(Synopses of previous chapters can be accessed by clicking here)
In order to preach well we must know the purpose of preaching. From Col. 1:24-2:7 Johnson draws out seven themes summarising Paul’s theology of preaching, which he develops:
Edited by Ronald J. Sider
“On Christmas day, 1521, Karstadt celebrated the first public evangelical Eucharist of the reformation… [Karstadt was] dressed in a simple secular gown… For the first time in the Reformation the words of institution were spoken in German in a public service… The tension reached its peak when, instead of placing the bread in each communicant’s mouth, Karstadt allowed ordinary lay persons to take the bread and the cup in their own trembling hands. This innovation so terrified one frightened layman that he dropped his wafer and was too terror-stricken to pick it up” (pp.5-6) Luther was away in hiding for a year which left Andreas Bodenstein of Karlstadt in charge. When Luther returned he was furious at what had taken place and changed back many of the reformed practices to traditional Roman Catholic-esque ones. Such were the circumstances of the period of history that this book covers.
(Synopses of previous chapters can be accessed by clicking here)
How you preach will be controlled by what you see as the purpose of preaching, which will be controlled by the fullness of your theology. Throughout the centuries different understandings of salvation have produced different preaching.
So, for one of my modules at WEST, Preaching and Pastoral Theology III, I’ve got to read Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures, by Dennis E. Johnson. So I thought I’d make notes on it chapter by chapter, and put them online here as I go. And so begins probably a 10 part series!
Author of our Preaching and Pastoral Theology II text, Bryan Chapell, says of the book:
If only we could learn to preach like Peter and Paul. The wish becomes solid reality in Dennis Johnson’s wonderful advocacy of preaching Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century as the apostles did in the first. Under Johnson’s tutelage, preaching apostolic, Christ-centred, redemptive-historical, missiological sermons that are grace-driven becomes a dream within reach.
Having come up with three experiential reasons almost a year ago on the old proGnosis site, I’ve come up with one more this last week. Fasting, being linked to prayer, actually physically prompts prayer. On a normal day, I remember to pray quite infrequently, as I’m sure is the case with most of us. When you are fasting, you regularly get pangs of hunger. This prompts you to think, why am I hungry, which immediately makes you remember that you’re fasting. Consequently you remember that because you are fasting you should also pray. And so prayer happens more frequently.
I’ve just added a new article to 2008’s articles, that’s because I wrote it in November 2008 but have only just got round to adding it. It’s from a module taken at WEST on the Wisdom Literature in the Bible, which includes Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
Channel 4 are doing another one of their series on Christianity. And guess what, in a series of eight episodes, Dr. Robert Beckford only presents one of them! The series sounded different. This time, it wasn’t a case of uncovering a lost ‘gospel’ (as if any ‘gospel’ they find isn’t already known to us!) and finding the secret family of Jesus along with his wife and two kids, his mother-in-law and his talking dog! This time it’s on the history of the church.
Tim Chester has just started a new three part series about fasting on his blog. I’m looking forward to it because it’s something that I feel contemporary Christians tend not to do or talk about or even know much about especially why we ought to. His first post is fairly introductory so I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes with it in his next two posts. On our old proGnosis blog site I did a post about fasting, so if you want to know my thoughts on the matter (for what they’re worth) then check it out.
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