Augustine As Mentor Chapter Summary

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BOOK REVIEW Rashad Woods CCHI 520: History of Christianity Instructor: Dr. John Landers April 21, 2013 In his book, Augustine as Mentor: A Model for Preparing Spiritual Leaders, Dr. Edward Smither provides an in depth perspective on mentoring spiritual leaders. Using Aurelius Augustine as the central figure, Dr. Smither’s provides a framework for mentorship and discipleship for the 21st century. His primary focus is for spiritual leaders who desire to mentor and develop others. The main theme of this book is evidently stated by Smither’s in the preface “Many pastors today, especially in the West, are struggling in isolation without a pastor to nurture their souls” (Smither, V). For leaders to establish relationships with their disciples Dr. Smither’s provides mentoring model which includes eight core principles: The Group, The Mentor as Disciple, Selection, The Mentor-Disciple Relationship, Sound Teaching, Modeling and Involving in Ministry, Releasing to Ministry, and Resourcing Leaders (Smither, 13-23). My objective in this book review is to highlight themes of each chapter and provide a personal evaluation. Smither opens the book by describing mentoring from a historical and contextual perspective. He begins by describing a mentor as “a master, expert, or someone with…show more content…
For example, Augustine as a mentor is not even discussed until the latter half of the book. Additionally, Smither’s spends over 20 pages in the book reviewing details of each letter and 67 pages discussing four key characters versus two pages of contemporary application. One can benefit from information provided prior to the epilogue, but a balanced approach of practical application would have enhanced its value tremendously. Future books covering this topic should focus on emphasizing practical steps and applications that can be used by its
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