Sermons That Sing: Music and the Practice of Preaching - Paperback

by Noel A. Snyder (Author), Jeremy S. Begbie (Foreword by)

Preaching and music are both regular elements of Christian worship across the theological spectrum. But they often don't interact or inform each other in meaningful ways.

In this Dynamics of Christian Worship volume, theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how the church's preaching might be helpfully informed by musical theory. Just as a good musical composition employs technical elements like synchrony, repetition, and meter, the same should be saidfor good preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ.

By drawing upon music that lifts the soul, preachers might craft sermons that sing.

The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship--including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more--to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.

Author Biography

Jeremy Begbie (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, where he serves as the director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts (DITA). He is also a Senior Memberof Wolfson College, Cambridge. He is author of a number of books, including Music, Modernity, and God; A Peculiar Orthodoxy; Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts; Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music; Theology, Music and Time; Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts. He is also a professionally trained musician and an ordained minister of the Church of England.

Noel A. Snyder (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is program manager at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University and an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).