Preaching Creation

The human race, along with the animals and plants that make up the creation of God, face a difficult future due to the multiple ways that the ecosystem on which they all depend is currently under stress. Temperatures are rising along with the oceans. Rain forests are falling along with the polar ice caps. Questions of the environment are now front and center in any catalog of concerns. Those who are called to preach need to include in the subjects of their sermons these environmental issues. Our Bible contains significant resources, often overlooked, as bases on which powerful environmental sermons can be preached. This book introduces the subject of preaching and the environment, offering close looks at important biblical passages that address the cosmos of God, and presenting sample sermons founded on those passages. The book calls for preachers both to name the vast problems we face and to offer the hope of the gospel of God to address them.

John C. Holbert is Lois Craddock Perkins Professor emeritus of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of Preaching Old Testament, The Ten Commandments, Preaching Job, Preaching Creation, and other texts that address the intersection between the Hebrew Bible and preaching.