Performance in Preaching: Bringing the Sermon to Life [With DVD] - Paperback

by Clayton J. Schmit (Editor), Jana Childers (Editor)

This volume, which launches the Engaging Worship series from Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, offers a unique study of sermon delivery. While many books offer advice on how to prepare, write, and preach a sermon, this volume is distinctive in approaching the subject from the perspective of performance.

The authors, who teach at a variety of seminaries and divinity schools across the nation, examine how the sermon can bring God's word to life for the congregation. In that sense, they consider the idea of performance from a wide range of theological, artistic, and musical viewpoints. These thoughtful essays will engage clergy and students with new ways of looking at the art of preaching.

Back Jacket

The Role of Performance in Preaching and Worship

This volume takes a unique approach by examining the role of performance in preaching. The contributors bring a variety of theological and denominational perspectives to the subject, but they are united in their concern for the importance of the performance of the sermon--not in a shallow or theatrical sense but as an essential aspect of bringing God's Word to life for the congregation. To that end, these wide-ranging studies examine theological, artistic, and musical aspects of a compelling performance.

"Two of our finest teachers of preaching here collaborate on an invigorating book for preachers. Jesus doesn't mean for us to think about the gospel, even to understand the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be enacted, embodied, and performed. Childers and Schmit show us how we preachers can better enable our listeners to not only hear but also perform the gospel. One of the best books on the craft of preaching that we've had in a long time."--Will Willimon, bishop, North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, and visiting research professor, Duke Divinity School

"Jana Childers and Clayton Schmit have done students, preachers, and homileticians a great service with this book. For too long our preaching has been captive to the mind/body dualisms of modern thought. Performance in Preaching provides a rich variety of stimulating essays in conversation with the work of Charles Bartow, showing that both the 'what' and the 'how' of our sermons serve the Spirit's work of bringing the incarnate Word to speech."--Michael Pasquarello III, Granger E. and Anna A. Fisher Professor of Preaching, Asbury Theological Seminary

Author Biography

Jana Childers (PhD, Graduate Theological Union) is the dean of the seminary and professor of homiletics and speech communication at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She is the author of Performing the Word: Preaching as Theatre. Clayton J. Schmit (PhD, Graduate Theological Union) is the academic director of the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts and the Arthur DeKruyter/Christ Church Oak Brook Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Too Deep for Words: A Theology of Liturgical Expression.