The Homiletical Question offers preachers, from beginning students to the most experienced, a concise introduction to lectionary-based preaching in liturgical contexts familiar to Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, and others. The book demonstrates how, by answering a single, simple question each time a sermon is prepared, preachers can respond fully and faithfully to the biblical text, the needs and issues of the audience, and the challenges of a changing world. Chapters explore the practice of homiletical exegesis, creation and illustration of the moves that shape the sermon, crafting introductions and conclusions, and preaching baptisms, weddings, funerals, and other special occasions. As Thomas G. Long writes in the foreword, "That the homiletical question should yield answers that are beyond the reach of the preacher, answers that manifest preaching as an event of surplus and abundance, answers that point toward the mystery that is the Holy Spirit, answers that take us to our knees in prayer before they take us into the pulpit, would come as no surprise to Brosend. That very mystery, that very abundance, is at the heart of Brosend's theology of preaching, and, therefore, at the heart of this book."

Preaching, says professor and author O. Wesley Allen Jr., should be considered as a form of conversation. The church, after all, is a community of conversation that exists in part to interpret God's purposes for the world and to participate in those purposes. The idea of the sermon as a conversation, then, is not simply a style or form of preaching but an integral expression of the nature and purpose of the church.

Foreword by Don Wardlaw This exceptional book by Charles Cosgrove and Dow Edgerton will be a rich resource for pastors wanting to reach their congregations in a fresh way. Rather than discussing preaching in general or even a specific approach to preaching, it focuses on a new way of engaging the biblical text for preaching. In Other Words combines Cosgrove and Edgerton's critical acumen, creative imagination, and pastoral discernment to present contemporizing restatements of Scripture, speaking timeless truths in modern speech. In describing their "incarnational translation," the authors invite readers to imagine what the text might have looked like if produced in the preacher's own culture, time, and place. Drawing on translation theory, genre studies, and recent hermeneutical theory, they offer both a comprehensive theory of incarnational translation and a set of specific guidelines and examples for carrying it out.

In a dialogue with all of the theological disciplines and also with closely related human and philosophical sciences, this standard work sets out criteria for a contemporary approach to preaching. The assumptions, arguments, models, perspectives and methods for analyzing the homiletic process are presented in an understandable form. Figures and practical guidelines offer helpful illustrations. This comprehensive and engaging format makes this volume a supportive textbook, a reliable reference work and a stimulating aid for preaching – all in one.

Now in reissue with a new foreword by Fred B. Craddock and afterword by the author, Eugene L. Lowry, The Homiletical Plot, Expanded Edition follows in the same solid tradition of its predecessor. Upon its release, The Homiletical Plot quickly became a pivotal work on the art of preaching. Instead of comments on a biblical passage, Lowry suggested that the sermon follow a narrative form that moves from beginning to end, as with the plot of a story. This expanded edition continues to be an excellent teaching resource and learning tool for all preachers from introductory students to seasoned clergy.

Promise has a long pedigree in the history of Christian understandings of the gospel. This volume gathers together leading homileticians to consider the breadth of its understanding today in light of the struggle to reconcile God’s grace with God’s justice. Assuming that promise is a core sense of the gospel, how does this relate to the variety of contexts in which homiletical theology is done? In this final volume in the series, six homileticians from a variety of contexts and perspectives try to move specifically toward a homiletical theology of promise as a way to articulate the central theological gift and task that is preaching the gospel today.