Preaching God’s Grand Drama: A Biblical-Theological Approach
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
How can preachers preach biblically faithful sermons that move listeners to positive action? An author on the cutting edge of contemporary homiletics and theology offers a fresh approach to preaching that helps listeners see themselves as actors in God’s grand drama. Ahmi Lee presents a unifying “third way” in homiletical approaches (i.e., theodramatic) that reimagines the preacher’s role in relation to the Bible, the congregation, and the world. The book not only helps students understand various preaching models but also is relevant to working preachers who want to critique and improve their approach. Foreword by Mark Labberton.
- Addresses the difficult in-between place between expositional and liturgical preaching
- Describes and critiques the two homiletical approaches
- Proposes a centered third approach that builds on the strengths of each
- Introduction
- The Traditional Homiletic: Truth Mined, Truth Proclaimed
- The Conversational Homiletic: Communal Meaning-Making
- A Critique of the Conversational Homiletic
- A Dramatic Approach to Theology
- The Shape of a Theodramatic Homiletic
- Four Perspectives at Play within a Theodramatic Homiletic
The sermon is the best weapon in the pastor's arsenal for taking every thought, and our imaginations, captive to Christ, which is why preaching may be the quintessential theological act. But what kind of act is it? Ahmi Lee describes the two prevailing models, didactic and dialogical, and proposes a third model, the dramatic, that preserves the best of the other two (the emphasis on doctrine and life experience, respectively) while avoiding their weaknesses. She rightly sees that the ministry of proclaiming God’s Word is an invitation to disciples to enter into the historical drama of Jesus Christ as actors who participate in this story made flesh. Lee’s proposal for a theodramatic homiletic provides pastors with the tonic they need to communicate the gospel effectively to our increasingly secularized, disenchanted age.
—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Too many homiletics books frustrate their readers with predictable and played out hermeneutical scripts, such as the preacher-as-exalted-interpreter or the preacher-as-humiliated-subject. Thankfully, Ahmi Lee breaks free from these flat and stale patterns of description. Preaching God’s Grand Drama offers us a better script, a fresher performance than the typical proposals, one that holds promise for preachers and for preaching both now and in the future.
—Jared E. Alcántara, associate professor of preaching, Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University; author of The Practices of Christian Preaching
Pioneering new homiletical territory, Ahmi Lee’s Preaching God’s Grand Drama invites propositional preachers and conversational preachers to explore their respective sermonic philosophies and methodologies. Well written and insightful, Lee’s book presents an intriguing ‘third way,’ explaining the art and craft of preaching that will meet and greet a wide spectrum of twenty-first-century listeners seated in the pews.
—Matthew D. Kim, associate professor of preaching and ministry, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; author of Preaching with Cultural Intelligence
- Title : Preaching God’s Grand Drama: A Biblical-Theological Approach
- Authors: Ahmi Lee
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 224
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Preaching Resources
Ahmi Lee (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is assistant professor of preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She has served in monoethnic and multiethnic congregations in the Chicago area in various capacities, and she is an active preacher and speaker worldwide.