What's the Matter with Preaching Today?

by Mike Graves

Overview

Seventy-five years ago, renowned preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick asked in Harper's Magazine, "what's the matter with preaching?" Fosdick's question is even more relevant today, as both pastors and laity acknowledge the need for improvement in Sunday morning's sermons. And who better for pastors and students to learn from than those who already do it well? The contributors to this book are a some of the best and most thoughtful preachers in the church and classroom today. In their essays, they assess the state of preaching today, identify a variety of issues that challenge effective preaching, and offer helpful suggestions for what can be done to improve preaching. In the process, they help to define what effective preaching is.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664226329
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	08/24/2004
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mike Graves is William K. McElvaney Visiting Professor of Preaching and Director of Continuing Education and the Saint Paul Institute at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	List of Contributors	xi
Part 1.	A Timeless Question
	Harry Emerson Fosdick's Timeless Question	3
	What Is the Matter with Preaching?	7
Part 2.	What's the Matter with Preaching Today?
1.	Showing Mercy	23
2.	A Fearful Pulpit, a Wayward Land	37
3.	A Lover's Quarrel with Preaching	51
4.	Preaching: An Appeal to Memory	59
5.	Not What, but Who Is the Matter with Preaching?	75
6.	Put Away Your Sword! Taking the Torture out of the Sermon	93
7.	God of Grace and Glory: The Focus of Our Preaching	109
8.	Two Ships Passing in the Night	127
9.	No News Is Bad News	145
10.	What Progress!?	159
11.	The Weekly Wrestling Match	171