Great Title! Disappointing Text. :-(

Preaching to a Shifting Culture: 12 Perspectives on Communicating that Connects, edited by Scott M. Gibson, is one of the more disappointing books I’ve read in a while, although not a total loss.  Gibson features a group of twelve preachers who are self-defined Evangelicals to discuss topics around preaching in a new day of changing culture.  I had great hopes as I read the titles describing the issues to be addressed: preaching in a post-modernist culture, the pluralistic nature of society, connecting to the congregation, sensitivity to the listener, preaching in a global world, anti-authoritarianism, etc.  The content was less than inspiring.  A recurring refrain throughout these articles suggest a generic solution to each concern raised:  preach the Bible.  No matter what the challenge presented by modern culture, the answer was almost always a resounding outcry for preaching the “Word of God” as if correct teaching is the only answer to all the complex issues of our day.

             

As a preacher within the Reformed Tradition, I was particularly struck by the recurrence of the phrase, “Word of God”, in part because reformed theologians define the term differently than do these Evangelical preachers.  The term “Word of God” is a complex theological phrase that takes its roots from the Greek word logos meaning “word”.  The Greek term has an overlay of meaning from the wisdom literature that almost personifies the wisdom of God as the logos.  The “word” of God is thought to bring understanding and to communicate God’s thoughts and intentions.  This personified “word” comes to its fullest fruition is Jesus Christ who is understood as God incarnate.  The “Word” becomes flesh and dwells among us in Jesus.  (John 1:14)  Presbyterians and other reformed expressions of the Christian faith understand the “Word of God” to be that which allows us to hear God’s voice in our lives.  Sometimes that voice is heard in the scriptures.  Sometimes it is heard in the Spirit speaking in our lives.  Sometimes we hear the Word of God in a sermon.  Always we see and hear the Word of God in Jesus.  What surprised me in Preaching to a Shifting Culture was that the Word of God was understood to be scripture alone and the scriptures were elevated above everything else.  At moments in some articles the Holy Bible seemed to be more sacred than God.

Gibson’s book was not, however, a total loss.  I found a couple useful articles. “Dusting Off the Old Testament for a New Millennium” by Ray Lubeck provided helpful suggestions for tackling Old Testament texts or as he would put it: the Hebrew Bible.  Lubeck makes several good observations.  He points out that we have misunderstood the place of the “law” in the Hebrew Bible, defining it too narrowly.  Lubeck suggests that the word Torah means instruction or teaching.  This instruction is set in the context of the gospel story of God redeeming his people.  Lubeck also describes a rather complicated process of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures called the Speech Act Theory.  He wants interpreters to look for the originally intent of the text, the purpose behind the writing and what response the writer was seeking.  A third helpful idea is what Lubeck calls Big Picture thinking”.  Unlike the New Testament which can often be understood in small episodes and stories within a story, Lubeck says the stories in the Hebrew Bible belong to a very large story.  The interpreter needs to cast a much wider net in understanding the context of large Biblical themes.

A Second helpful article was Rodney L. Cooper’s “The Psychology of Preaching”.  Cooper argues persuasively that we live in a therapeutic culture and advocates for using the sermon, on occasion, for group therapy.  He is careful to point out that preachers are not psychologists and few are trained as such.  Cooper, however, rightly argues many of the psychological issues faced by modern people are addressed beautifully in the scriptures.  The scriptures, interpreted in the sermon can provide healing, sustaining, guidance and reconciliation all of which promote a healthy sense of mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.  Utilizing Chris Thurman’s book, The Lies We Believe, Cooper argues a cognitive behavioral approach in preaching enables listeners on Sunday mornings to identify debilitating falsehoods in their thinking and to replace them with live giving truths.  He then provides a suggested outline for constructing a “counseling sermon” with the scriptures.

In spite of the two useful articles, I cannot recommend Preaching to a Shifting Culture for preachers in the Reformed Tradition.  The assumptions and cultural bias of the majority of “Evangelical” preachers featured here create a book that appears hostile to the modern world and likely ineffective in its ability to speak meaningfully to the next generation.