Katrina Thralls-Ministry Survey

Berger, Peter L. A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.

“[A minister] decides to do a little do-it-yourself sociological research and hands out a questionnaire. The answers come back and show that the greater part of the congregation do not seem to have heard his preaching at all. They agree and disagree, on the questionnaire, with things he never said” (41).

As a future minister myself, reading this particular passage was difficult. Imagine, finding out that everything you think you do, day in and day out, was not actually getting accomplished. Imagine that you stood up in front of people, week after week, bearing your soul, only to find out that you were ignored.

It strikes me that this would be no issue in a primal culture. A shaman is held in the highest of respects and is needed for rituals in everyday life. Of course, in a primarily oral culture, this sort of honest blind survey could not exist, because the writing is what enables the identities to be concealed. Without complete anonymity, congregants might feel pressured to agree with every question asked, because a minister is an authority figure.

With technology comes increasing distractions. Our minds have to work differently with new technology, and to some extent, I think it might be to blame for this minister’s shocking discovery. Perhaps quieter, more focused minds with nothing to worry about at that moment except what their minister was trying to give them would be able to better listen and that would reflect better in the survey.