When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit

In When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit, Jay Augustine urges twenty-first-century preachers to speak openly against social injustice, establishing such preaching as a key component of prophetic leadership.

Beginning with the premise that the church was birthed to address salvation in the "kingdom-to-come" and social justice in the "kingdom-at-hand," Augustine presents prophetic preaching as part of the ministry of reconciliation Jesus left to the church. Addressing topics such as abusive immigration policies and racial injustices, he urges the church to return to its foundation of prophetic leadership as exemplified not only by Jesus but by the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles.

When Prophets Preach demonstrates that faithfulness to this ministry requires preachers to break the pulpit silence. Then the church can lead in bridging social and ethnic gaps among its members. It can show society at large how to heal many of the social, economic, and political divisions in our world, the very rifts that underscore the need for social justice ministries and that necessitate prophetic preaching.

Jonathan C. Augustine is a nationally acclaimed social justice advocate. He serves as senior pastor of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Durham, North Carolina, law professor at North Carolina Central University, and strategist with the Duke University Center for Reconciliation. A former civil rights litigator who later earned MDiv and DMin degrees, he is the author of Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion (Baker Academic, 2022).

William H. Willimon is the author of many books on preaching and ministerial leadership. He is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke Divinity School where he directs the Doctor of Ministry program. He is a United Methodist bishop, retired. As Dean of the Duke Chapel, his sermons established his reputation as one of the most influential American preachers.