What's the Shape of Narrative Preaching?

Mike Graves & David J. Schlafer

Description

Bringing together some of the finest voices in contemporary homiletics to examine the different forms as well as the status of narrative preaching, What's the Shape of Narrative Preaching? will give readers much to ponder on this impact topic. Teachers of preaching have long recognized that the Bible is told in story form. Yet the responses to the topic of narrative preaching have varied over the years, from singing its praises to outright rejection. The homiletical landscape is always changing, but what many thought might be a fad is still being discussed in the seminaries and practiced in many a pulpit. What's the Shape of Narrative Preaching? asks: What exactly is narrative preaching? What does it mean to be a narrative preacher? Is narrative preaching at odds with exposition? What are the biblical precedents for such an approach? What kinds of theology undergird narrative theory? What is the role of narrative preaching in a time of rampant biblical illiteracy? How does narrative preaching help to shape congregational life? Contributors include: Charles Rice, Ron Allen, Fred Craddock, Frank Thomas, Thomas Long, David Buttrick, Richard Eslinger, Barbara Lundblad, William McClain, Beverly Zink Sawyer, Thomas Troeger, Robin Meyers, David Schlafer, and Mike Graves.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Chalice Press
• Date de parution: 09 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780827242791
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

M IKE G RAVES & D AVID J. S CHLAFER , EDS .

What’s the Shape of Narrative Preaching?

Ronald J. Allen

David Buttrick

Fred B. Craddock

Richard L. Eslinger

Mike Graves

Thomas G. Long

Barbara K. Lundblad

William B. McClain

Robin R. Meyers

Charles L. Rice

David J. Schlafer

Frank A. Thomas

Thomas H. Troeger

Beverly Zink-Sawyer

What’s the Shape of Narrative Preaching?

E UGENE L. L OWRY

What’s the Shape of Narrative Preaching?

Essays in Honor of Eugene L. Lowry

M IKE G RAVES & D AVID J. S CHLAFER , EDS .

© Copyright 2008 by Mike Graves and David J. Schlafer

All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], www.copyright.com.

Biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from theNew Revised Standard Version Bible,copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are from theKing James Version. Poem on page 219 © copyright 1988 by Linda Pastan. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cover art: © Crosiers Cover and interior design: Elizabeth Wright

Visit Chalice Press on the World Wide Web at www.chalicepress.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data What’s the shape of narrative preaching? / edited by Mike Graves and David J. Schlafer.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8272-4255-5 (alk. paper) 1. Narrative preaching. I. Graves, Mike. II. Schlafer, David J., 1944- III. Title.  BV4235.S76W43 2008  251—dc22 2008007541 Printed in the United States of America

Selected Works of Eugene L. Lowry

Contents

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131

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 7. Story and Symbol, the Stuff of Preaching David Buttrick

 4. African American Contexts of Narrative Preaching William B. McClain

 8. Out of the Loop Thomas G. Long

 9. Jazz Me, Gene Robin R. Meyers

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 2. Theology Undergirding Narrative Preaching Ronald J. Allen

PART II Assessments: What Shape Is Narrative Preaching in Today?

 1. A More-or-Less Historical Account of the Fairly Recent History of Narrative Preaching Charles L. Rice

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 6. Story, Narrative, and Metanarrative Fred B. Craddock

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PART I Wellsprings: What Gives Shape to Narrative Preaching?

Introduction

 3. A Match Made in Heaven Beverly Zink-Sawyer

 5. Tracking the Homiletical Plot Richard L. Eslinger

PART III Prospects: What Fresh Shapes Might Narrative Preaching Take?

10. Making Music with What You Have Left Frank A. Thomas

11. Gasping for Breath Barbara K. Lundblad

12.ExceptinParables Mike Graves

13. Convoking Spirit-ed Conversation David J. Schlafer

14. Improvisations on the Lowry Loop Thomas H. Troeger

Notes

Contributors

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Selected Works of Eugene L. Lowry

Books The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1980. Doing Time in the Pulpit: The Relationship between Narrative and Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985. How to Preach a Parable: Designs for Narrative Sermons. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. Living with the Lectionary: Preaching through the Revised Common Lectionary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992. The Sermon: Dancing the Edge of Mystery. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997. The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form. Expanded edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Articles and Essays in Books “The Homiletical Bind,”Christian Ministry1975): (January 20–22. “The Narrative Quality of Experience as a Bridge to Preaching,” in Journeys Toward Narrative Preaching,67–84. Edited by Wayne Bradley Robinson. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1990. “Peace and Passion in Preaching,”Pulpit Digest (September- October 1990): 84–86. “Preaching or Reciting? Theft in the Pulpit,”Christian Ministry (March-April 1991): 9–12. “The Revolution of Sermonic Shape,” inListening to the Word: Studies in Honor of Fred B. Craddock,93–112. Edited by Gail R. O’Day and Thomas G. Long. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993. “Narrative Preaching,” inConcise Encyclopedia of Preaching, 342–44. Edited by William H. Willimon and Richard Lischer. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995. “Preaching the Great Themes,” inPreaching on the Brink: The Future of Homiletics,57–65. Edited by Martha J. Simmons. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.

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viiiWhat’s the Shape of Narrative Preaching? “Surviving the Sermon Preparation Process,”Journal for Preachers 24 (Easter 2001): 28–32. “What Progress!?” inWhat’s the Matter with Preaching Today?, 159–69. Edited by Mike Graves. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Published Sermons “Listening to the Dark, (1 Kings 19),”Pulpit Digest(July-August, 1990): 11–17. “The Drink, (John 4:3–19),” inBest Sermons 3,237–46. Edited by James W. Cox. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990. “Cries from the Graveyard, (Mark 5:1–19),” inDaemonic Imagination,27–39. Edited by Robert Detweiler and William G. Doty. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. “Strangers in the Night, (John 3:1–9),” inJourneys toward Narrative Preaching,78–84. Edited by Wayne Bradley Robinson. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1990. “Stones and Bones, (Acts 6:1–14; 7:51–60),” inBest Sermons 7,190–95. Edited by James W. Cox. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.

Introduction

For at least twenty-five years now, the discipline of North American homiletics has been in the throes of an emerging new homiletical paradigm. Many of us mark its beginning with the publication of Fred Craddock’sfirst book on preaching.

Thus Eugene Lowry commences his own volume,The Sermon: Dancing the Edge of Mystery.“new homiletical paradigm” The of which Lowry speaks, now more than thirty-five years in the making, has been called a “Copernican revolution” in preaching 1 theory. If Craddock has been Copernicus, showing the preaching world how sermons revolve around listeners as well as texts, then Lowry has been the movement’s Galileo. More than anyone else, Gene Lowry has repeatedly engaged the work of Fred Craddock and added his own creative voice. The connection between these two homiletical luminaries is telling. Lowry fondly remembers how, just three years after he had himself accepted a position at Saint Paul School of Theology, 2 Craddock publishedAs One Without Authority. Appearing when it did, the book’s influence on Lowry’s career was immeasurable.

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