Throughout the modern period, history has been the dominant lens through which preachers have viewed the biblical text. The historical-critical method--with its emphasis on the context of a scriptural text's origins--has been the principal, or sole, tool with which preachers have approached the question of the text's meaning. Preachers have been in danger of losing the Bible as revelation and with that losing the rich varieties of God-centered meanings that our ancient forebears understood were the purpose of Scripture. They devised multiple 'lenses' through which the preacher was enabled...
Throughout the modern period, history has been the dominant lens through which preachers have viewed the biblical text. The historical-critical met...
Doing justice to the complexity of the preaching task and the questions that underlie it, Wilson organizes both the preparation and the content of the sermon around its "four pages." Each "page" addresses a different theological and creative component of what happens in any sermon. Page One presents the trouble or conflict that takes place in or that underscores the biblical text itself. Page Two looks at similar conflict--sin or brokenness--in our own time. Page Three returns to the Bible to identify where God is at work in or behind the text--in other words, to discover the good news. Page...
Doing justice to the complexity of the preaching task and the questions that underlie it, Wilson organizes both the preparation and the content of the...
From the apostle Paul, Origen, and Chrysostom through Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley to Harry Emerson Fosdick, James S. Stewart, and Martin Luther King, Jr., this volume traces the history of preaching by focusing on the work of 20 key Christian preachers. Wilson analyzes how preachers through history have structured their sermons and shows how preaching today embodies the theological ideas of an era.
From the apostle Paul, Origen, and Chrysostom through Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley to Harry Emerson Fosdick, James S. Stewart, and Martin Luthe...
This guide to contemporary preaching focuses on exciting and innovative ideas that have recently emerged. Wilson demonstrates with clarity and detail how Scripture and personal experience can be used to train the imagination, thus strengthening and enlivening the task of preaching.
This guide to contemporary preaching focuses on exciting and innovative ideas that have recently emerged. Wilson demonstrates with clarity and detail ...
Paul Wilson's The Practice of Preaching has introduced a generation of students not only to the "how" of preaching, but also to the"why." In this thoroughly revised edition, Wilson has strengthened this essential textbook even more, principally in two ways. First, he has further emphasized the role of practices in preaching, leading the reader through the preacher's week as she or he constructs and prepares to deliver the sermon. Second, he has surveyed the current debate in homiletics over what preaching the text means, and constructed a far-reaching theological argument that the sermon's...
Paul Wilson's The Practice of Preaching has introduced a generation of students not only to the "how" of preaching, but also to the"why." In this thor...
The New Interpreter's Handbook of Preaching is a major reference tool for preaching, with articles on every facet of Christian sermon preparation and delivery. This resource is both scholarly and practical. It focuses on the most distinctive feature and greatest strength of homiletics as a discipline: It is rooted in interdisciplinary scholarship and it develops theory geared to practice. Its theory arises out of the study of both excellent preaching past and present and actual sermon preparation and composition. When theory and practice critique each other, it is possible to produce...
The New Interpreter's Handbook of Preaching is a major reference tool for preaching, with articles on every facet of Christian sermon preparation a...
It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough questions of the church and the Christian faith, and they are not satisfied by formulaic answers. People are often suspicious of doctrine and are attracted to a broad but vague or pluralistic spirituality rather than the classical claims of Christianity.
In this climate, preachers often see preaching on the central events of the Christian story, the crucifixion and resurrection, as more of a problem than a possibility, more of a burden than a joy....
It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough que...
It is tempting for preachers in this digital age of plurality and diversity to offer quick sound bites and PowerPoint-style presentations. These tend to invite a yes or no response, as in mathematical equations. But if we are to reach Christians across the theological spectrumandinvite non-Christians to seriously consider our faith, we must take a different approach. What is needed is greater attention to poetry and images meant to communicate the beauty of the faith and the wonder and mystery of God in everyday life. We must communicate the unity of our message of faith, the divine as truth,...
It is tempting for preachers in this digital age of plurality and diversity to offer quick sound bites and PowerPoint-style presentations. These tend ...
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...
Preachers mount the pulpit steps terribly burdened by the conviction that they are somehow responsible for the growth and spiritual well-being of thei...
