Date: December 4, 2025
For the next two months, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.
I have always understood writing as an extension of my vocation to teach. When I sit down to write, I picture the students I’ve had the privilege to teach at VTS—those currently in my courses and the alumni now serving in parishes across the country. My hope is that these books will accompany them into their ministries, offering resources they can turn to when facing the real pastoral situations that no classroom can fully prepare them for.
This past year, I’ve been blessed to see two books published by Church Publishing. Shepherding Souls: A Handbook for the Pastoral Offices (July 2024) emerged from my desire to provide clergy and lay leaders with a comprehensive yet accessible guide to the pastoral offices—baptism, confirmation, marriage, reconciliation, healing, and burial. Each chapter offers historical and theological grounding alongside practical pastoral wisdom, including attention to cultural practices that shape how people experience these sacred moments. My hope is that busy parish leaders will find in these pages both immediate help and lasting formation.
Bound Together: Baptism, Eucharist, and the Church (December 2024) takes up a pressing question in Episcopal life: the practice of inviting the unbaptized to communion. Drawing on Scripture, church history, and sacramental theology, I argue that baptism and Eucharist form an indissoluble bond that is foundational to our understanding of the Church. While pastoral hospitality matters deeply, maintaining this connection preserves the integrity of our baptismal-eucharistic ecclesiology and our ecumenical commitments.
Both books reflect my deepest conviction about theological scholarship: it exists to serve the church. Too often, the academy and parish ministry occupy separate worlds, speaking different languages and addressing different concerns. I write to bridge that gap. The questions that animate my research are the questions I hear from students preparing for ordination and from clergy navigating complex pastoral situations. My goal is not simply to advance scholarly conversations—though I hope to do that—but to equip those on the ground doing the daily work of ministry with theological wisdom that is both rigorous and usable.
I want these books to be companions in ministry, resources that clergy return to again and again. Whether someone is preparing for their first baptism or wrestling with difficult questions about sacramental practice, I hope they’ll find in these pages both the confidence that comes from understanding our tradition and the flexibility that pastoral care requires. If these books help even one person minister more faithfully and thoughtfully, the work will have been worth it.
The Rev. Shawn Strout, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Worship, Associate Dean of Chapel, and Director of AssessmentÂ