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The following 50 entries are posted in the "Theology and Exegesis" category.
August 27, 2010 11:26
Just read a great blogpost by Christopher Bernard, titled I Need to Cover My Mouth When I Preach. Here’s what he had to say about our tendency to want to speak for God in our preaching…
“There is a real danger in pastoral work. Th...
April 18, 2010 11:46
Preaching, if it is going to be effective, must have a theological foundation. The fact that this sounds obvious, does not dismiss the difficulty. I was reading in Richard Lischer’s A Theology of Preaching (Labyrinth 1992) who writes that “Although preach...
April 13, 2010 11:43
This past Sunday I heard my pastor, announce his text – Romans 9 – 11. Now that’s a lot of text!
“I know it’s a lot,” he said, “but it is a complete unit of thought.”
Aah, that ‘s the homiletician in him coming out, I thought to myself.
It was...
January 21, 2010 13:10
I recently spent some time looking at cars, kicking tires, and test-driving various vehicles. Strangely, I never thought to look under the hood. Eventually a salesman decided to show me the engine of one of the cars I was looking at. We both looked appreciatively ...
November 09, 2009 22:26
From Steven W. Smith’s Dying to Preach, a list of questions to test our approach to the Scriptures in our preaching…
October 23, 2009 19:31
I attended the annual meetings of the Evangelical Homiletics Society last weekend, held in Fort Worth, Texas. I always enjoy the opportunity to interact with people who are interested in the study and propogation of biblical preaching. In days to come, you can exp...
July 20, 2009 13:25
While I’m not a card-carrying John Piper disciple, I have a lot of appreciation for his concern that we be true to the whole of the Bible. In that light, I was particularly pleased to read this recent blog statement (found via twitter) wherein he counsels us...
June 24, 2009 14:28
Ed Stetzer has published an excellent research-based article on the ways that preachers use the Bible: How Do You Handle the Word of God. Lifeway research looked at 450 online sermons in order to discern the place of Scripture in contemporary preaching.
Som...
June 29, 2009 17:27
Hermeneutics sounds like it ought to be a dry and boring subject and it would be if it were not for the fact that it is so important to the real-life issues of our time. I am often amazed by the cavalier approach taken to the Scriptures by people who claim to hold...
June 01, 2009 15:19
If you’re looking for a great preaching series for the coming year, I recommend you have a look at Scott Daniels’ _Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today’s Church." The seven churches have long provided pre...
March 20, 2009 18:07
Courtesy of preachingtoday.com, here is a link to N.T. Wrights 2008 Easter sermon. Last year in this space I published a review of Wright’s Surprised by Hope.
“The point is,” Wright says in his sermon, “that Easter has burst into our...
March 13, 2009 13:39
William Young’s The Shack is a bona fide publishing phenomenon. In the middle of January, Christianity Today reported that the book had held the No.1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list for Paperback Trade Fiction for an astounding 33 consec...
February 06, 2009 13:40
I’m pleased to recommend a new anthology on expository preaching published in honor of the life and ministry of Kent Hughes. Preach the Word, edited by Leland Ryken and Todd Wilson, offers a variety of essays of the kind that “Kent himself wo...
January 30, 2009 15:03
Preaching is more than just the presentation of truth. It is an event that is “performed” in God’s presence.
January 20, 2009 16:36
What do we do when the New Testament text we are preaching seems to mis-interpret an Old Testament text?
January 23, 2009 13:25
It is my pleasure to bring to your attention a very fine book on Paul’s approach to preaching by a fellow Canadian, Michael Knowles. We Preach Not Ourselves: Paul on Proclamation deserves the consideration of every preacher for two reasons.
January 09, 2009 15:03
Those interested in the application of postmodern critical theory and its application to preaching will want to consult Robert Kysar and Joe Webb’s Preaching to Postmoderns: New Perspectives for Proclaiming the Message. While the title might suggest...
January 03, 2009 14:26
One of our few advantages as preachers in these postmodern times is that we preach the person of Jesus. Just about everyone respects Jesus, though we might differ as to the nature of his person. Many people find it easier to accept the gospel portrait of ...
November 26, 2008 19:49
I just returned from the meetings of the Academy of Homiletics and the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston. This was a very productive time for me. No doubt I’ll have more to share about these meetings in the coming days. For the moment, I would like to...
September 15, 2008 11:44
Working with the Old Testament can be a challenge for the biblical preacher. The sheer volume and variety of texts in the Old Testament make it difficult for a preacher who wants to honor the text, but still offer a relevant application for 21st century listeners....
September 01, 2008 17:12
As our featured article this month, I am pleased to offer the thoughts of my friend, Stephen Wright of Spurgeon’s College in London. I spent several months at Spurgeon’s a few years ago and came to appreciate Stephen’s passion for the parables. I...
July 24, 2008 12:58
I recently read a copy of The Word in this World: Two Sermons by Karl Barth, a new publication edited by Kurt Johanson. This slim volume reprints two of Barth’s seminal sermons, “On the Sinking of the Titanic (Psalm 103:15-17)” preached ...
March 25, 2008 18:53
I’ve just returned from a marvelous week-long adventure in the Canadian Rockies with my family. It was a quintessential Canadian winter experience. We went nordic skiing, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing. We even rented a sheet at a curling rink and had a ...
March 19, 2008 10:37
Further to the post below on preaching the resurrection, preachingtoday.com has a very helpful interview with N.T. Wright on their blog today. Check it out.
March 13, 2008 09:54
As we approach Easter Sunday, many of us will be looking for fresh ways to preach about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Personally, I’ve just finished reading a masterful section on the resurrection from N.T. Wright’s Surprised By Hope: Rethinkin...
November 26, 2007 14:41
I’ve just completed Eugene Peterson’s improbably titled, Eat This Book and I cannot recommend it highly enough. This “conversation in the art of spiritual reading” both values Scripture while helping us see its accessibility. The b...
October 19, 2007 18:28
J. P. Moreland of Talbot Seminary was the keynote speaker at this year’s meetings of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. He took the opportunity to offer a proposal for “apologetic preaching.” While such an approach is not new, Moreland seemed to...
September 19, 2007 11:26
Larry Perkins, the President of my seminary, just posted an interesting piece
on the effect that Bible translation has on biblical preaching and interpretation. In practice, pastors and preachers seem to be placing less attention than ever on the Greek and ...
September 06, 2007 16:35
I suppose it is understandable that we tend to think of God’s judgment in negative terms. After all, one aspect of his judgment is that it comes as punishment for sin. Having said that, there are instances of judgment in the Bible that ought to be seen as ac...
August 20, 2007 10:27
I read a particularly intelligent response to Richard Dawkins’ fundamentalist atheism in my morning newspaper. Margaret Somerville is becoming as a critic of Dawkins, partly because she doesn’t seem to be coming from a Christian perspective. As foundin...
June 11, 2007 11:34
Here are a few notes taken from Alistair McGrath’s lecture at the International Congress on Preaching in April. The address, titled “Preaching Truth in the Shadow of the Idol of Science” was directed at the recent writings of Richard Dawkins, Dan...
May 25, 2007 12:02
Over the last number of months I have been studying and preaching through the Sermon on the Mount. It’s become clear to me that Jesus’ prayer that God’s Kingdom would come “on earth as it is in heaven” is a key to interpreting the who...
March 09, 2007 13:04
It has been my pleasure to participate in the publication of a small book written by our faculty at Northwest Baptist Seminary. The book, Being Church: Exploration in Christian Community was recently published in honor of the former Regional Director of t...
February 28, 2007 11:22
Here we go again. It turns out that the newest archeological discovery to discredit the resurrection of Jesus is not so new. Serious archeologists, both secular and Christian, have known about the tomb for years and have discounted its relevance. That isn’t ...
February 07, 2007 13:02
I ran into the same problem with two of my students yesterday. Both of them submitted sermon plans that required a little help. When I suggested alternate and more appropriate ways of approaching the text, they both agreed with me. The problem, they said, was that...
February 01, 2007 15:35
Here’s a link to a truly helpful website offering a wealth of information on biblical backgrounds. Follow the Rabbi is a place to get into the Hebrew mindset so that we can appreciate the biblical worldview more helpfully. “Jesus lived like a jew, talk...
November 02, 2006 11:57
One of my goals over the next few weeks is to feature some of the ideas that were presented in papers at this past month’s meetings of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. One of the more interesting papers was written by Brandon Cash, pastor of Oceanside Chr...
September 18, 2006 12:58
I recently read Michael Pasquarello’s Sacred Rhetoric, an attempt to describe preaching as a theological and pastoral practice in the church (Sacred Rhetoric). In Pasquarello’s view, the practice of preaching has lost its connection with its r...
August 16, 2006 12:43
Yesterday I spent some time trying to help a pastor with a sermon based on the Mark 6:14-26, the well-known narrative of the death of John the Baptist. The obvious approach to this text would be to talk about Herod’s abuse of power and the importance of bein...
August 15, 2006 11:45
In my private reading of Scripture I recently came across a passage that got my attention. Ezekiel 2:1-3:11 reminded me again of the relevance of the Bible. Every preacher ought to pray over this one.
“Mortal man, I am sending you to the people o...
August 10, 2006 15:25
“Perfect love drives out fear.” 1 John 4:18
Anytime anyone has ever done a survey as to things people are afraid of, “public speaking” leads the list. Apparently we terrify each other. The prospect of standing in front of a ...
August 10, 2006 15:24
There are many technical definitions of the task of preaching, but I like to keep it simple. As far as I am concerned, preaching is “helping people hear from God.” I have plenty of opinions, and some of them may even be worth listening to, but no one c...
August 10, 2006 15:22
Personally, I’m inclined to be generous. It’s not always a good thing in a professor – depending on your perspective. Come grading time, I tend to give the student the benefit of the doubt which tends to make them happy and happy students tend to...
August 10, 2006 15:21
Read through the classic literature on biblical preaching and you will find a variety of forms and methods. The common denominator will be the preacher’s dependence upon prayer. The work of the preacher is the work of prayer.
We are talking about spir...
August 10, 2006 15:20
Recently I picked up my copy of John S. McLure’s Other-Wise Preaching (Chalice 2001), a book that had attracted me a couple of years ago because of its creative title. McLure’s goal had been to describe a “postmodern ethic of preaching.&...
August 10, 2006 15:19
How can they call in the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful a...
August 10, 2006 15:04
I did something a few years ago that I had never done before. I preached in sock feet, standing on a pillow. No, this was not because I wanted to be more comfortable. This was no new seeker sensitive technique aimed at helping listeners feel more comfortable. I wa...
August 10, 2006 15:00
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and ta...
August 10, 2006 14:55
When Isaiah entered the temple (Isaiah 6), he experienced the presence of God in a powerful way. Seraphs were flying, smoke was billowing, and the doorposts were shaking because God was present and he had something to say. I’m not sure I have ever literally ...
August 10, 2006 14:53
Years ago I found myself faced with a daunting preaching responsibility. I was young and feeling unprepared for the challenge in front of me. An older pastor, a mentor to me, looked me in the eye and said, “The old time pastors used to talk about ‘unct...