What Honorific Is Best for Pastors?

Any time you have any letters before or after your name, it sends a message. So you need to think about the message, and where that message is going. – Anne Sowden, image consultant

But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. Don't call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader. Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored. – Matthew 23:8-12

 

I had to ask someone what the “new rules” are re: the use of pastor, Reverend, Doctor, The Reverend Doctor., etc., because I haven’t kept up. In the first place, my English teacher would say that it is never “Reverend.” It’s The Reverend (“reverend” is an adjective, not a noun), to be used only in third person (if then). To quote the late Frederich Buechner, “Speak about the Reverend Susan Smith if you have to, but never go up to her and say, ‘That's telling them, Reverend!’ any more than you'd go up to a senator and say, ‘How are things in Washington, Honorable?’"

 

I grew up in an era where titles were discouraged, but it seems like they are back and in full force. I will say that I am even more bewildered about their usage than I used to be given M.D’s, Ph.D’s, Th.D’s, Ed.D’s, D.Mins, and in the case of one friend/colleague of mine, Psy.D. 

 

Is a D.Min equivalent to a Ph.D, and how should that be noted/said? What about a pastor who also has a J.D. (lawyers never call themselves “Doctor” even though they have a Doctor of Jurisprudence). What about a licensed (i.e., non-ordained) pastor who has a Ph.D in theology? What about an ordained minister who has a Ph.D in American Civil War History? (I know folks in both of those categories)

 

I’m reminded of a college instructor – who was also a licensed local pastor – being chastised by a ministerial colleague after being called by his first name: “I have a doctor’s degree, so you shall call me ‘Doctor!’” 

 

“I do apologize, Doctor __________. By the way, I have a master’s degree, so you shall call me ‘Master.’” I’ve never forgotten the humor – and reminder – in that conversation. 

 

To be sure: I hold academics in the highest regard, as both my father and my brother were/are academicians. When I was about to graduate from seminary, I was asked to consider applying for a Ph.D to study under one of Methodism’s premier liturgical and sacramental scholars (James F. White); “Sky, Jim’s going to take one more Methodist Ph.D student and then he’s going to retire. You ought to do that.” And I seriously considered it. Both my dad and my brother were supportive. I told them my reservations: costs, time, and while I loved going to school and learning I didn’t feel any calling to work in academia, and felt like I’d already put the family through enough in time and money. My dad asked, “Don’t you need a title? Won’t it get you better churches/more money?” I told him no. My dad and brother looked at each other, and both said in unison, “Don’t do it.”  My brother added, “Eh, you’ll read the books anyway.” And I did (do).

 

Education – a continuing education - is indispensable in anything that we do (ministry included) whether it be in the classroom or in practice. And while God doesn’t need my seminary degree, neither does God need (or want) my ignorance. It is an indispensable tool for what I do. But as far as a title? Do I really need that? It goes back to Snowden’s quote I put at the beginning: “Any time you have any letters before or after your name, it sends a message. So you need to think about the message, and where that message is going.” In light of Jesus’s word in Matthew as well as our embrace of the priesthood of all believers, I am hesitant to use any title or suffix to my name. For one, by the authority of the Church and my credentialing body I have been placed in authority where I’m at, having previously met the requirements of the denomination, so any title or suffix I could put by my name or any license or diploma I have is already understood. I’m even loathe to be called “Brother Sky” because, (1) as the text from Matthew indicates (and therefore assumes), we are ALL like brothers and sisters, and not just licensed and ordained folks, and (2) in Catholicism, a “brother” or “sister” has given themselves to an order, a life of celibacy, and marriage to the church. I certainly haven’t done that. 

 

So for me… I prefer no title. No letters after my name. Others can certainly do as they wish. I know that the older I get the more comfort I find in hearing the name I was baptized with, instead of being reminded of my educational and ecclesial pedigree. That’s who God calls me.

 

My given name at birth was Schuyler (“Sky-ler”). It’s a popular surname in New England, and Dutch in origin. No, it doesn’t look like it sounds, and it’s hard as hell to explain to people. “Sky” is a diminutive. “Schuyler” is what I heard (usually mispronounced) when (a) a class roll was being called or, God help me, (b) when my mom was very unhappy with something I’d done or not done. So when I got baptized as an older teen, Al Doyle asked me before the service: “What do you want me to call you when I baptize you?” I said, “Sky.”

 

My old friend and colleague Rick Dye gave me some advice many years ago about being in ministry: “The role is not your soul.” Between that, and being called by the name used at my baptism, someone calling me by my given name reminds me who I am, and Whose I am. 

 

That’s more than enough.

Sky+