The journey from Salisbury to London Waterloo is long enough
to engage in a short, focused work task or to daydream through
its now familiar stopping points, or indeed to have one of those
conversations with a stranger that leaves you wondering! One
morning my clerical collar attracted attention from a businessman

sitting in the adjacent seat. His opening line, ‘do you mind if I
ask you a question?’ left no space for hesitation. It was followed
up with this: ‘what kind of clergyman are you?’ The ensuing
conversation was both rich and helpfully disturbing. A committed
Christian nurtured at an early age at school, he expressed his
feelings of frustration at a lack of clarity in a style of clerical (and
episcopal) leadership which he hoped would offer more wisdom
and theological direction. Lamenting the inexorable decline of the
Church in his lifetime, by the time we reached Clapham Junction
he was brave enough to be able to say, ‘I really do think, James, that
the problem is with the clergy’.
This memory was triggered by this book. It is a carefully crafted,
organised, and argued exploration of clericalism. If, in baptism,
we are all called by God to live within and proclaim the Kingdom,
then Christians need to look at the way in which we place value
on some forms of vocation at the expense of others. How do we
nurture the flourishing of the whole people of God living the faith
within the particularities of their life, community and church? Cuff
both affirms the nature of priesthood, as well as challenges, and
deconstructs some of the ways in which it fails to affirm equality
and justice for all who follow and seek to belong. If energy for
mission is to be released then we need to know who we are, how we
are and what we are not!
Six chapters explore this core theme. An intentional focus of the
priest is to liberate, release, nurture, hold and enable those of us
who belong to the Church to be our best selves for Christ. Priests,
Cuff argues, should always have a heart for those on the margins
and pay attention to those whom we exclude. Those of us who are
ordained need to be aware of how our attitudes might silence,
control, and inhibit growth. In what way might we be a problem
for the flourishing of our communities in the gospel truth? What
might need to change for us?
One of the key strengths of this book is its careful handling of
the Bible, and in particular the exegesis of the Letter to the Hebrews
and St John’s Gospel in the context of our understanding of Jesus
as High Priest. This should shape the life and practice of priests, as
well as what others might see in us. It calls out priestly ambition
for role and status, and the anxious functionalism that shapes our
yearning to be noticed and successful. Cuff also draws on Luther