Thinking In Story: Preaching in a Post-Literate Age [Paperback]

Richard A. Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1993 | ISBN-10: 1556735731 | ISBN-13: 978-1556735738

We are living on the boundary between the print and electronic era. Richard A. Jensen says that as we move into the electronic world, we must seriously rethink most of what we do. This book calls us to reinvestigate preaching in our time.

Well-grounded in an understanding of communication cultures, this book is a rare gift. In theory and practice, Jensen helps preachers rethink what they are doing and offers a strategy for effective communication in an electronic era.
Richard L. Thulin, Th.D.
Dean and Professor of Preaching
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Jensen's ""thinking in story"" thesis provides a scholarly, logical rationale for why it both ""feels"" and ""is"" so right; Jensen applies his ""thinking in story"" concept to biblical material as well. His approach helps us to see individual texts/stories in light of the larger biblical story, which opens up many new avenues for preaching.
Thomas Rogers
Assistant Professor of Homiletics
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Berkeley, California

These are solid prescriptions for our media-saturated times, calling for a shift in our very approach to proclamation. Jensen is quite right in this goal, that preaching needs to compel participation in the narratives of scripture, not merely an understanding of them.
James Nieman
Assistant Professor of Homiletics
Wartburg Theological Seminary
Dubuque, Iowa

Richard A. Jensen is a trained systematic theologian, having taught these subjects at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1971-1981. He is author of Telling The Story. Since 1982 he has served in the communication department of the American Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He produces the weekly radio program ""Lutheran Vespers,"" and several series of television programs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 145 pages
• Publisher: CSS Publishing Company (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556735731
• ISBN-13: 978-1556735738
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #994,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Preaching for the Future, July 11, 2001

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"raygoetz" (Murray, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thinking In Story: Preaching in a Post-Literate Age (Paperback)

Richard Jensen, a systematic theologian and producer of the radio program "Lutheran Vespers" has provided today's preachers with an important challenge in his book Thinking in Story: Preaching in a Post-Literate Age. The challenge for us, he says, is to be aware of the significance of our time-only the second major shift in communication culture in history. Jensen extensively uses research done by Walter Ong to demonstrate the differences between the oral-aural age of communication and the literate-print age. The second major shift is between the age of print and the post-literate age, the age of the electronic media.

This is a book for preachers. Jensen makes it clear that "preaching is shaped by the communications culture of its time." (22) The entire history of Christianity, up to now, has been influenced by a literate society. Since the invention of the printing press, it has been heavily influenced by the world of print. Preaching in a world of print tends to be more linear. It is a medium for communicating ideas.

In the age of electronic media we find ourselves living in an age where the skills of the oral-aural age must be revisited. Though we are very much formed by our literate background, we are now preaching to people who spend eighty percent of their non working/sleeping time watching television. Children growing up in this electronic age seem capable of watching television, listening to music and studying, all at the same time. It is an age of multi-tasking.

The electronic media deals with images that do not have to be understood. It is a sensory media. It washes over the viewer, massaging several senses at the same time. It brings back into play many of the characteristics of the oral-aural culture. It is more suited for story telling than for purely didactic purposes. It is non-linear. Stories we see on television often jump from one situation to another, allowing the viewer to participate in several sub-stories at the same time.

Jensen encourages stories from the bible itself, and also from the preacher's own life experiences. This may come as a shock to those schooled in the Buttrick system of preaching. For Jenson, "my story" leads to "our story" which eventually brings us to "God's story." His list of sources for stories, for the most part, is one of the weaker areas of the book. Jensen's challenge to preachers is very clear and well stated. His examples of story-preaching are not as well stated. For this reader, this apparent weak point is forgivable considering the value and strength of the challenge that he does state so well. He ends his book with some important caveats-what can go wrong. Good preaching does not take the place of good theology. Good stories should not be an end in themselves. Good preachers do not rely solely on their own biblical interpretation, apart from what is handed on through the Church.

Richard Jensen has performed a great service for preachers. He has read the writing on the wall, and demonstrated that it is really an electronic image! If the Church is to continue to reach new generations, then it should not be slow in recognizing that it is entering, with all of humanity, a new age of communication. Our old communication skills need to be re-thought. Thank you, Richard Jensen, for such a positive challenge!