Meet the Author
Garry Wills joined the faculty of the history department at Northwestern University, and currently serves the university as professor of history emeritus. He is the author of nearly forty books, including multiple bestsellers and a Pulitzer Prize winner based on his study of Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. Wills, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, is an historian who specializes in in American history, politics, and religion.
Book Basics
Why Priests? A Failed Tradition offers a strong critique of one of the most basic elements of Roman Catholicism: the priesthood. Wills, a lifelong Roman Catholic and former seminarian who has been an outspoken critic of the Church for many years, considers the early development of church offices from an historical vantage while also attending to theological matters. Relying heavily on the biblical text for early Christian practice and perspective, Wills finds an absence of evidence suggesting that Jesus was a priest or that Jesus intended priests as a part of the structure of the church through some form of apostolic succession. Furthermore, he argues that the book of Hebrews – a relatively late addition to the canon – played an essential role in providing rationale for the priesthood by naming Jesus as a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Priests are declining in number, but not importance as they alone are tasked with administering the sacraments. In Wills’ view, there is no need to continue what has become a failed tradition because there was no need for it to begin. In short, “If Peter and Paul had no need of priests to love and serve God, neither do we” (p.256).
This text is a worthwhile read for those interested in the development of the priesthood within Roman Catholicism written from the perspective of one who possesses an historical and theological understanding of the church yet often holds views that fall outside of those deemed orthodox. It is not, however, a critique of recent developments nor a proposal of how one might fashion a priest-less Church in the future.
So What?
If you follow the way of Jesus, you are likely a part of a community of faith. Whether that body is Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Luther, Presbyterian, or connected to some other denomination or network, the larger group likely provides a framework for understanding the role of pastors or priests.
- Why does your tradition have pastors or priests?
- What is your understanding of their role?
Garry Wills. Why Priests? A Failed Tradition (Viking, 2013). IBSN: 9780670024872.