The Word on the Street: Performing the Scriptures in the Urban Context

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TWO SEMINARY PROFESSORS LEAVE their classrooms and spend time among the homeless people and teach on city streets? In this unique collection of essays and sermons, Stanley P Saunders and Charles L. Campbell reflect on their encounters with the homeless folks in Atlanta and seek to discern the way of Jesus on the streets of the city. These passionate, often moving writings demonstrate the power of Scripture to shape the way we see the world, and they explore the significance of social location for exegesis, ethics, worship, and preaching. From the perspective of the street, central Christian practices such as baptism, Eucharist, and preaching come to life in new ways. Scripture takes on fresh meaning too, while ancient insights into the principalities and powers, the practice of scapegoating, and the organization of households become contemporary and immediate. Even theological themes--grace and discipleship, sin and forgiveness, crucifixion and resurrection--look different when take to the street. Accented by six powerful artworks from Christina Bray's exhibit Street Prayers/Spiritual Journeys, this book also sheds light on the problem of homelessness in America and calls the church to action. Through their reflection on personal experiences and their interpretation of biblical texts, Saunders and Campbell provide meaningful theological categories for addressing pressing social issues in the urban context, making The Word on the Street a helpful resource on the realities of poverty, race, and injustice.

Stanley P. Saunders is Associate Professor of New Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary Charles L. Campbell is Peter Marshall Professor of Homiletics, Columbia Theological Seminary.

Charles Campbell is Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School. He is the coauthor with Johan Cilliers of Preaching Fools: The Gospel as a Rhetoric of Folly (2012).

Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is past President of the Society of Biblical Literature and the author of several books from Cascade Books, including: A Pathway of Interpretation, David and His Theologian, Divine Presence amid Violence, Praying the Psalms (2nd ed.), and The Role of Old Testament Theology in Old Testament Interpretation.(2011), Remember You Are Dust (2012), Embracing the Transformation (2013), and The Practice of Homefulness (2014).