How Far Down Dare I Drink?: Promises Greater Than Dreams

by Horton Davies, Marie-Helene Davies (Editor), David William Cain (Editor), Leslie C. Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

This volume of sermons reflects Davies' imaginary qualities as he puts himself in the shoes of both biblical characters and the members of his congregation, using Christological exegesis and his love of art to produce compassionate, credible, and relevant sermons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630878528
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	04/30/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	204
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

The late Horton Davies was a professor at Princeton University, which exchanged courses with Princeton Theological Seminary. He held degrees in English from Edinburgh University and went on to study philosophy at Mansfield College, Oxford. He founded the department of religion at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, before returning to teach at Oxford and then at Princeton. He was the author of Worship and Theology in England, Varieties of English Preaching 1900-1960, Like Angels from a Cloud, and The English Metaphysical Preachers, 1588-1645.
David Cain is Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and minister in the United Church of Christ. He is editor of Sermons of Arthur C. McGill, (Cascade Books, 2007), and author and photographer of An Evocation of Kierkegaard / En Fremkaldelse af Kierkegaard (1997).

Table of Contents

Foreword Leslie Carl Smith ix

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction I: Literary Commentary 1

Introduction II: How Far Down Dare I Drink? 17

Part 1 Responses to Gospel: A Yet More Blazing Certainty

Faith

The Tide Turned: Transfiguration-Mount of Triumph, Mount of Defeat 33

Death, Getaway of Life Eternal: The Adventure of Analusis (áνáλυσις) 38

Christian Certainties in an Uncertain World: A Colony of Heaven on Earth 42

Hope

We Are Saved by Hope: The Victory in His Eyes 49

Christian Realism: Uncontrollable Skidding in the Automobile of Life 55

Christian Realism: Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, April 26, 1959 57

Love

Communion Address: A Cross in the Heart of God-That Crimson Love 65

The Christian Motive: The Love of Christ Constrains Us 69

Joy

A Talk on Carols: The Original Merry Christmas 77

Triple Victory: The Flag Blown Taut 81

The Two Census Books: Income Tax, Outcome Tax 85

Responsibility

Communion Address: Glorifying in the Cross 93

The Christian Sense of Direction: A Pilgrimage from God to God 99

Advent: Fulfillment and Finality 103

Burning Bushes and Blackberries: Giving, Getting, and Different Pairs of Ryes 108

The Cloister, and the Hearth, and the Community: How Far Down Dare I Drink? 113

Gratitiude

Harvest Thanksgiving: Gratitude 123

Part 2 Cross-Examination: Not from the Comfort of a Pulpit

First Witness: The Mother. Behold the Handmaiden of the Lord 129

Judas Iscariot: Have You Never Met a Judas? 133

Caiaphas: Hypocrite as His Soul Deadens 138

The King Herod: the Strain of Christ's Silent Scrutiny 143

Pontius Pilate: He Washes His Hands 147

The City Counselor, Joseph of Arimathea: A Deserter in Bed 154

The Soldier-Longinus: You Are the Centurion 158

Part 3 Faith and Art: Alive to the Color and Glory of the Universe

Faith and Fine Art: Loving God, Loving Art 165

The Value of Modern Fiction for Preachers: Extra Lives; Extensions of Empathy; Concrete Imagination 172

Worship and the Renewal of the Church: Christian Art. The Holiness of Beauty 182

Pilgrimage: Eden Lost and Emmaus Found 189

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Delivered across the decades spanned by his career, these occasional sermons effectively display both Horton Davies' mastery of a literary genre he so thoroughly explored in his scholarship and his own deep and abiding love of the arts."
—John F. Wilson, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

"Through mastery of the homiletical art, Horton Davies shares the good news of the Christian faith for one's heart, mind, and soul, in such a way as traverse the seasons of time. He articulates the faith so as to challenge and comfort, and to clarify and question with both boldness and humility.
'This is a text for the times!' he proclaimed in a 1972 sermon at Westminster Abby, referring to Rom 8:24. 'But cries the modern man, bewildered and disillusioned, where can I find hope?' Some forty years later, our longing and cry are the same. Horton leads us on our journey for hope and life, showing us the way to 'Christian hope, not utopianism; a hope in God.' This is indeed a book for our times!"
—Paul Jeanes III, Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ

"A good sermon makes you want to start (at last) being a Christian. Horton Davies' addresses emphatically achieve this: they are intellectually serious and personally honest, grounded in the central truths of historic faith, moving and exhilarating. Every preacher will learn from them—not least, will learn to want to be a Christian."
—Rowan Williams, Magdelene College, Cambridge, England

Editorial Reviews

"Delivered across the decades spanned by his career, these occasional sermons effectively display both Horton Davies' mastery of a literary genre he so thoroughly explored in his scholarship and his own deep and abiding love of the arts."
—John F. Wilson, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

"Through mastery of the homiletical art, Horton Davies shares the good news of the Christian faith for one's heart, mind, and soul, in such a way as traverse the seasons of time. He articulates the faith so as to challenge and comfort, and to clarify and question with both boldness and humility.
'This is a text for the times!' he proclaimed in a 1972 sermon at Westminster Abby, referring to Rom 8:24. 'But cries the modern man, bewildered and disillusioned, where can I find hope?' Some forty years later, our longing and cry are the same. Horton leads us on our journey for hope and life, showing us the way to 'Christian hope, not utopianism; a hope in God.' This is indeed a book for our times!"
—Paul Jeanes III, Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ

"A good sermon makes you want to start (at last) being a Christian. Horton Davies' addresses emphatically achieve this: they are intellectually serious and personally honest, grounded in the central truths of historic faith, moving and exhilarating. Every preacher will learn from them—not least, will learn to want to be a Christian."
—Rowan Williams, Magdelene College, Cambridge, England

From the Publisher