Preaching to a Postmodern World: A Guide to Reaching Twenty-First-Century Listeners

by Graham Johnston

Book Overview

Challenges pastors to uphold biblical truth while communicating it to postmodern listeners in fresh ways. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801063671
• ISBN13: 9780801063671
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Useful guide to modern preaching

This is a very helpful book for all preachers regardless of denomination. The chapter about the postmodern way of thinking was most enlightning and answered a lot of questions one might have about young people's way of looking upon the world of today. I only wish I had read it earlier in my career.

THE BEST RELEVANT PREACHING BOOK I HAVE EVER READ

THIS BOOK I COULDN'T PUT DOWN, MR JOHNSTON HIT THE BALL OUT OF THE PARK WITH THIS ONE!! EVERY SINGLE PASTOR SHOULD OWN THIS BOOK PERIOD! I CAN'T WAIT FOR A NEWER EDITION TO COME OUT BECUASE THE AUTHOR HAS HIS FINGER ON THE PULSE OF THE POSTMODERN WORLD.

Good book, but there's room for improvement

Graham Johnston is the senior pastor at Subiaco Church of Christ in Western Australia and lectures in homiletics at the Australian College of Ministries. "Preaching to a Postmodern World" is inteneded as a primer in postmodern thought for pastors who simply don't "get" the postmodern mindset. As a whole, this book has been helpful to me, but it still exhibits weaknesses. What I have found most beneficial about this book is the very topic it addresses. Many people have been able to describe the postmodern mindset and tell what it's like, but very few have been able to define it and explain what it is. Johnston avoids this debate all together. Working from what he knows postmoderns are like--and knowing that the number of folks having this mindset is continually growing--he sticks to what they're like, what they want to hear and what they don't want to hear. Thus, the helps the non-postmodern pastor write sermons that postmoderns can relate to. This book is sprinkled with all sorts of "dos" and "don'ts." Some are helpful, some are not so helpful, and some are just plain confusing. Nevertheless, although the "helpful hints" includes good as well as bad and ugly, I actually consider this a strength as the reader can effectively glean what will work best for him. Finally, I appreciate the fact that the book is an easy read. This is not a doctoral disseration, but it is rather a book intended to be read by a wide (pastoral) audience. This is not to say that the book is Pulitzer-worthy (or even Oprah Book Club-worthy). It does have some weaknesses. One such weankess is the lack of organization within the book. The chapters of the book don't display any central theme, but rather each chapter tends to run the gamut, displaying a holistic approach to praching, and covering many disconnected points. This is frustrating for this reader as I would have appreciated a more systamatic approach to this work. As a reslut of the current layout, I found myself asking how the stuff I'm reading now connects to the stuff toward the beginning of the chapter. In addition to this, Johnston tends not to make a clear distinction between "telling the postmodern what he wants to hear" and "holding out Christianity as the objective truth." I walk away from the book thinking that Johnston wants me to understand the postmodern so that I can pretend to be one of them: walk their walk, talk their talk, then hit them with doctrine. I don't think that this is what he has in mind, but it's the feel i get from this book. In sum, Graham Johnston understands the postmodern mind, he knows what makes them tick, and I'm sure he's a very effective minister to postmoderns. However, how I can do the same is not clearly shown in this book. Nevertheless, Johnston does show that if one wants to minister effetively to postmoderns through sermons, it is essential that you build relationships with them, get to know them, understand their hopes and concerns, love them, and s

On the mark

Johnston's review of postmodernism is accurate and concise. Announcing that modernism has collapsed is one flaw. We live in a mixture of the two - dare I say - philosophies. The other complaint I have about the book is the reliance on secondary sources. Besides these two problems, this is an excellent book.Postmodernism has come of age in the new century. It's been growing steadily since the sixties. Anyone who was around for the hippie movement can recognize all the signs. However, postmodernism has become mainstream and even adopted by some in the church. (Whatever happened to being renewed in the spirit of the mind?) Johnston not only shows how the world has infiltrated the church but how to reach those with the gospel without accommodating to this age. His understanding that popular postmodernism is a parasite feeding off of modernism is incisive. In essence, postmodernism is a reaction to modernism as feminism reacts against a male dominated society. Christians ought not imbibe either as a philosphy. We do better with pre-modern philosophy and its attention to reality.This book is more than helpful. It ought to be read by all those who minister today.

Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book...

Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book on preaching to postmoderns. Dr. Johnston first gives a brief overview of postmodern culture. While it's not exhaustive life Carson's The Gagging of God or Dockery's The Challenge of Postmodernism or Grenz's Postmodern Primer, that does not mean it doesn't do the job. He boils a lot of it down and gives the neccesary basics to understanding our current culture.He then describes some ways to engage the listeners, ways that preachers should truly understand. He encourages the preacher to move from descriptive preaching (expository preaching using multiple points) to narrative preaching (expository preaching that uses the plot of the Biblical text).The author discusses barriers to communication with postmoderns and then how to make a connection and make inroads to the listeners and finally different sermon style and delivery options.