Interview with David Allen on Text-Driven Preaching

Yesterday I introduced a forthcoming volume on expository preaching entitled Text-Driven Preaching. Today I have an interview with David Allen, one of the editors of the book, and also a table of contents for the book.

David Allen is the Dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and an outstanding preacher in his own right.

Question: How did Text-Driven Preaching come about?

The idea for the book came about as a result of the preaching lectures I delivered at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in January of 2004. Dr. David Black and I were talking and he suggested the possibility. I immediately agreed and we began to work on the project from there. Originally, Dr. Black and I had planned to serve as co-editors of the book, but due to pressing engagements, he had to drop out. Drs. Akin and Matthews and I teamed up to serve as co-editors.

Question: Why did you write Text-Driven Preaching?

We wrote the book because we see a dearth of genuine expository preaching in many pulpits today. Even among those who do or who attempt to do exposition, many do not know how best to go about the task. We wanted to write a book that would give something of the history, methodology and practice of expository preaching that would be practical for all interested pastors and students.

Question: What is the main thesis of the book?

The main thesis of the book is that all genuine preaching should be text-driven preaching for theological reasons. The Bible is the Word of God. We believe in verbal-plenary inspiration. Consequently, what better to preach on to the people in our churches than the very words of God himself? We believe that all sermons should stay true to the structure, the substance and the spirit of the text of Scripture. Topical preaching fails to do this. We do not believe that expository preaching confines the preacher to a strait-jacket of three points and a poem. Sermons may appear in a variety of forms, as long as they clearly expound the meaning of the text.

Question: Who should read this book?

We would hope every pastor and student who plans to preach or teach the Bible would read it.

Question: What do you hope to accomplish through this book?

We hope to foster genuine biblical preaching that handles the text accurately and creatively at the same time. We hope to encourage pastors to consider preaching through books of the Bible as a part of their preaching ministry. We hope to encourage pastors out there on the front lines to realize that the best thing they can do for their people in the long run is to feed them the Word of God week by week. Nothing short of that will build strong disciples and great churches. Here is the

Table of Contents:

Introduction – David L. Allen

Part I
1. Ancient Rhetoric, A Model for Text-driven Preachers – Paige Patterson
2. A History of Text-driven Preaching – Jim Shaddix
3. The Secret of Preaching with Power – Bill Bennett
4. The Disciplines of a Text-driven Preacher – Ned Matthews

Part II
5. Preparing a Text-driven Sermon – David L. Allen
6. Exegesis for the Text-driven Sermon – David Alan Black
7. Biblical Genres and the Text-driven Sermon – Robert Vogel
8. Biblical Theology and Preaching – James M. Hamilton Jr.
9. Communication Theory and Text-driven Preaching – Hershael W. York
10. Delivering a Text-driven Sermon – Adam B. Dooley and Jerry Vines
11. Applying a Text-driven Sermon – Daniel L. Akin

Conclusion – Ned L. Mathews

Text-Driven Preaching

    
Text-Driven Preaching: God's Word at the Heart of Every Sermon is a forthcoming volume (June 2010) devoted to expository preaching. Here is the publishers description,

Text-Driven Preaching features essays by Daniel L. Akin, Paige Patterson, David Alan Black, Jerry Vines, Hershael York, David L. Allen, Bill Bennett, Ned L. Mathews, Robert Vogel, and Jim Shaddix urging pastors to commit to presenting true expository preaching from the pulpit. Concerned over what some church leaders even consider to be expository preaching today, they agree, “This book rests firmly on the biblical and theological foundation for exposition: God has spoken.”Capturing the urgency and spirit of these writings in the book’s preface, co-editor Allen notes, “The church today is anemic spiritually for many reasons, but one of the major reasons has to be the loss of biblical content in so much of contemporary preaching. Pop psychology substitutes for the Word of God . . . in the headlong rush to be relevant, People magazine and popular television shows have replaced Scripture as sermonic resources.”

Tomorrow I will post an interview with David Allen, one of the editors of Text-Driven Preaching.
   

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Online

Go here to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre online. Not as good as being in Jerusalem but pretty nifty.


HT: Trevin Wax

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Kenneth E. Bailey
The Cross and the Prodigal: Luke 15 through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5098
Reviewed by Robert O'Toole

Craig G. Bartholomew
Ecclesiastes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7240
Reviewed by Richard Schultz

Manfred T. Brauch
Abusing Scripture: The Consequences of Misreading the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7160
Reviewed by Michael D. Matlock

Brendan Byrne
A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark's Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6722
Reviewed by Sean Kealy

Duane L. Christensen
Nahum: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7296
Reviewed by Klaas Spronk

Gary N. Knoppers and Kenneth A. Ristau, eds.
Community Identity in Judean Historiography: Biblical and Comparative Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7249
Reviewed by Rainer Kessler

R. W. L. Moberly
The Theology of the Book of Genesis
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7215
Reviewed by Brian D. Russell

Stanley E. Porter and Mark J. Boda, eds.
Translating the New Testament: Text, Translation, Theology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7310
Reviewed by Douglas Moo

John M. Steele, ed.
Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6789
Reviewed by Mladen Popovic

Conflict in Acts

See Richard Fellows' discussion on conflicts in Acts. I think that Richard is spot on. Acts does not gloss over conflicts, nor does it present a sanitized version of church history. Indeed it can be argued that the conflict passages, like the summary/progress reports, serve an important narratival and theological function(s) within the book.

Pastors and the Value of a Seminary Education

According to the latest Church Leaders Intelligence Report,

Researchers behind a new survey by LifeWay of more than 1,000 Protestant pastors report that more than 95% of pastors at least somewhat agreed that they regularly use their seminary training in their ministry; 71% strongly agreed with that statement. Two-thirds of those surveyed had obtained at least a Master’s degree. 85% said they have taken seminary classes, and 96% said they would make the same decision to take them if they “had it to do over again.” Fewer pastors of small churches had formal seminary training; 74% of pastors of churches under 50 in attendance had attended seminary classes, while 88% of pastors with larger churches had. The vast majority of pastors strongly agree that their seminary training was worth the time and investment (83%); among doctoral-level seminary graduates, the percentage of strong agreement was even higher (94%). Scott McConnell with LifeWay Research said, “This is encouraging news for seminaries at a time when a 2009 report from the Association of Theological Schools indicated seminary enrollment is in a slump. The lack of new students doesn’t appear to be linked to any decline in the perceived relevance of seminary education among pastors.”

Some Resources on Replacement Theology

Go here for both audio and print resources on Replacement Theology from Michael Vlach's recent lectures at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

HT: Rodney Decker

Jewish Origins of Gnosticism?

Michael Bird has some interesting thoughts on a possible Jewish origin for Gnosticism here.

Christology

"Let our finest minds, then, devote themselves to the study of Christology. Other subjects may, or may not, be exhausted; other callings may, or may not, be overcrowded; but there is plenty of room in the topmost calling of all, and there is an ever-opening and ever-deepening interest there."

Wilbur M. Smith, Chats From a Minister's Library (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1951), 182.

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Elizabeth Boase
The Fulfilment of Doom? The Dialogic Interaction between the Book of Lamentations and the Pre-exilic/Early Exilic Prophetic Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5481
Reviewed by Charles Miller

Jo Carruthers
Esther through the Centuries
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6424
Reviewed by Linda Day
Reviewed by Timothy Laniak

Mark K. George
Israel's Tabernacle as Social Space
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7233
Reviewed by Gert Prinsloo

Joel B. Green
Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7039
Reviewed by Robin Gallaher Branch

Peter J. Leithart
Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7256
Reviewed by Matthew Gordley

Bruce J. Malina
Timothy: Paul's Closest Associate
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6387
Reviewed by Mark Batluck

Scot McKnight and Joseph B. Modica, eds.
Who Do My Opponents Say That I Am? An Investigation of the Accusations against Jesus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6663
Reviewed by M. Robert Mulholland

John Oswalt
The Bible among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7263
Reviewed by Claude Mariottini

Tessa Rajak
Translation and Survival: The Greek Bible and the Ancient Jewish Diaspora
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7212
Reviewed by Christopher Beetham

Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg
Sustaining Fictions: Intertextuality, Midrash, Translation, and the Literary Afterlife of the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6953
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Tom Thatcher
Greater than Caesar: Christology and Empire in the Fourth Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7195
Reviewed by Adam Winn