yet, Peterson clearly reminds the reader that faithfulness to God's call is often counter to society's best and most up-to-date wisdom. Through reading this book, my own priorities have shifted for the better.
Rating:
Summary: It will rock pastors out of thier ecclesiasical comfort zone
Review: Peterson effectively cuts to the heart of pastors who too easily fall into clerical complcency. He focuses on the areas of prayer, scripture, and spiritual direction. He compels us to think of who we are, far more that what we do. It is convicting and motivating. Well written and timely.
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