BY MICHAEL T. COOPER ON PATHEOS.COM | 5 JULY 2024
bed. As the Greek legend is told, if the stranger’s limbs protruded over the bed, Procrustes amputated them. If the stranger’s body was too short, Procrustes stretched the limbs until he fit. In all cases, the forced conformity of the stranger’s body to Procrustes’ iron bed resulted in death. Ultimately, the hero Theseus forced Procrustes to make his own body fit to his bed and he subsequently died a similar death as his strangers.
The Procrustean bed became a metaphor for forcing someone or something to conform to an unnatural system. In many ways, we see this sort of systemic prejudice in the manner in which we do church. Perhaps, as we observe in early Christian history, the pastor- and building-centric church is such an iron Procrustean bed.
The Procrustean “Pastor”
The rise of the term “pastor” in the historical development of the church occurs during the fourth century when the role of bishop and elders began to be described as shepherds (gr. poimen). The early history of the church shows us that some shepherds also served as prophets and teachers. While surprisingly absent as a prominent role in the first to third centuries, “pastor” has taken on an importance mostly solidified after the Reformation and especially after identifying 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus as “pastoral epistles” in the 18th century (Guthrie 1990, 17).
