Preaching Must Die

The real question for homiletics in our increasingly postmodern, post-Christian contexts is not how we are going to prevent preaching from dying, but how we are going to help it die a good death. Preaching was not made to live. At most, preaching is a witness, a sign, a crimson X marking a demolition site. The church has developed sophisticated technologies in modernity to give preaching the semblance of life, belying the truth: preaching was born under a death sentence. It was born to die. Only when preaching embraces its own death is it able to live. This book, then, is a bold homiletical manifesto against preaching in support of preaching, and beyond preaching to the entire worship experience. It troubles modern homiletical theologies in light of the trouble always already at work within preaching. Hereby, it supports a way of preaching--and teaching preaching--that moves counter to the "wisdom of this world." It aims to joins in God‘s self-revealed counterlogic of superabundance that saturates and thereby breaks open worldly systems of thought and practice. The purpose of this book is to expose preaching to its own death-to help it embrace its death-so that it can discover what eternal and abundant life might look and feels like.

A fresh approach to the theology of preaching that will inspire every pastor

For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13 The modern church, to its very core, is wrong. It is not what it was supposed to be. Today church is a "thing"...it's an organization, a building, an institution...something never intended by Christ. In the early church the power of the Holy Spirit operated in abundance and the world was changed. Over the 2000 years since, we have traded the glory of God for an institution, traded His power for our own, and traded His church for a sad counterfeit. It's time to wake up and see ourselves for what we've become. This is not a revolution, not even a revival. This is a breaking. This is death to all we have become, that we might return to what is real.

Preaching the Manifold Grace of God is a two-volume work describing theologies of preaching from the historical and contemporary periods. Volume 1 focuses on historical theological families: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican/Episcopal, Wesleyan, Baptist, African American, Stone-Campbell, Friends, and Pentecostal. Volume 2 focuses on families that are evangelical, liberal, neo-orthodox, postliberal, existential, radical orthodox, deconstructionist, Black liberation, womanist, Latinx liberation, Mujerista, Asian American, Asian American feminist, LGBTQAI, Indigenous, postcolonial, and process. In each case, the author describes the circumstances in which the theological family emerged, describes the purposes and characteristics of preaching from that perspective, and assesses the strengths and limitations of the approach.

Although there are several preaching books today, there are only handfuls, if any, that address the centrality of the Holy Spirit in preaching. A hindrance to preaching in the twenty-first century is over intellectualization of the Gospel. After receiving a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Preaching, I thought I was now ready to prepare and preach an effective sermon that will draw any audience to Christ. I told myself, “I am ready. I have attained and I can double the size of any given church with my vast knowledge on preaching.” Little did I know that my degrees from the best schools around the world were not sufficient to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. I have come to realize that clever persuasions of men do not change lives. The name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Ghost does. The secret ingredient in preparing and preaching Spirit-empowered messages is the power of the Holy Spirit. Ministers of the Gospel must not depend upon natural means to produce supernatural results, but must use supernatural means to produce supernatural results. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). The church is in desperate need of revival. Sinners are urgently in need of the Savior, and only the Spirit of God can convict sinners of their sins and bring revival to the nations. Consequently, the goal of this book is not to produce another great preaching book, but to help students and ministers prepare and present effective, Holy Spirit-empowered sermons to their audience. The book seeks to instruct readers on the importance of the Holy Spirit in preaching the Word of God while laying the foundational building blocks of effective preaching. This book is for both beginning ministers who are just starting ministry and for veteran ministers who would like to brush up on their preaching and teaching skills in order to become better, Spirit-empowered ministers of the Gospel. May God bless you and speak mightily through you with clarity, urgency, fervency and power as you endeavor to preach Spirit-empowered messages to a dying generation.

What could we accomplish if only we acted more wisely? Could we mitigate the effects of diseases; help the vulnerable feel safer; make progress on justice; cooperate on common problems? We don’t see enough wisdom, but neither did Woman Wisdom herself, who cried out in the streets wanting to gain attention. For every preacher who feels the urgency for more wisdom, this book has heard you. We know the urgency and we want to help. With contributions from: O. Wesley Allen Karoline M. Lewis John C. Holbert Ruthanna Hooke David Schnasa Jacobsen J. Dwayne Howell Margaret Wenig Luke Powery Eunjoo Kim

Preachers mount the pulpit steps terribly burdened by the conviction that they are somehow responsible for the growth and spiritual well-being of their congregants. How, they ask themselves, can mere words communicate the reality of God, bring life to a congregation, or foster spiritual growth? This study argues that effective sermons function much like Jesus' parables--by bearing witness to divine power. Parables and preaching both testify to something beyond themselves: to a life-giving dynamic that far outstrips the force of words alone. Preachers are not go-betweens or gatekeepers for the kingdom of heaven: rather, they imitate Jesus by dying to themselves in the very act of proclamation, relying directly on God for their sermons to bear fruit. As well as offering a novel interpretation of Jesus' agricultural parables, Of Seeds and the People of God presents a Christ-shaped theology of preaching. Beyond exegesis or rhetoric alone, faithful proclamation is a question of spirituality, of preachers and listeners together yielding to God's gift of new life.

Here are translations of 25 Latin sermons written between 1350 and 1450, demonstrating how preachers constructed them and shaped them to their own purposes. This book contains a general introduction and short historical notes on the individual selections.