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The Pulpit, Preaching and People

The whole reason I started this 'blog' was to have a public place to record my thoughts as I read books.  Why not just keep a journal or something more private? I don't know.  I like the idea of having access to this where I am.  The public nature of it makes me think there is a heightened accountability to keep it up, even if no one reads it.  And maybe the guy who will eventually come and take my place at GCPC will want to see what I have read and how I thought about preaching. That is why, for 2012, I want to devote my reading to the task of preaching.  My plan, God willing, is to read the following books, in this order:

The Preacher and Preaching: Reviving the Art in the Twentieth Century; Sam Logan, ed.
The Imperative of Preaching: Theology of Sacred Rhetoric; John Carrick
Speaking God's Words: A Practical Theology Of Preaching; Peter Adam
The Priority of Preaching; Christopher Ash
Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind; P.T. Forsyth
Preaching with Confidence; A Theological Essay on the Power of the Pulpit; James Daane
How Sermons Work; David Murray
Preaching and Preachers; Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom and Action to his People; Jonathan Leeman
Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching: In honor of Kent R. Hughes; Todd Wilson
The Word of God for the People of God: An Entry Way into the Theological Interpretation of Scripture; Todd Billings
God's Word in Servant Form: Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck and the Doctrine of Scripture; Richard Gaffin
Preachers Portrait: Some New Testament Word Studies; John W. Stott
Heralds of the King: Christ-centered Sermons in the Tradition of Edmund P. Clowney; Tim Keller
Archer and the Arrow; Phillip Jensen
Simplicity in Preaching; J.C. Ryle
Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures; Dennis Johnson
Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Message; David Gordon
The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Texts; Ralph Davis
The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Form; Eugene Lowry
Preaching and Preachers; Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The books in italics are books I have already read, but want to read again.  Some of these books have come to me by way of recommendations and others I just thought looked interesting.

Originally, when I was pursuing a DMin degree, my plan was to tackle the subject of the necessity of public ministry of the Word for the private ministry of the Word. Although the DMin was not to be, the subject still intrigues me.  So my thoughts (these won't be formal reviews) will have a particular feel to it.  The best way to think about it for me is through the question; how does the public ministry of the Word bleed out and effect the pastoral/shepherding part of my calling?  What is the connection?  Surely, as preachers, we don't simply open our Bibles on Sunday morning, preach from them, close them and that is that.

But frankly I don't refer to sermons in my pastoral counseling; I don't hand out or send as attachments mp3's of the sermons I preach.  So what is the connection, the relationship between the pulpit on Sunday morning and the shepherding that takes place Monday through Saturday.  So that is the shape this blog will take this year, I hope.

The first couple of entries on the books I read during Christmas break were posted by me just to get a feel for how to post.  I am a newbie at this.

Comments

  1. May I be so bold as to question omissions? Specifically Stott's Between Two Worlds and Chapell's Christ Centered Preaching? What was thy logic?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah yes, omissions. With a list like this I will certainly miss some worthy works. I knew I had left of Chapell's book (had to read it in seminary and simply chose not to revisit it) and MLJ Preachers and Preaching. I had forgotten Stott's Between Two Worlds and remember loving it when we read it in seminary and again in Tampa. If I get through this list in 2012 I would love to pick that one up again.
    Thanks for reading and commenting Randy!

    ReplyDelete

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