A Reader on Preaching: Making Connections (Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology)

Every Sunday all over the world people rise up and claim to speak in the name of God. It is an astonishing thing to do and an astonishing claim to make. It is small wonder that the sermon has been the focus of debate, discussion and investigation. It has been dismissed as irrelevant in today's culture and has become the butt of numerous jokes and caricatures. Yet the claim persists that these human words in some way can become God's message to these hearers. This collection of twenty-nine articles by international experts in the area of homiletics coincides with the revival of interest in preaching over the last twenty-five years. It is practical without being merely tips for preachers; and it offers the necessary theoretical discussion for anyone who wants to take the art of preaching seriously. No important issue has been omitted and, taken as a whole, the book constitutes a first class introduction to the principles, processes, context and theology of preaching. Contributors include: Walter Brueggemann, David Buttrick, Fred Craddock, Edward Farley, John Killinger, Richard Lischer, Thomas Long, Elaine Lawless, Jolyon Mitchell, Cheryl Sanders and Thomas Troeger.

David Day was Principal of St John's College with Cranmer Hall, Durham, where he established the Centre for Christian Communication and taught preaching and communication to Anglican and Methodist ordinands. He is the author of A Preaching Workbook. Jeff Astley is Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education, and Honorary Professorial Fellow in Practical Theology and Christian Education in the University of Durham. He is the author of Ordinary Theology. Leslie Francis is Professor of Practical Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Wales, Bangor. His series of books on 'Personality Type and Scripture' apply personality theory to exploring the Gospel readings in the Revised Common Lectionary.