Customer Reviews

Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance (Invitation to Theological Studies Series)

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Donald Sunukjian studied under Haddon Robinson at Dallas Seminary, then also taught there. He now teaches at Talbot Seminary in LA. Sunukjian has an ability to think through elements of preaching in minute detail, yet has a communication style that is clear and accessible - both in person and in his writing. These qualities have combined to make this a great book.

This is definitely another book in the Haddon Robinson school of thought. The process is similar, the emphasis on the main idea and the purpose are evident, delivery without notes is encouraged, etc. Incidentally, the reader should not be intimidated by the "zigzag" big idea - if Sunukjian came up with such effective preaching ideas regularly, surely more would be included in the book! He admits that you go with what you have, and only sometimes is the preaching idea a real humdinger.

He defines biblical preaching simply as "Look at what God is saying to us!" Throughout this 370 page book, numerous biblical examples are given to make clear the point being taught. Sunukjian has a large bank of example sermons that show up throughout the book so that the variety is not random and overwhelming, but reinforcing and familiar.

His ability to think through the details comes out in areas such as whether to use inductive or deductive approaches according to the material being covered, or how to preach a chiastic passage so contemporary listeners will understand it.

Sunukjian's speciality is the subject of oral clarity - preaching so listeners can follow. His six elements of oral clarity are detailed in a chapter, but exemplified throughout the book. Sunukjian demonstrates a real awareness of what works for the listener, a concern sometimes missing in other "how to" preaching texts.

After the process is detailed, there are two sample sermons presented in the appendix. These are repeated with helpful explanatory notes to guide the reader through the process.

In a book of 370 pages, it seems strange to point to a section being too short, but the delivery chapter is very short. However, it is fair to say that if a preacher follows the teaching throughout the book, then delivery will be improved. If there were any other negatives, it would be a slight discomfort with one or two of the biblical examples. Again, this is a small point since most are handled very effectively.

Overall this is a very strong book, perhaps even a great book. As I read preaching books, I mark helpful points with post-its. Many books have only a handful sticking out, this one has a forest of post-its! As an introductory text for a preaching class, this would work well. As a supplemental book for those of us who've read other textbooks, this is definitely worth having. It has many definite strengths, is clearly organized and engagingly written. This definitely makes my list of top preaching books.

I have studied preaching under both Drs. Haddon Robinson and Donald Sunukjian and they are both masters at understanding and communicating how to preach well. Dr. Sunukjian's forte as exhibited in Invitation to Biblical Preaching is breaking down and explaining much of what great preachers do intuitively. If you follow the Sunukjian method you will be biblical, clear, and compelling. This book is full of practical instruction in addition to easy to understand examples which you can model. Invitation to Biblical Preaching will teach you how to consistently produce high quality sermons week in and week out, that will cause your congregation to rise up and call you blessed!

I studied under Dr. Sunukjian, and was blown away by the insight gained. I had been doing public speaking/preaching for some time, and knew I could improve, but didn't know exactly how. His insights starting from chapter 5 and onward about shaping a sermon, writing for the ear (and not the eye), transitions, etc. are simply invaluable.

This book is for preachers looking to do what it takes to make a maximum impact with their preaching.

This text will teach you to develop, with a high degree of skill, an ability to ensure that you are true to the text in both interpretation and application and to do so in an easy to follow and interesting manner.

I use the material in the book and can honestly say my congregation sees dramatic before and after results!

I was not familiar with this author prior to seeing this book. But I was pleasantly surprised with how well he deals with the subject. He promotes the timeless concept of biblical exposition, but helps the reader see how it can be done in a our current age. A bit long, but worth it!

Wow! If you are a pastor, you have to read it. If you are a seminary school student, you must read it. So far what I taught is not so great after reading this book.

I enjoyed this book very much, it is laid out in a helpful manner that will help any reader.

The book lives up to what it proclaims. Don in stating that a sermon should be biblical, interesting, clear and relevant has used these principles in writing the book. The book is so clear that it will help a total novice learn the art of biblical preaching. in using simple illustrations it will keep its readers stuck on the book.

Sunukjian's definition of the preacher's task is admirable, and the methodology presented to support that goal is well constructed. The emphasis on the faithful exposition of the original author's ideas and of how they developed in the text is excellent. There is nothing in his expressed intent that would elicit anything but wholehearted approval. Having said that, several of his examples illustrate some hazards that exist as we analyze and prepare to reveal scripture.

One such case is the author's treatment of Jesus' calming of the storm in the book of Mark (pp.31-41). Citing the kingdom parables and Mark 3:31-35 as prior context, Sunukjian claims that "knowing the nation will reject Him, Jesus then reveals that the kingdom will no longer be limited to those of Jewish blood but will be available to whoever does God's will." While the kingdom parables do picture the future universality of the kingdom, it is conjectural to conclude the original writer meant that in this text.

Based on this, he asserts that Mark 4:35-41 "opens with a command to cross the Sea of Galilee and take the gospel to the Gentiles," a purpose not present in the text. In fact, later in 7:25-30 Jesus still limits His mission to the nation of Israel. Further, in the parable of 12:1-12 the consequences of Israel's rejection are still in the future. The great commission is not explicit until 16:15 or executed until after the ascension.

Citing Jesus' power over demons in Mark 5:1-20 as subsequent context, Sunukjian then focuses on the word "rebuked" (in 4:39) that describes how Jesus stilled the wind. Since in Mark, this word only occurs when Jesus is casting out demons, Sunukjian determines that the storm is demonic. It is probably unwise to build a central truth on the interpretation of a single word.

I purchased this book knowing that I did not share the same views as the author regarding the nature of the Bible, interpretative theory or theology of preaching. However, the book had been recommended to me specifically to explore his concept of three outlines of a text - passage outline, truth outline and sermon outline (what I'd relabel application outline for my purposes). What I found was that Sunukjian is very good at giving clear examples and showing step by step he gets from point A to point B.

Sunukjian does not make the common error of one homiletic method serves all passages. Rather he takes advantage of what the structure of the text shows us taking advantage of logical and rhetorical structures e.b. abstraction trees, induction, deduction, relevancy patterns (a new concept to me),chiasmus ...

For useful information, I could have stopped reading at this point. However, I continued on skimming the sermon building section for two reasons:

1) the emphasis on the oral nature of the sermon

2) the clarity of the communication of the author - seeing how he presents material in this books can help in building "how to" documents of any kind. I can think of only one other book that does so well.