Preaching with Variety: How to Re-create the Dynamics of Biblical Genres (Preaching With Series) (Paperback)

~ Jeffery Arthurs (Author), Haddon Robinson (Foreword)
Key Phrases: apocalyptic literature, channel surfers, persistent widow, New Testament, Old Testament, Great Communicator (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This new volume in the Preaching With series reveals how pastors can preach in a way that employs—with creativity—the six writing genres or forms found in the Bible. Readers will learn how to expand their repertoire of creative, interesting, and relevant sermons.

From the Back Cover

“Jeffrey Arthurs offers us a great deal of help to take us away from turning out cookie cutter sermons and allowing us to preach God’s Word with imagination and freshness.”

—Haddon W. Robinson
Harold John Ockenga Professor of Preaching
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Author, Biblical Preaching

“Variety—God is committed to it, and listeners need it. Prodded by these compelling observations, Arthurs tackles the variety in biblical literature—psalms, stories, parables, proverbs, epistles, and apocalyptic visions—and shows how to preach each one in a variety of ways. This is a clear and substantive book, written with wit and insight.”

—Donald Sunukjian
Professor of Preaching, Talbot School of Theology
Author, Invitation to Biblical Preaching

“In this well-written book, Jeffrey Arthurs carefully and concisely instructs preachers to preach from various biblical genres with skill. His insights and suggestions will help any pastor to preach with variety.”

—Scott M. Gibson
Haddon W. Robinson Professor of Preaching and Ministry
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Editor, Preaching the Old Testament

“One of the great needs of preaching in our day is to let the biblical text speak with its own voice, rather than trying to stuff it into a predictable, pre digested package. Jeffrey Arthurs offers valuable and practical insights that will help any preacher better communicate biblical truth with freshness and faithfulness.”

—Michael Duduit
Editor, Preaching magazine

“Jeffrey Arthurs is a wordsmith, a message-smith, a master communicator. You will learn much from him.”

—Craig Brian Larson
Editor, PreachingToday.com

Preaching with Variety reveals how pastors can preach creatively by borrowing the dynamics of six genres or forms found in the Bible. Each chapter includes practical “Try this” suggestions and ends with a quick checklist for preachers to consider when preaching from each of the six genres. Readers will learn how to expand their repertoire of creative, interesting, and relevant sermons.

Jeffrey D. Arthurs (Ph.D., Purdue University) is associate professor of preaching and communication and dean of the chapel at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is an avid preacher and active scholar.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Academic & Professional (February 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825420199
• ISBN-13: 978-0825420191
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #436,847 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to Biblical genres and preaching them, May 15, 2007

By	P. Mead "biblicalpreaching.wordpress.com" (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I hope this book gets the recognition it deserves. This is a power-packed paperback that seeks to stimulate Biblical preachers in developing variety in their preaching through awareness of how the various Biblical genres function. Arthurs offers not only understanding of how the genres do what they do, but also many suggestions on how to reflect their diversity as we preach them.

Arthurs states, "I believe that a sermon's content should explain and apply the Word of God as it is found in a biblical text, and a sermon's form should unleash the impact of that text." (p.13)

Arthurs is not arguing that the form of a text dictate the form of a sermon, even if that were possible. Rather he argues that genre sensitive preaching seeks to replicate the impact of the text. He affirms the great freedom in form available to preachers, and encourages that freedom by presenting the great variety found within the six major Biblical genres.

The first two chapters argue in favor of variety in preaching, firstly because God the master communicator uses such great variety in all His communication - not least in the diverse forms of literature used in His Word, and secondly because our listeners value variety.

The rest of the book deals with six Biblical literary forms: Psalms, Narrative, Parables, Proverbs, Epistles and Apocalyptic. In each case presenting an introduction to the genre, a helpful explanation of the rhetorical devices used to create their impact and numerous helpful suggestions on how to preach the different types of text. The result of these suggestions, if heeded, will be real variety in Biblical preaching.

Arthurs is as much concerned with rightly handling the Biblical forms as he is with prompting variety in preaching. He is urging effective understanding of the rhetorical function of Biblical genre, so that one's preaching might also fizz with Biblical variety. This is not the definitive book on creative preaching, for there are others that suggest many exciting and bizarre possibilities. However this may well become a model book on interpreting Biblical genre (and in that divinely designed diversity is the shove we all need to vary our preaching!)

So I hope this book gets the recognition it deserves. Thomas Long's brief paperback on literary forms has been rightly praised as a helpful introduction to the subject of genre studies with some help for the preacher. Arthur's work is in the same league and may well replace Long's, for it is a more complete introduction to more Biblical genres from a more definite evangelical stance, with much more in the way of practical suggestion for the preacher.

This book will help you say what the text says, and do what the text does!

[...]

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to the genres of the Bible, April 4, 2009

By	Lloyd Jones - See all my reviews

Dr. Arthurs' book is a great introduction to the genres of the Bible. It is also thought-provoking for anyone who teaches or preaches the Bible. Don't read it if you want to stay comfortable with what you always do when you preach or teach.