Overview

The evangelical tradition places the sermon at the center of church life. We build buildings around pulpits and preachers. We champion gifted communicators. We celebrate effective homiletical techniques. But too often, these emphases are not the result of deep theological convictions but of the church's adoption of modern visions of communication and success. In our day, preaching is easily unmoored from its biblical, theological, and historical anchors. Too often, it has become a tool of celebrity. We have seen pulpits and preaching taken captive by political and pragmatic ideologies. The teaching office of the church has sometimes been manipulated to secure and maintain human power. The present condition of much preaching in our time compels us to ask: What is our theology of preaching? Is our vision of the sermon rooted in the miracle of God's word proclaimed or in the desire to entertain? Is our preaching a function of a theology of glory or a theology of the cross? Reflecting on such questions, the essays in this volume seek to chart a path forward for word-centered, God-glorifying preaching.

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Table of Contents

Reviews

""Power and the Pulpit is a gift to the church. With practical wisdom, pastoral sensitivity, and scholarly insight, this book speaks to both head and heart, calling us toward preaching that is deeply cruciform. It clears away misconceptions, confronts misuses of power, and points us to the kind of ministry our world desperately needs. I'm deeply grateful for this resource."" --Mika Edmondson, Teaching Pastor, Koinonia Church, Nashville ""I walked away from this book with very practical advice for preaching, but those recommendations for changes arose not as thin 'how-to's' but out of a deep place of theology, exegesis for--and examples from--the history of preaching. With a variety of authors, readers may resonate with the tone of some more than others, but that diversity is what makes the volume so rich. There is not one right way to preach, but there is one trustworthy source for preaching, and Power and the Pulpit compelled me to dive into that source, so that I might press more deeply into a faithful life of proclaiming the word."" --Amy Peeler, Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College ""Throughout the history of the church God's word has gone out in power to create, direct, correct, and transform. Although sufficient and irreplaceable, it is historically and contemporarily true that a preacher's trust in it can wane. Power and the Pulpit theologically anchors preachers in the wonder of declaring the Scriptures with humble confidence in God and in the cross of Christ."" --Eric Rivera, Lead Pastor, The Brook, Chicago

Author Information

Gerald Hiestand is Senior Pastor at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the cofounder and board chair of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is the coauthor of The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision and coeditor of Becoming a Pastor Theologian: New Possibilities for Church Leadership. Joel Lawrence is the President of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is the author of Bonhoeffer: A Guide for the Perplexed, as well as numerous articles and chapters in books on a variety of theological and pastoral subjects.

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