Böcker i Working Preacher-serien

The call to holistic preaching has many dimensions. Are we called to preach the good news of God's grace? Advocate for justice? Is preaching worship? A prophetic act? "Yes," Ackerman answers--to all of the above. Through personal stories, biblical examples, and concrete advice, readers will learn how to join gospel and justice in community.

"Digital Homiletics demystifies the art of online preaching and helps readers understand both the why and how of engaging listeners in digital formats. After laying a concise and accessible theological foundation, Yang shares ten methods for effective digital preaching. Readers will encounter concrete tips and advice for sharing God's Word online"--

In For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions, Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer a process for creating biblically grounded, relevant sermons for events that arise from calendars, celebrations, or circumstances by considering the occasion, the gathered listeners, and the ways God is at work in that season.

Old Testament scholar and interpreter Brent A. Strawn focuses on the importance of honesty in preaching, especially around three challenging Old Testament themes: sin, suffering, and violence. He makes the case that preaching honestly is critical in the church today. Without honesty regarding these topics, there is no way forward to reconciliation, health, and recovery. Further, it is imperative for today's preachers to deal with the questions of faith arising from these themes in the biblical text itself. In addition to key scripture passages, he turns to several contemporary authors and works as dialogue partners on the three themes. Asserting that keeping secrets can lead to a kind of sickness, Strawn uses texts from the Pentateuch and the Psalms to model honesty about sin, without which there can be no reconciliation, and honesty about suffering, without which there can be no healing. He also looks at the book of Joshua and various psalms to model honesty about violence, which can serve as a way to contain, limit, and ultimately transcend violence. Strawn frames these themes specifically for working preachers, so they can create sermons that speak to these thorny themes with depth and clarity.

"The proclamation of the gospel is not a solo endeavor. It is a communal practice, the responsitiblity of the baptized rather than the privilege of the ordained. In The peoples' sermon, Shauna K. Hannan argues that it is no longer faithful for a preacher to craft a sermon in isolation, step into the pulpit (literally or metaphorically) on Sunday morning, offer a monologue, and on Monday start all over, alone, preparing for the following Sunday. Hannan's goal is to create vital worshipping communities where all know and live out their roles in the preaching ministry of the congregation, where both clergy and laity are empowered and equipped in their roles before, during, and after the sermon."--back cover.

Preeminent biblical scholar and preacher Walter Brueggemann says the book of Jeremiah is not a sermon, but it does sound the cadences of the tradition of Deuteronomy that serve as sermons--that is, as expositions based on remembered and treasured tradition. In this volume, Brueggemann conducts an experiment in homiletics. He wants us to wrestle with the question, What if we allow the canonical shape of the book of Jeremiah to instruct us concerning the shape and trajectory of the sermon? More specifically, he wonders: What if the book of Jeremiah is treated as a long sermonic reflection about the traumatic events that led to exile and displacement for the people of Judah? Why did it happen? Is God faithful? Does God punish? Is there any future? This theme and these questions can also be related to the crucifixion of Jesus and the displacement experienced by his followers. Brueggemann extends his wonderment further to the displacement experienced in modern American culture, as events jolt our notions of exceptionalism and chosenness. All of those same propensities were at work in ancient Israel in the wake of the displacement of Jerusalem, a wake given voice in the book of Jeremiah. Brueggemann analyzes the various parts of the sermon through the organization of the book of Jeremiah, looking at Introduction, Body, and Conclusion, comparing them to Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday. The task of the preacher mirrors the task of the prophet who seeks to pluck and tear down, as well as to plant and to build. The preacher cannot, as he says, participate in a cover-up. The preaching task requires honesty about what God requires and a clear proclamation of what God has done and will yet do.