Homiletic Moves and Structures [Paperback]

David Buttrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1987

Buttrick presents a complete homiletic that focuses on how sermons form in consciousness and how the language of preaching functions in the communal consciousness of a congregation. His "phenomenological" approach marks a sharp departure from older homiletics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (March 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800620968
• ISBN-13: 978-0800620967
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best book ever written on the art of preaching., May 22, 1998

By 

Sean Everton "Rivers" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Homiletic Moves and Structures (Paperback)

This book is divided into two parts: One devoted to the construction of sermons, the other to the interpretation of biblical texts.

Buttrick's approach to preaching is different than most because he actually took the time to learn how the listener hears and remembers sermons. Thus, his homilitec is geared toward constructing sermons that people will actually remember after they leave worship. He also spends half of the book on the art of interpreting the biblical text with regards to preaching, arguing that different literary forms demand different types of sermons. Thus, narratives should begat narrative sermons, pedagogic passages should begat pedagogic sermons, and parables should begat parabolic sermons.

Only one caveat. Since his approach is based on how people hear, it implies that the art of preaching needs to be continually reformed because how people hear and remember tomorrow will be different than they do today. Put differently, thirty years from now, "Homiletic" will be obsolete. My guess, however, is that if Buttrick is still teaching, he will be teaching an entirely new approach to art of preaching.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, August 16, 2000

By 

J. Johnson "Allman Brothers obsessive" (Manassas, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Homiletic Moves and Structures (Paperback)

Anyone with an interest in preaching would include this book in their list of 10 books to take to a desert island. Buttrick helps us to understand how the literary and critical task not only informs but at times defines the preaching task. He places strong emphasis on preaching in a way that is consistent with the way people process information. Iconoclastic at times to a fault (Buttrick began lectures in one class "The last 400 years of Christian preaching has all been done wrong-I'll show you why) his patchwork phenomenological method helps the preacher break out of tired formats to become an effective communicator.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mammoth and Breathtaking, April 1, 2007

By 

John D. White "camsterdad" (Cayce, South Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Homiletic Moves and Structures (Paperback)

Buttrick's book was and is a milestone in homiletics. I suspect that for those who read the book carefully, and I did and have reread sections several times since, we were never the same. This is a marvelous, breathtaking book by a master theoretician. My confession, however, is that I was never quite able to satisfactorily pull off what Buttrick recommends regarding sermonic "moves." Nonetheless this is as important a book for the preacher/ pastor as Karl Barth's "Romerbrief" was to the theologian's playground in the early twentieth century.