Customer Reviews

A Peculiar Prophet: William H. Willimon And The Craft Of Preaching

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I found this book to be a good tool for learning to preach. It is helpful to read solid preaching by a seasoned pastor such as Willimon and then have it analyzed by other great minds. If you are excited about preaching then this is a book worth checking out. I must admit that I was a little bit worried about this being nothing more than an ego stroke by former students of Willimon but it turned out to be quiet insightful. I encourage you to give it a try! Willimon is one of the best preachers you will encounter today.

This is kind of the third book in a series of titles on post liberal preaching. William Willimon published two books talking about his style of preaching, but this book is from the perspective of some of his students as well as some of the most accomplished preachers in Christianity. The book talks about what makes Willimon's preaching unique and powerful. The dynamics of the elements are helpful for other preachers to use in their sermons as well. Probably, the best part of the book is the sermon's from Willimon himself. There are some great material in these lessons that is worth the price of the book itself. There are still a lot of people out there that have questions about this style of preaching, and it cannot be done well without an understanding of the narrative sermon. Post Liberal builds on the narrative approach. Really, the post liberal sermon is more of a philosophy of preaching. The view that one has of the Word, of the power of God, and the ability of the word to speak to people. The book will talk about some of these elements, like being theological, being bold, being confident in the call of God to preach his word. This is a great deeper read on preaching. It is not some much, step one, step two, but a model or paradigm for preaching the word of God to this style of church culture. It is well worth your time if you are looking for some fresh wind for your sermons.

I found this book very insightful. Reading sermons by a pastor who clearly takes the issue of discipleship seriously enough to produce sensible, accurate, and biblical discourse is very refreshing. Reading these sermons will unveil many long-accepted, church-constructed, social norms that have been rather insidious.

The editors have done a worthy task to select sermons topics that are cross-sectional representations as well phenomenological at the same time. In addition to this type of biblical discourse, this book offers serious critique on each sermon. Each critique deconstructs the sermon text to highlight the author's rationale in a way that is both flattering and helpful.

How I wish all pastors submitted themselves to such critique. I was discipled as a result of reading this book, and I submit that most others would be as well.

This book works from an interesting premise-take selected sermons by a noted and popular preacher about main themes in his work, then have someone write analysis. Some of the sermons are brilliant as in Easter is an Earthquake, the opening sermon and one of the best I've ever read. However the sermons are a bit uneven as is the analysis.

It's worth the price of the book-especially used- for the opening sermon. Recommend with reservations