Overhearing The Gospel

Revised and Expanded Edition! When originally published in 1978, Overhearing the Gospel introduced "narrative preaching" and forever changed the shape of contemporary preaching. Now a new generation of preachers can learn from the master himself in this revised and expanded edition of Craddock's groundbreaking method.

Revised and Expanded Edition When originally published in 1978, Overhearing the Gospel introduced "narrative preaching" and forever changed the shape of contemporary preaching. Now a new generation of preachers can learn from the master himself in this revised and expanded edition of Craddock's groundbreaking method.

Travel with revered preacher and author Fred Craddock through his early years as he considers what made him take to the pulpit. "For some reason, I felt I had to say 'Yes' or 'No' to the ministry so I could feel free again. My siblings and friends talked almost casually about options and preferences as to careers, but with no evident sense of urgency. Not so with me. I did not then, nor do I now know whether the burden of choice was a trait of personality, a kind of super-conscientiousness, whether the calling to ministry itself carried a weight, a burden, peculiar to the task itself. Rightly or wrongly, when I thought of possibly becoming a journalist, that would be a choice, 100 percent mine. When I considered becoming a minister, that was not totally my decision; I was responding to God's will for me. Of course, I had been told that journalists, lawyers, teachers, merchants, farmers-all could understand their lives as a vocation, a calling, but what I am telling you is that I perceived, I felt, I experienced the idea of being a preacher as different, and that difference was sobering, even burdensome. That's why advice about not being in a hurry, taking my time, was not helpful even if wise. If it was my decision, why could I not make it now; if it was God's decision, why did not God tell me, or at least tell my father or my mother? I prayed for the ache to leave me." -Excerpt from Reflections on My Call to Preach.

No one has had more impact and influence on the craft of preaching in the last several decades than Fred Craddock. After his retirement from a distinguished teaching career, he became free to share his wisdom with a wider audience without the burdens of academic responsibilities. The lectures and workshops show an ever-expanding scholarship beyond that of his published books. This book has gathered the "best of the best" of these lectures/workshops and offers them to preachers and students of preaching for critical reflection and increased effectiveness.

While the steady increase of the religiously unaffiliated Nones in America has generated anxious responses about rising secularism and loss of national identity, this book suggests a wider meaning-making approach wherein the Nones are seen as valuable dialogue partners necessary in this pivotal moment for the revealing of still hidden truths about culture, spirituality, and religion. Christians who overhear this dialogue may find upon self-reflection an emerging truth about their relationships, embedded stories, level of faith development, and susceptibility to a culturally conditioned, transactional religion. Nones who choose to engage in dialogue may find that the “nothingness” they bring to the dialogue is more significant than they realize, revealing truths of an apophatic spiritual path necessary for generating a transformational faith of freedom and capable of rebalancing a divisive, consumer-driven society. The religious and the not-religious, who are often seen as being on opposite sides of an imagined religious threshold, may instead be seen as standing together in a liminal space that opens in wordless silence to yet unseen possibilities and from which emerge new stories aligned with the heart of Creation.

The post liberal, cultural-linguistic theology of the Yale School has been one of the most important theological developments in the United States during the latter twentieth century. In this unique book, which combines theological analysis and homiletical reflection,Charles Campbell examines post liberal theology as it is embodied in the work of Hans Frei and develops the implications of this theological position for the theory and practice of preaching. Arguing that the trouble with homiletics today is fundamentally theological, Campbell offers Frei's theological position as a means for enriching the Christian pulpit and renewing the church.

What makes good sermons? And how do they come to be? Appropriating insights from the history of rhetoric and modern communications theory, Robin Meyers proposes that truly effective sermons involve more than moralistic proselytizing or three points and a joke. Rather, the preacher must enter into dialogue--not only with Scripture and the congregation but creatively with him- or herself as well. This willingness to listen to one's own sermon, this willingess to be freshly persuaded, will help enable the preacher to communicate with greater passion, insight, poetry, and clarity.

Based on several years of teaching and careful observation in preaching classes, this book by Michael Brothers explores the benefits of "distance" in preaching -- and listening to -- sermons. Having noticed that sermon listeners generally want to be given room for their own interpretations and experiences, Brothers argues that critical and aesthetic distance as a hermeneutical tool is vital to hearing the gospel today and should be intentionally employed in sermon construction and delivery. He explains this "distance" in the field of homiletics, equips teachers and students of preaching to evaluate the function of distance in sermons, and encourages preachers to practice the use of distance in their preaching.