The Web of Preaching: New Options in Homiletic Method

By Richard Eslinger

Book Overview

Preaching is not as simple as it may appear. The preacher today is confronted with a dizzying array of homiletic methods and approaches, each holding important insights into how to proclaim the Good News. While pastors wish to learn from these different ways of preaching, they often do not know where to begin (Who are the best representatives of a given approach? How do the different methods relate to one another? How has the preaching scene changed in recent years?). In The Web of Preaching, Richard Eslinger addresses these and other questions about contemporary approaches to preaching. Surveying the most important current theories of preaching, he argues that no homiletic method can be understood on its own. The different schools of thought on preaching all intersect at such common points as Scripture, narrative, and the role of preaching in worship. A strength in one compensates for a weakness in another, and seen together they form one comprehensive "web of preaching." This book is a follow-up to Eslinger's earlier A New Hearing, which has been a standard text in preaching courses since its publication in 1987.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068701297X
• ISBN13: 9780687012978
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

In-depth explorations of new methods resulting from the New Homiletic

In this book Eslinger looks at the responses of the "New Homiletic." His assumption is that the New Homiletic has opened several new approaches to preaching. All of these approaches assume presentation of a Biblical text based on accurate interpretation. This book is a must read for those who are wanting to expand their methods, approaches, and structures of preaching. If one is looking to gain strengths from the African American preaching tradition, the narrative center, Homiletics of Imagery, Four Pages (Paul Scott Wilson), Moves and Structures (Buttrick), Inductive and Narrative Plots (Lowry/Craddock) then this book would be a helpful read. The reader is challenged to explore different directions in their own preaching. Each of the chapters conclude with a sermon from someone who holds that approach to preaching. Personally, I am curious why this book has not caught on in Seminaries and Bible Colleges. Especially in any class that explores Homiletics in any depth. This book is a must read for preachers that want to help the audience listen better.