Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (Paperback)

by Peter J. Gomes (Author) "The sermons in this collection represent the harvest of many years of preaching to congregations in The Memorial Church of Harvard University..." (more)
Key Phrases: Jesus Christ, Saint Paul, Saint John (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Reading a book of sermons should not have the same impact as hearing them preached from the pulpit. After all, listening to the mellifluous tones of a preacher speaking heartfelt words is an irreplaceable experience. But reading sermons provides a different experience, one that can be just as powerful. As Peter J. Gomes, author of The Good Book points out in his inspiring collection simply entitled Sermons, by looking at the discourses, the reader is able to form a special connection with the words and the preacher who offers them by taking control of the text. The reader may stop to refer to the Bible or pause at length to ponder how the words relate to him or her. However, this caveat Gomes offers on the differences between written and spoken sermons is ultimately unnecessary. These texts, transcribed straight from Gomes's preachings, have an oral quality to them that allows the reader to "hear" the words as Gomes "speaks" them, giving his ideas that much more force.

In his introduction, Henry Louis Gates Jr. describes Gomes as "a cross between Cotton Mather and Martin Luther King Jr. [Gomes], clearly, was a man of words, but a man of words with a difference." The Harvard preacher gives us no less--words that make a difference--in his compilation of 40 sermons, each built upon the Christian calendar, taking us from Advent to Christmas. (The number is no accident, 40 being an important biblical number: the great flood lasted for 40 days, the children of Israel wandered for 40 years; Jesus fasted for 40 days. ) The range of sermons--from "The Art of Impatient Living" to "Growing Up" to "Acts of Reconciliation"--offer biblical wisdom in a modern context, using current references such as Donald Trump, artist George Segal, and Julia Child. Political and social history, humor, and wit infuse the sermons making them relevant and interesting to today's audience. Gomes offers his readers a pathway to the Bible, opening to them the happiness and inspiration it can bring to their daily lives. --Jenny Brown --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Best-selling author and religion professor Gomes (The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, LJ 6/1/96) here collects 40 of his sermons, preached over the years to the congregation at First Memorial Church, Harvard University. These sermons address a variety of themes that revolve around the liturgical seasons, but Gomes's characteristic wit and unwavering ability to get to the heart of whatever matters with honesty, clarity, and eloquence will appeal to a wider audience of nonchurch goers. A man of formidable intelligence and political influence, Gomes indicates by these sermons that he is willing to stake everything on the mystery that is central to Christian faith?the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which forms the bedrock of Gomes's own biblical understanding. A highly readable book.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380731657
• ISBN-13: 978-0380731657
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,322,590 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They are amongst the greatest users of language, July 25, 2000

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (Hardcover)

The tragedy is most of what they "write" is never written down, it is delivered orally, the great news is that one of the best has written 40 of his, and created "Sermons". Mr. Peter J. Gomes has collected this group of his sermons, and now people outside of his place of speaking may enjoy the words of this great communicator.

I am not suggesting this book because a member of the clergy has written it; religion is an individual and very personal choice. I enjoyed this book as I feel some of the greatest users of our language speak rather than write, or rather speak but with no written record, and this is truly a loss. Whether or not the religious denomination of which Mr. Gomes is a member that you have adopted as your own, is not the reason to read this work. An appreciation of language is all that is required.

Mr. Gomes is considered to be one of the finest "Preachers" speaking today. I have never heard him speak, but if his written words are any indication of his live presentations, they must be special indeed. If you have never had the experience of being amongst those present to hear one of these orators you have not enjoyed a singular experience.

I have had the privilege of enjoying some sermons delivered in tiny churches, in parts of our Country where I was the minority, and a "Yankee" in a good-natured way. I attended what I had been raised to refer to as Church in buildings that were anything but conventional Churches. I was not in massive structures, in one case it was an old converted fire station, in another a school. But the "Preachers" I heard were remarkable, and while they most certainly are in the profession of spreading The Message as their denomination practices it, they are unique purveyors of the spoken, and in this case the written word.

The speeches of Mr. Gomes are excellent reading, and regardless of your faith or lack thereof, you will find more common sense ideas, and more useful information than you will find in a dozen self-help books, be they personal or business. All of these books I refer to can be accurately described as how to conduct yourself as an employer, a manager, a person. None of these books hold any great mysteries; none hold a thought that is not derivative. Being happy with your life, running a company that retains employees because they have no desire to move, being a positive contributor in any manner you choose, all these manners of personal conduct are known to us all, placing them in books that give them new names is just repackaging, it's not new. Want to keep employees, guess what, treat them well. Want to be a better person, listen more, the hundreds of books on how to behave are presentations of what in many cases you already know.

I doubt that Mr. Gomes sets out to create anything more than people who are more cognizant and sensitive to those around them. But then that describes just about every self-help book, personal or professional I have read.

Great reading from a brilliant orator.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An encounter with the Word., July 27, 1998

By	M. Burgess (Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (Hardcover)

Gomes knows the risk he took in publishing this collection of his sermons. He knows that preaching is primarily an oral not a written from of communication. He knows, too, that any experience one is likely to have as the result of hearing a sermon will be fundamentally different than the one that results from reading the same. This difference noted, Gomes presses on in the faith that although different, both may be nonetheless equally valuable experiences.

Helping to bridge this difference is Gomes' chosen method of presentation. Organizing his messages as he does according to church seasons and themes emulates the aural experience. It is as if we had the benefit of sitting in Gomes' congregation Sunday after Sunday for an entire year. Surely this is the only way of even beginning to assess the gifts that a preacher like Gomes brings to the Holy Scriptures.

Gomes' choice of scriptures seems to have been based upon the common lectionary. The messages therefore! tend to follow more the contours of the church year than of Gomes' mind. But this is as it should be. In this fashion, Gomes seems to have followed in the footsteps of another fine preacher, H.H. Farmer, who urged preachers to be servants of the Word. In the end, after one is done reading this book, one is left with the impression that one has had as much, if not more, an encounter with the Word as with Dr. Gomes. If you are yourself a practitioner of the art of preaching or just one who appreciates good preaching, this book would be well worth your reading.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gomes' book is a helpful tool for the spiritual journey., November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (Hardcover)

Gomes' sermons challenge and inspire the reader in his or her spiritual journey. He does not back away from truth, which would be much more difficult to hear were it not for his use of humor and real life examples. His sermons are helpful for personal reflection as well as for use in scripture studies or prayer groups.