PREACHING CONVERSATIONS WITH SCHOLARS

With an eye toward reuniting the church and the academy, this book focuses on the role that scholarship can play in making good preachers into really great preachers. This is the bridge between scholarly and popular writing that informs the sermon and makes it more powerful and meaningful for the people who regularly listen to sermons. Preachers are challenged to raise the level of their commitment to scholarship as well as overcome any pre-existing prejudices with scholarship. The preacher as scholar is the perfect way for the pulpit to respond to the challenges of a secular, post-modern world that often wonders if smart people can even believe in God. Rodney Kennedy is a preacher of considerable courage! In this well written work he presents a variety of his own sermons drawn from various biblical texts and pastoral issues, with resulting responses from a group of scholar-analysts. The result is a resource for preachers and congregations alike. Preachers receive insights into sermon content linking scholarship, spirituality, and praxis in the work of the gospel. Congregations may be assisted in having ears to hear both what the sermon says, and what it means.   --Bill J. Leonard, James and Marilyn Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and Church History, Wake Forest University Rodney Wallace Kennedy is president of Celebrating Christian Scholarship in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is the author of Will Campbell