Preaching Politics: Proclaiming Jesus in an Age of Money, Power, and Partisanship - Softcover

Stauffer, REV Clay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0827231342 ISBN 13: 9780827231344

Publisher: Chalice Press, 2016

Synopsis

Religion, politics, and money. Three things you're never supposed to discuss in polite company. But what if you're a pastor? Forget red state/blue state divisions, what happens when your church members disagree about politics? In this age of prosperity preaching, how do you preach, "You cannot serve God and money?" Clay Stauffer addresses the challenges that preachers face when serving a politically diverse congregation in Preaching Politics. Money, materialism, and their effects on modern-day faith and spirituality are viewed through the teachings of Jesus, as well as the work of Methodist minister Adam Hamilton and Duke University ethicist Stanley Hauerwas.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Clay Stauffer, Senior Minister at Woodmont Christian Church (Nashville), is a fourth generation Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
Clay earned degrees from Texas Christian University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the University of the South. Before being called to Woodmont, Clay served The Riverside Church in New York City, Christ Church in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis.
In 2010 Clay was named one of Nashville's "Top Forty under 40" by the Nashville Business Journal, honoring the top young leaders in the city. In July 2011 he received the Fred Craddock Award for excellence in preaching during the General Assembly of the Christian Church. He writes on a regular basis for the Faith and Values section of The Tennessean, and does some church consulting and leadership training on the side.
Clay and his wife, Megan, live with their two children in Nashville, where he has served on the boards of the Nashville Food Project, Faith Family Medical Clinic, the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt, the Phoenix Club of Nashville, the Downtown Rotary Club, and Green Hills YMCA.

Review:

Clay Stauffer is a pastor who knows what it s like firsthand to struggle with contemporary American sins, particularly the sin of our materialism. Like any good pastor Clay tries to listen to his congregation, listening also to some of the leading Christian thinkers. As he listens, he attempts to hear commonalities, opportunities for confluence of seemingly competing opinions, and in all things to build up the church as the Body of Christ with a responsibility to witness to God s beloved but rebellious world. I learned from Clay s book and commend it to churches struggling with fidelity to Christ in our American context. --Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, and United Methodist Bishop, retired

The preaching task may be harder than it has ever been and the temptation to make the task easier by avoiding topics listeners find uncomfortable is very much with us. It is this temptation Clay Stauffer faces in his important book. Preachers will see themselves and their churches on every page, and will find Stauffer an excellent conversation partner as they too face the preaching dilemma together. --William Brosend, The School of Theology, Sewanee, and Author of The Preaching of Jesus and James and Jude

About this edition

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0827231342
• ISBN 13: 9780827231344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128