Scott Kinder-Pyle is a nine-fingered struggling poet and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Following his upbringing, as the youngest of five in a working-class family, he received degrees from Penn State University (BA, English), Princeton Theological Seminary (Mdiv, Philosophy) and in 2008 a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Columbia Theological Seminary with a dissertation entitled, “Pastor as Struggling Poet — Exploring An Alternative Mode of New Church Development.” Kinder-Pyle is married to Sheryl, his spouse for over 25 years, and together they have two grown boys (Ian and Philip). Most recently, this former new-church development minister pursued and received yet another degree (a Master of Fine Arts) from Eastern Washington University.
“Of God Gone Bust” is the title of his 80-odd-page thesis, which invites a suspension of ideological certitude (among both theistic and atheistic crowds) as well as the hope of an ineffable meta-narrative, which no autonomous individual can fully comprehend or name. Sheer-embodied self-consciousness has been the name of Scott’s game since losing the ring-finger on his left hand in a freak accident, re-stringing a soccer net. And you might say the rest of his journey is comprised of a looser grip(e) on theology, contemporary culture and ethics.
