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Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized
Willimon writes with passion about the dynamics and implications of preaching to a congregation, to those who, having been called, are either baptized or yet to be baptized. The preacher, says Willimon, needs to address the people in a congregation with "peculiar speech," letting the biblical text call them to live a transformed life in keeping with their baptism. Within the book appear three powerful baptismal sermons- "The Invitation," "Divine divestment," and "The New Family."
- GenresTheologyNonfiction
135 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1992
8 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
William H. Willimon
171 books53 followersThe Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School, Duke University. He served eight years as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he led the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For twenty years prior to the episcopacy, he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 14, 2016
In this book William Willimon, a mainline Methodist, aims to recover the distinctiveness of Christian preaching. Most preaching in churches today, Willimon argues, does little more than prop up the prevailing assumptions and beliefs of a dying culture.
Instead of the typical preaching maneuver of figuring out what the world wants and then talking mostly about that, and somehow slipping a little 'Jesus' into the conversation (and of course, it is the Jesus that American's prefer... Jesus gracious, meek, mild, democratic, progressive, liberal, and therapeutic to the core), Willimon argues for a different and more faithful approach to preaching. Willimon argues that Christianity has a different message than the rest of the world, so for goodness sake, preach like it!
He argues that all of this is assumed in the practice of baptism, thus the subtitle of the book, "Preaching to the Baptized." To be baptized means to be brought into a community with an entirely different way of understanding reality than what you get from democratic, liberal, progressive, republican, conservative, and therapeutic America. Preaching needs to live in that zone of peculiarity. If the message you heard on Sunday at church is one that you could have heard just as easily from Bill Maher, Dr. Phil, Oprah, or a community organizer, then the preacher screwed up. If the preacher's message amounted to saying whatever it takes to pack out the church, the preacher screwed up.
Preachers, you aren't policymakers, you aren't talking heads, you aren't therapists, you aren't the next 'big thing,' you aren't leading a movement to take back America, or to recover [insert thingy that some social constituency wants America to recover]. Rather, you are like the Apostle Paul, a "preacher of foreign divinities" (Acts 17:18), you have a way of understanding the world that cannot be learned from CNN or the Republican National Conventional or the Rotary Club (not that those things are wrong, they just aren't what you are called to do as a preacher). Your calling is by definition strange to this world. And when you preach the right way, it may not start the next big movement in America. And that is AOK with God! In fact, some people may consider you an idiot babbler (like with Paul, Acts 17:18), some may mock you ( like with Paul, Acts 17:32), but provided you preach the message faithfully and don't water it down with the sweet nothings of modernity, it's possible that some might actually get saved (Acts 17:34).
This is Willimon's basic point. Have I mentioned that Willimon says these things as a United Methodist with liberal social leanings? That's why his argument is so refreshing and intriguing.
Table of Contents:
1. Chapter 1: "Preaching as Baptismal Speech"- Here Willimon discusses the uniqueness of Christian proclamation. We have a different message to talk about than what worldly politics or culture has.
2. Chapter 2: "Preaching as Baptismal Repentance"- All preaching aims at repentance, changing the way the congregation sees and relates to the world, themselves, and God.
3. Chapter 3: "Preaching to Pagans"- The world's accounting of itself is not neutral, but socially contrived. It isn't a 'given.' Neither are the assumptions the average person walks around with each day. Because of that, Christianity needs to keep its proclamation pure, rather than selling out. This means becoming conversant in the world's language, but not compromised by it (see Acts 17).
4. Chapter 4: "Preaching as Politics"- Christian preaching is entirely political... but it is a different politics than an earthly one. It is a heavenly politics, rooted in the kingdom of God, expressed in the alternative community of the church.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's relatively brief, but it packs a punch. In a day, when I see the church in America terrified of the thought that unbelievers would consider us "weird" or not "with it," Willimon's point is that maybe being thought weird is the first step towards Christianity growing a backbone and actually having something interesting to say in America that hasn't already been said a thousand times over by all the gatekeepers of pop culture. Maybe life would be more interesting if we didn't care if people thought our churches were "cool."
My one critique (aside from the fact I come from a different theological tradition than Willimon. I am a theologically conservative Presbyterian) is that he utilizes Yale School theology and cultural hermeneutics a lot to develop his argument. In my opinion, a confessionally sound doctrine of revelation would've worked even better, in my opinion.
Other than that, this is a book for preachers who are interested in recovering the scandal of the cross, and who insist upon a better reason for getting out of bed in the morning than just "trying to be the next big thing."
Instead of the typical preaching maneuver of figuring out what the world wants and then talking mostly about that, and somehow slipping a little 'Jesus' into the conversation (and of course, it is the Jesus that American's prefer... Jesus gracious, meek, mild, democratic, progressive, liberal, and therapeutic to the core), Willimon argues for a different and more faithful approach to preaching. Willimon argues that Christianity has a different message than the rest of the world, so for goodness sake, preach like it!
He argues that all of this is assumed in the practice of baptism, thus the subtitle of the book, "Preaching to the Baptized." To be baptized means to be brought into a community with an entirely different way of understanding reality than what you get from democratic, liberal, progressive, republican, conservative, and therapeutic America. Preaching needs to live in that zone of peculiarity. If the message you heard on Sunday at church is one that you could have heard just as easily from Bill Maher, Dr. Phil, Oprah, or a community organizer, then the preacher screwed up. If the preacher's message amounted to saying whatever it takes to pack out the church, the preacher screwed up.
Preachers, you aren't policymakers, you aren't talking heads, you aren't therapists, you aren't the next 'big thing,' you aren't leading a movement to take back America, or to recover [insert thingy that some social constituency wants America to recover]. Rather, you are like the Apostle Paul, a "preacher of foreign divinities" (Acts 17:18), you have a way of understanding the world that cannot be learned from CNN or the Republican National Conventional or the Rotary Club (not that those things are wrong, they just aren't what you are called to do as a preacher). Your calling is by definition strange to this world. And when you preach the right way, it may not start the next big movement in America. And that is AOK with God! In fact, some people may consider you an idiot babbler (like with Paul, Acts 17:18), some may mock you ( like with Paul, Acts 17:32), but provided you preach the message faithfully and don't water it down with the sweet nothings of modernity, it's possible that some might actually get saved (Acts 17:34).
This is Willimon's basic point. Have I mentioned that Willimon says these things as a United Methodist with liberal social leanings? That's why his argument is so refreshing and intriguing.
Table of Contents:
1. Chapter 1: "Preaching as Baptismal Speech"- Here Willimon discusses the uniqueness of Christian proclamation. We have a different message to talk about than what worldly politics or culture has.
2. Chapter 2: "Preaching as Baptismal Repentance"- All preaching aims at repentance, changing the way the congregation sees and relates to the world, themselves, and God.
3. Chapter 3: "Preaching to Pagans"- The world's accounting of itself is not neutral, but socially contrived. It isn't a 'given.' Neither are the assumptions the average person walks around with each day. Because of that, Christianity needs to keep its proclamation pure, rather than selling out. This means becoming conversant in the world's language, but not compromised by it (see Acts 17).
4. Chapter 4: "Preaching as Politics"- Christian preaching is entirely political... but it is a different politics than an earthly one. It is a heavenly politics, rooted in the kingdom of God, expressed in the alternative community of the church.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's relatively brief, but it packs a punch. In a day, when I see the church in America terrified of the thought that unbelievers would consider us "weird" or not "with it," Willimon's point is that maybe being thought weird is the first step towards Christianity growing a backbone and actually having something interesting to say in America that hasn't already been said a thousand times over by all the gatekeepers of pop culture. Maybe life would be more interesting if we didn't care if people thought our churches were "cool."
My one critique (aside from the fact I come from a different theological tradition than Willimon. I am a theologically conservative Presbyterian) is that he utilizes Yale School theology and cultural hermeneutics a lot to develop his argument. In my opinion, a confessionally sound doctrine of revelation would've worked even better, in my opinion.
Other than that, this is a book for preachers who are interested in recovering the scandal of the cross, and who insist upon a better reason for getting out of bed in the morning than just "trying to be the next big thing."
February 5, 2017
As provocative and challenging the second reading as the first.
May 16, 2024
There are books on preaching that give you methods, others give you theology, and some rare ones fill you with the Spirit and make you want to preach. This book is in the third category. I read it while on jury duty in a stale courtroom and was blown away.
The central idea of the book is that preaching is a unique event that should be directed towards Christians. Our preaching is not an oratorical exercise but a unique work of God with strange methods. Each page felt like a sermon. It made me want to preach. It made me feel better about my own meager past attempts at preaching. This is one of the rare books on preaching I will read again.
The central idea of the book is that preaching is a unique event that should be directed towards Christians. Our preaching is not an oratorical exercise but a unique work of God with strange methods. Each page felt like a sermon. It made me want to preach. It made me feel better about my own meager past attempts at preaching. This is one of the rare books on preaching I will read again.
February 9, 2024
Such an excellent book. Willimon gives us a way to speak in the language of the church. Baptism is so much more than a mere ceremony. And he exhibits that throughout each chapter. His Wesleyianism only slips out a little bit toward the end. And, if one knows of some of his later compromises, you can catch glimpses of the liberal gobbledygook sneaking in. But none of this undoes how valuable this book is.
August 7, 2025
An intriguing book seeking to give a vision for preaching from a particularly Methodist viewpoint. Challenging and odd all at the same time. Much to be learned even if major disagreements still exist.
May 17, 2018
Thought-provoking and challenging. Brings baptismal language back to the sermon.
January 9, 2012
This is a very good book.
Willimon explains the need to preach in a manner that realizes the difference between church and world. This book does a great job defining what the church is, what the church's mission is, and how the church accomplishes that mission. Willimon's unpacking of the 'sending out of the seventy' was the best commentary I have ever read on that text, and that section alone makes this book worthwhile.
This also is one the best treatments of baptism I have read to date. Willimon laments the trivialization of baptism that we see in typcial infant baptism ceremonies, yet he also lambastes the idea of baptism being a marker of a decision. Instead it seems that he affirms it as the means and marker of adoption, not a mere symbol of adoption, but an actual means of adopting. Oddly enough this Methodist Pastor, later to become Bishop, seemed very hesitant on infant baptism in this book, though he did affirm it.
The last chapter on family was excellent (It was a simple written sermon). He rips what was really coming to fruition in the early nineties when the book was published, and is widely accepted now as 'family ministry', complete with 'family-life centers', and family friendly everything. Of course Willimon does not demean the family, not at all, but when talking about family blood and baptism, he concludes the book by saying that water is thicker than blood. It was a well played conclusion to the entire book.
I liked it, and I recommend it.
Willimon explains the need to preach in a manner that realizes the difference between church and world. This book does a great job defining what the church is, what the church's mission is, and how the church accomplishes that mission. Willimon's unpacking of the 'sending out of the seventy' was the best commentary I have ever read on that text, and that section alone makes this book worthwhile.
This also is one the best treatments of baptism I have read to date. Willimon laments the trivialization of baptism that we see in typcial infant baptism ceremonies, yet he also lambastes the idea of baptism being a marker of a decision. Instead it seems that he affirms it as the means and marker of adoption, not a mere symbol of adoption, but an actual means of adopting. Oddly enough this Methodist Pastor, later to become Bishop, seemed very hesitant on infant baptism in this book, though he did affirm it.
The last chapter on family was excellent (It was a simple written sermon). He rips what was really coming to fruition in the early nineties when the book was published, and is widely accepted now as 'family ministry', complete with 'family-life centers', and family friendly everything. Of course Willimon does not demean the family, not at all, but when talking about family blood and baptism, he concludes the book by saying that water is thicker than blood. It was a well played conclusion to the entire book.
I liked it, and I recommend it.
April 23, 2010
Books by more liberal pastors such as Willimon or Eugene Peterson are often very helpful. This one is no exception. Willimon takes a pastor out of the baptist/revivalist mentality and into introducing their people into the biblical story. I am not sure Willimon would take his people the same direction I would take my flock, especially on sexual/gender issues. However, his principles are excellent and if they are applied within biblical parameters they will reap much fruit.
October 12, 2012
Overall, this was a great book that got a preacher to really think about the message that they are delivering to the audience. Willimon raised the best question a preacher can ask, who is the audience and where are they coming from. Willimon gives various view points and insights so that the reading is entertained yet also learns a great deal.
July 5, 2020
To be baptized is to have a life that is changed...and so this little book about 'preaching to the baptized' is an invitation to boldness, to remind the congregation that yes, this is more than just a social club where we gather, but a place to proclaim Christ and him crucified, even in the face of opposition both outside and inside the church.
Currently reading
December 10, 2007So far very interesting and challenging!
July 28, 2011
Willimon brings some simple truths to light that can transform preaching and ministry for those who want to be transformed themselves.
January 23, 2009
Very good.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews