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By T. David Gordon - Why Johnny Can't Preach, The Media Have Shaped the Messengers
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First published February 13, 2009
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About the author
T. David Gordon
12 books22 followersDr. T. David Gordon is professor of religion and Greek at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
February 9, 2022
I first read this back in 2010 and it impacted me in ways I didn't expect. T. David Gordon's thesis is if you will learn how to appreciate (carefully and closely read) literature it will have a formative effect on the way you preach. Until that time, I was primarily interested in non-fiction. I wanted information. But, this guy got me going on poetry and beautifully written fiction for the sake of language formation. And I must say the footnotes are chock-full of interesting and helpful leads. And one of the things he turned me on to was C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism and Harold Bloom's The Best Poems. Gordon convinced me that the preacher will do well to soak him or herself in good language. So, whether or not it has helped my preaching (which I believe it probably has), the thesis of this book has opened for me a new passion of reading literature to enrich imagination and my own patterns of speech.
May 12, 2009
Excellent. Very fine. A few insanities here and there, but over all superb. Every pastor needs to read it.
May 3, 2018
While Gordon gets the diagnosis right, his argument is very weak. The book would have been stronger if Gordon's assertions had been qualified by actual evidence. And I'm saying this as someone who agrees overall with Gordon's hope for Christian preaching!
May 21, 2024
It is hard to believe that this book was written in 2004. The problems that Gordon addresses are perhaps even worse today than they were in the early 2000's. All preachers of the Word can learn something from this short work.
June 21, 2021
Not a book for preaching per se - it leans more on exhorting preachers to develop their literary sensibilities for they are crucial for proper expository-preaching.
He briefly argues that the technological progress caused a cultural shift which in turn minimized the exposure (of preachers, in his case, but it can easily be extened) to close-readings of texts (he makes a distinction between reading for information and READING a text) and thoughtful writing (as in hand written letters that forced you to be clear and concise); therefore, that's why Johnny can't preach.
I found his argument compelling and his suggestions (and extra notes) helpful.
He briefly argues that the technological progress caused a cultural shift which in turn minimized the exposure (of preachers, in his case, but it can easily be extened) to close-readings of texts (he makes a distinction between reading for information and READING a text) and thoughtful writing (as in hand written letters that forced you to be clear and concise); therefore, that's why Johnny can't preach.
I found his argument compelling and his suggestions (and extra notes) helpful.
May 30, 2023
Johnny can’t preach because Johnny can’t read.
Johnny can’t preach because Johnny can’t write.
Johnny can’t preach because Johnny doesn’t know what matters.
An incredibly helpful, convicting little book.
Johnny can’t preach because Johnny can’t write.
Johnny can’t preach because Johnny doesn’t know what matters.
An incredibly helpful, convicting little book.
December 13, 2023
“Why Johnny Can’t Preach” is an excellently written book asserting that preaching in the modern church is at a low point. Gordon takes most of the book to diagnose the possible problems of preaching and spends the last chapter with the beginnings of a remedy. The book was well organized and Gordon certainly seemed qualified to write on this topic. I was happily chugging through this book, appreciating the insights (with every intention to give a 5-star) review when he took a random turn and went on a tirade against those “culture-warriors” who advocate for a theocracy. Ironically, this was in the midst of his chapter outlining the different ways preachers do not make Christ the center of everything. Apparently, Gordon believes Christ is the center of everything… except for government. This blunder was not enough to deduct more than 1 star. I would recommend this book with that small caveat in mind.
February 16, 2018
Great, direct book about poor preaching. The chapter "A Few Thoughts about Content" was excellent. This book will make you feel good about time spent reading good literature!
September 13, 2022
About 100 pages of "the world is going to heck in a hand-basket" from a grumpy Presbyterian pastor in 2009. And I loved it. More please.
He claims the basic problems are: pastors can't read, can't write, and don't preach the Gospel (in the Lutheran sense of "Christ for you"). Gordon writes, "To preach the Word of God well, one must already have cultivated, at a minimum, three sensibilities: the sensibility of the close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant.... our present culture does not cultivate any one of these sensibilities, and pre-ministerial candidates, or ministers themselves, must undertake their cultivation if preaching is to be rescued from its present moribund state" (pg. 106). From a media ecological perspective, he laments the usual problems of short attention spans, lack of human connection, and the way media (now social media) detracts from or minimizes what's important and promotes inconsequential things through image-based communication, rather than written or oral.
In this book he mentions he might write another book called Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal.
In this book are references to Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business and Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World and Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism.
He claims the basic problems are: pastors can't read, can't write, and don't preach the Gospel (in the Lutheran sense of "Christ for you"). Gordon writes, "To preach the Word of God well, one must already have cultivated, at a minimum, three sensibilities: the sensibility of the close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant.... our present culture does not cultivate any one of these sensibilities, and pre-ministerial candidates, or ministers themselves, must undertake their cultivation if preaching is to be rescued from its present moribund state" (pg. 106). From a media ecological perspective, he laments the usual problems of short attention spans, lack of human connection, and the way media (now social media) detracts from or minimizes what's important and promotes inconsequential things through image-based communication, rather than written or oral.
In this book he mentions he might write another book called Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal.
In this book are references to Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business and Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World and Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism.
February 4, 2018
T. David Gordon teaches media ecology and biblical studies at Grove City College. Suffering from cancer and given a 25% chance to live, he wrote this book as a rant against contemporary preaching. The writing style is definitely confrontational and it doesn't seem like he pulls many punches while basically stating over and over again that preaching in our day and age sucks.
Unfortunately, he does not add any data that backs up his very broad criticisms. One of his main focuses is TV and the internet has come along and culture is now more visual. People no longer have the ability to perform sermons with a careful consideration of the words used or with any ability to write well. While people may agree this is generally true, he cites no studies or academic research which would bolster his claims.
As I mentioned before, this book reads like a rant and comes across mostly as a cranky old man lamenting on how culture has changed. That's not to say that there isn't valuable nuggets in the short book. He recommends that potential pastors and current pastors study English literature for one which actually seems like a wise insight. Otherwise, there isn't much substance here other than Gordon droning on about how much he hates the preaching in our day and age.
Unfortunately, he does not add any data that backs up his very broad criticisms. One of his main focuses is TV and the internet has come along and culture is now more visual. People no longer have the ability to perform sermons with a careful consideration of the words used or with any ability to write well. While people may agree this is generally true, he cites no studies or academic research which would bolster his claims.
As I mentioned before, this book reads like a rant and comes across mostly as a cranky old man lamenting on how culture has changed. That's not to say that there isn't valuable nuggets in the short book. He recommends that potential pastors and current pastors study English literature for one which actually seems like a wise insight. Otherwise, there isn't much substance here other than Gordon droning on about how much he hates the preaching in our day and age.
January 23, 2025
Gordon does a good job in presenting a problem he sees with preaching in our day and age. His main argument is that due to lack of reading significant texts and composing significant composition we have lost our ability to give significance to the significant, and instead we value the insignificant. The reason for such tragedy is our present culture and technology which bombard us with insignificant texts and compositions. These affect our homiletics but they do not leave us without hope. We preachers can work on the gifts God has given us and by reading and writing significant things again this helps us to prepare significant sermons that will be centered on Christ and increase the faith of the hearers.
October 30, 2020
Why Johnny Can’t Preach
Johnny can’t preach because he isn’t well-read and doesn’t know how to be well-read or how to compose. In the author’s terms, Johnny needs to cultivate three sensibilities: the sensibility of the close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant.
Johnny can’t preach because he isn’t well-read and doesn’t know how to be well-read or how to compose. In the author’s terms, Johnny needs to cultivate three sensibilities: the sensibility of the close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant.
January 23, 2021
Another book that every preacher or preacher-in-training should read. Pastor/preachers need to read more so as to expand their preaching ability. Highly recommended to the preacher.
October 17, 2021
Excellent. Everyone pastor should read this book.
May 17, 2024
I wish I'd read this before a four year season of preaching weekly sermons. Great insights here for how to rightly considering how to cultivate sensibilities that help write good sermons. I would strongly encourage every Christian to read this to help form proper expectations for what good sermons do.
April 11, 2018
Highly recommend for all preachers and teachers!
December 21, 2009
Why Johnny Can't Preach is a brief (only 108 pages) and compelling rant against shallow thinking, unorganized and empty messages, and unclear sermons.
I took Gordon's challenge to heart. My thinking is often lazy and too easily satisfied. Only recently have I begun to supplement my early intellectual inactivity and inattentiveness with books and articles outside my usual circle of input. By God's grace, I have developed an intense interest in getting to the point of the text/paragraph, and that observation work is some of my favorite. Also, having handwritten (a rough draft of) most of my sermons for almost two years now, I've been benefitted by the composition process, and hopefully increasing in organization and flow and even illustrative ability.
There is much bad preaching. I have preached many poor sermons, and I desire to improve with the Spirit's help. Gordon's four examples of failing approaches (moralism, how-to, introspection, and so-called culture war) were particularly testing. For example, regarding introspective preaching:
That said, it is ironic that Gordon:
blames culture for preacher's bad thinking
blames preachers for preaching against culture and not feeding faith on Christ
and then urges preachers to change their own personal culture, rather than urging preachers to feed their own faith on Christ
If the need of sheep is to have their faith fed by considering Christ, then isn't the first need for the shepherds to have their faith fed by considering Christ? I'm sure Gordon wouldn't deny that. Yet his criticism is leveled at pastors who are too much like the insignificant culture around them. An example of that would be that pastors preach insignificant messages. So shouldn't the counsel be: "Pastors, get more Christ for yourself." Instead, the counsel is to develop "pre-homiletical sensibilities" by reading poetry.
Those sensibilities are cultivated, according to Gordon in chapter five, by being objectively reviewed each year and by learning to read better, including reading more verse.
That perhaps paints an exaggerated picture of Gordon's perspective. And, as I said, I am trying to strengthen parts of my literary and cultural blindness. But the fix for bad preaching is not first a problem of technique (which Gordon decries in preaching to the sheep), it is for shepherds to feed on things that are not transient and disposable. Becoming "more at home with what is significant" is a worship problem, not an English lit problem.
More and more I wonder if the biggest failure of preachers is one of belief, not one of homiletics. While I work toward tight sermons, it seems the most pressing need is a full soul. So Spurgeon:
I took Gordon's challenge to heart. My thinking is often lazy and too easily satisfied. Only recently have I begun to supplement my early intellectual inactivity and inattentiveness with books and articles outside my usual circle of input. By God's grace, I have developed an intense interest in getting to the point of the text/paragraph, and that observation work is some of my favorite. Also, having handwritten (a rough draft of) most of my sermons for almost two years now, I've been benefitted by the composition process, and hopefully increasing in organization and flow and even illustrative ability.
There is much bad preaching. I have preached many poor sermons, and I desire to improve with the Spirit's help. Gordon's four examples of failing approaches (moralism, how-to, introspection, and so-called culture war) were particularly testing. For example, regarding introspective preaching:
Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not, in fact, believe. The subtitle of each of their sermons could accurately be: "I Know You Think You Are a Christian, but You Are Not." ... To the outsider, it appears patently curious to take an opportunity to promote faith as an opportunity to declare its nonexistence...." (83)
That said, it is ironic that Gordon:
blames culture for preacher's bad thinking
blames preachers for preaching against culture and not feeding faith on Christ
and then urges preachers to change their own personal culture, rather than urging preachers to feed their own faith on Christ
If the need of sheep is to have their faith fed by considering Christ, then isn't the first need for the shepherds to have their faith fed by considering Christ? I'm sure Gordon wouldn't deny that. Yet his criticism is leveled at pastors who are too much like the insignificant culture around them. An example of that would be that pastors preach insignificant messages. So shouldn't the counsel be: "Pastors, get more Christ for yourself." Instead, the counsel is to develop "pre-homiletical sensibilities" by reading poetry.
The solution is to cultivate those pre-homiletical sensibilities that are necessary to preach well (96).
Those sensibilities are cultivated, according to Gordon in chapter five, by being objectively reviewed each year and by learning to read better, including reading more verse.
That perhaps paints an exaggerated picture of Gordon's perspective. And, as I said, I am trying to strengthen parts of my literary and cultural blindness. But the fix for bad preaching is not first a problem of technique (which Gordon decries in preaching to the sheep), it is for shepherds to feed on things that are not transient and disposable. Becoming "more at home with what is significant" is a worship problem, not an English lit problem.
More and more I wonder if the biggest failure of preachers is one of belief, not one of homiletics. While I work toward tight sermons, it seems the most pressing need is a full soul. So Spurgeon:
Above all, be so full of matter, so fervent, and so gracious that the people will little care how you hand out the word; for if they perceive that it is fresh from heaven, and find it sweet and abundant, they will pay little regard to the basket in which you bring it to them. Lectures to My Students, 303-4
February 14, 2020
T. David was my senior seminar professor at Grove City College. It was the only class I took with him, and I was told by my classmates that receiving an A from him was a rare honor. He gave me an A- on my senior paper. This is still one of the things I am most proud of accomplishing in life.
As a mother of three small children, I often feel like my brain has turned to mush in the 10 years since I graduated. But as T. David points out, anyone can develop a sensibility that they don't have, and I have a renewed interest in cultivating what I've lost.
My dad was a pastor and I've always considered him to be am exceptional preacher. Many would say - of course you do, he's your dad. But after reading this book, I feel confident in the fact that my dad is objectively an exceptional preacher. As I read what T David considers to be the necessary sensibilities and skills in order to preach well, I was mentally ticking the boxes next to my dad. He reads just to read. He loves poetry (indeed, there were many moments as a young person and teenager when I found his poetry recitations embarrassing). He has spent time learning how to speak well and communicate well. He writes letters. He had my mom proofread his sermon every week and provide feedback. His bachelor's degree was in psychology, not religion. His sermons revolved around the person and work of Christ.
Aside from my dad, I can think of one or two other pastors that I have sat under who I consider to be exceptional preachers. I include my current pastor in this list, and I know for a fact that he's read this book too.
As a mother of three small children, I often feel like my brain has turned to mush in the 10 years since I graduated. But as T. David points out, anyone can develop a sensibility that they don't have, and I have a renewed interest in cultivating what I've lost.
My dad was a pastor and I've always considered him to be am exceptional preacher. Many would say - of course you do, he's your dad. But after reading this book, I feel confident in the fact that my dad is objectively an exceptional preacher. As I read what T David considers to be the necessary sensibilities and skills in order to preach well, I was mentally ticking the boxes next to my dad. He reads just to read. He loves poetry (indeed, there were many moments as a young person and teenager when I found his poetry recitations embarrassing). He has spent time learning how to speak well and communicate well. He writes letters. He had my mom proofread his sermon every week and provide feedback. His bachelor's degree was in psychology, not religion. His sermons revolved around the person and work of Christ.
Aside from my dad, I can think of one or two other pastors that I have sat under who I consider to be exceptional preachers. I include my current pastor in this list, and I know for a fact that he's read this book too.
February 14, 2017
An absolutely necessary read for any one considering the call to preach in this day and age. With an incredibly concise and focused effort, Gordon addresses the fact that the culture we live in today has corrupted many a pulpit in the American church. He doesn't address moral issues or bad theology, however, but subpar preaching that has been shaped by the media our culture celebrates. Johnny can't preach because he can't read properly (not ILLITERATE but ALITERATE) and Johnny can't preach because Johnny can't write (he is unable to string together a coherent message of thoughts that flow)
The last two chapters address content and such but the middle chapters addressing reading and writing should challenge any man considering the pastorate.
Read this book and consider the media that is affecting your preaching.
The last two chapters address content and such but the middle chapters addressing reading and writing should challenge any man considering the pastorate.
Read this book and consider the media that is affecting your preaching.
March 30, 2017
Johny can't preach because he can neither read nor write. He does not have the ability to appreciate a text for anything more than the cognitive information it provides. Form? Style? Unity? Argument flow? Irrelevant. How do you work with an eternal covenant document when you cannot appreciate it for what it is? Constitutions are often exposited with more care than the Word of God.
October 7, 2015
A concise, 5 chapter book indicting modern preaching in a firm, but clear way. Loved it. Explained the background to the lack of solid preaching in our culture and provided practical steps that didn't overwhelm the reader.
February 21, 2019
A book every preacher or aspiring preachers needs to read. They should ideally read this book when they in their final years of high school, so that they don’t have regrets like me at my age.
Read, read, read... if you don't read, just start reading...
Read, read, read... if you don't read, just start reading...
December 1, 2009
Excellent.
Kicked me in the butt.
Kicked me in the butt.
Read
May 3, 2017This is a quick, succinct read: I finished it in two sittings. Gordon makes some good points - especially regarding how we're shaped by media consumption.
July 29, 2019
Jonny can't preach because Jonny can't read or write. This is Gordon's very simple and, I believe, accurate diagnosis of the problem with a lot of preaching today. His main contention is that we have lost the ability to read properly due to the effect the televised media has had on us in last 40 years or so.
The great thing about this book is he's basically identifying a problem, not just with preachers, but with everyone who is involved in the learning and sharing of ideas today. We have lost our attention spans, he argues: "A culture that reads can consider what is significant because reading takes time, and that which is significant ordinarily takes time to apprehend. But a culture that is accustomed to commercial interruptions every six or seven minutes loses its ability to discuss significant matters because it has lost the patience necessary to consider them." (p.54)
We have become intellectually desensitised, and lost the 'sensibility of significance' because we are no longer encouraged to read properly.*
His 4th chapter 'A few thoughts about content' I thought was a little simplistic. He smuggles in a bit of a theology of preaching without really arguing for it, and to be honest it feels a bit off topic. But the main thrust of the book is very helpful and precisely what people like me (millennial, 'educated,' think we know more than we do, think we can read when we can't) need in the age of data, social media, news, and a torrent of information. 3 stars might seem low, but I couldn't quite give it 4 due to what I understand to be a small deficiency in the evidence for his claims, and I say that as someone who agrees with his claims 100%.
*Maybe it doesn't feel like this if you're reading a book review on a social media platform specifically designed to help you read. But is Goodreads helping you read properly? It might help us read more, but how often is that motivation just 'to have read more' rather than for the pleasure of reading itself?
The great thing about this book is he's basically identifying a problem, not just with preachers, but with everyone who is involved in the learning and sharing of ideas today. We have lost our attention spans, he argues: "A culture that reads can consider what is significant because reading takes time, and that which is significant ordinarily takes time to apprehend. But a culture that is accustomed to commercial interruptions every six or seven minutes loses its ability to discuss significant matters because it has lost the patience necessary to consider them." (p.54)
We have become intellectually desensitised, and lost the 'sensibility of significance' because we are no longer encouraged to read properly.*
His 4th chapter 'A few thoughts about content' I thought was a little simplistic. He smuggles in a bit of a theology of preaching without really arguing for it, and to be honest it feels a bit off topic. But the main thrust of the book is very helpful and precisely what people like me (millennial, 'educated,' think we know more than we do, think we can read when we can't) need in the age of data, social media, news, and a torrent of information. 3 stars might seem low, but I couldn't quite give it 4 due to what I understand to be a small deficiency in the evidence for his claims, and I say that as someone who agrees with his claims 100%.
*Maybe it doesn't feel like this if you're reading a book review on a social media platform specifically designed to help you read. But is Goodreads helping you read properly? It might help us read more, but how often is that motivation just 'to have read more' rather than for the pleasure of reading itself?
February 6, 2017
If you are concerned at all about the state of preaching in the modern church this will be an encouraging and convicting book. Gordon aims not only at preachers but congregations as he exhorts the church to avoid the cultural tendency to have short attention spans and the inability to follow an argument or narrative closely.
This is a short book, but really worth your time. You should be able to breeze through it in a sitting or two. Gordon wrote this book as he was undergoing cancer treatment, and the tone of it is that of a man facing eternity. Gordon beat his cancer, and as a result of his suffering he has left us an impassioned plea to both preachers and congregants to recognize the importance of preaching and to not neglect pursuing maturity in both delivering and receiving sermons. I highly commend this book!
Some Quotes:
Our sheep do not need gourmet meals. But they do need good, solid nourishment, and they are not ordinarily getting it.
Christians in many churches today have never experienced genuinely soul-nourishing preaching, and so they just pick away at what is available to them, trying to find a morsel of spiritual sustenance or helpful counsel here or there.
The harder it is for you to slow down, the more you need to be rescued from the twentieth century; the more you need poetry.
The poet stops and stares at that which most of us merely glance at; he pauses to notice what is humane, significant, and important.
But it is never appropriate, in my estimation, for one word of moral counsel ever to proceed from a Christian pulpit that is not clearly, in its context, redemptive.
Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not, in fact, believe.
This is a short book, but really worth your time. You should be able to breeze through it in a sitting or two. Gordon wrote this book as he was undergoing cancer treatment, and the tone of it is that of a man facing eternity. Gordon beat his cancer, and as a result of his suffering he has left us an impassioned plea to both preachers and congregants to recognize the importance of preaching and to not neglect pursuing maturity in both delivering and receiving sermons. I highly commend this book!
Some Quotes:
Our sheep do not need gourmet meals. But they do need good, solid nourishment, and they are not ordinarily getting it.
Christians in many churches today have never experienced genuinely soul-nourishing preaching, and so they just pick away at what is available to them, trying to find a morsel of spiritual sustenance or helpful counsel here or there.
The harder it is for you to slow down, the more you need to be rescued from the twentieth century; the more you need poetry.
The poet stops and stares at that which most of us merely glance at; he pauses to notice what is humane, significant, and important.
But it is never appropriate, in my estimation, for one word of moral counsel ever to proceed from a Christian pulpit that is not clearly, in its context, redemptive.
Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not, in fact, believe.
May 24, 2019
This is a short book, but it packs a punch. Gordon's main premise is that both today's preachers and their hearers have grown up in a culture in which they have not learned how to read texts closely, and they have not learned how to write clearly. And those are the two reasons why Johnny can't preach. He argues that the transition from language-based media to image-based and electronic media have had an effect on both preacher and hearer. He thus hearkens back to Neil Postman and his similar critiques.
Gordon indicates that his experience of hearing preaching has been in the conservative evangelical and Reformed churches, traditions in which preaching has been of utmost importance, so it's not as if he's picking low-lying fruit here. He sets forth Robert Lewis Dabney's seven cardinal requisites of preaching, and indicates how rarely he has encountered sermons that included even a few. His concern is that the average hearer in the average church on the average Sunday is getting a poor or truncated diet of preaching.
Gordon also devotes one chapter to the content of preaching, and comes down solidly and unapologetically on Christ-centered preaching. That is, "the content of Christian preaching should be the person, character, and work of Christ." Against this he sets forth four common alternatives, and finds them all wanting.
Finally, he does encourage the reader that Johnny can be taught to preach. He gives some simple but helpful suggestions in that vein, not the least of which is the advice to those who desire to become preachers or pastors to major in English literature before attending seminary. His pointed question: how can you preach a text if you can't read and understand a text?
I recommend this book to all preachers and to all those who love them.
Gordon indicates that his experience of hearing preaching has been in the conservative evangelical and Reformed churches, traditions in which preaching has been of utmost importance, so it's not as if he's picking low-lying fruit here. He sets forth Robert Lewis Dabney's seven cardinal requisites of preaching, and indicates how rarely he has encountered sermons that included even a few. His concern is that the average hearer in the average church on the average Sunday is getting a poor or truncated diet of preaching.
Gordon also devotes one chapter to the content of preaching, and comes down solidly and unapologetically on Christ-centered preaching. That is, "the content of Christian preaching should be the person, character, and work of Christ." Against this he sets forth four common alternatives, and finds them all wanting.
Finally, he does encourage the reader that Johnny can be taught to preach. He gives some simple but helpful suggestions in that vein, not the least of which is the advice to those who desire to become preachers or pastors to major in English literature before attending seminary. His pointed question: how can you preach a text if you can't read and understand a text?
I recommend this book to all preachers and to all those who love them.
March 29, 2017
This is an excellent book that every preacher or aspiring preacher should read. Gordon's criticism of modern-day preaching is a necessary one since many have given up trying to improve upon their preaching. He laments that many congregations have excused their pastor's weakness in preaching by emphasizing their other areas of strength such as counseling or administrative skills. Gordon's conclusion for anemic preaching is that the media has affected and infected the preacher's thinking, writing, and preaching. Preachers aren't able to concentrate for long periods of time as they are constantly distracted by the media.
Gordon's solutions are not popular. He suggests that to be a good preacher one must be a good reader of ancient texts and master the ability to communicate that text in written form. He suggests writing letters by hand instead of email. His most controversial solution is that every preacher should receive an annual review of their preaching.
Gordon writes as a dying man to dying men. Gordon's cancer allowed him to confront his fellow preachers with a focused urgency in the weighty task of preaching God's Word.
Gordon's solutions are not popular. He suggests that to be a good preacher one must be a good reader of ancient texts and master the ability to communicate that text in written form. He suggests writing letters by hand instead of email. His most controversial solution is that every preacher should receive an annual review of their preaching.
Gordon writes as a dying man to dying men. Gordon's cancer allowed him to confront his fellow preachers with a focused urgency in the weighty task of preaching God's Word.
August 9, 2022
Gordon makes a solid case for the role that media has played in shaping todays culture, and especially todays preachers. He argues that the reason “Johnny can’t preach” is ultimately because he cannot read or write due to television and the telephone. Gordon does not, however, see the current state of preaching as helpless. “The solution is to cultivate those pre-homiletical sensibilities that are necessary to preach well” (96), those being the sensibilities to slow, attentive reading and thoughtful, significant writing.
Gordon also briefly identifies one other issue: the content of preaching. Gordon notes that much of what passes as preaching today is not truly preaching, but falls into categories he calls Moralism, How-To, Introspective, and Social Gospel/Culture War. If this is the case, then a Christ-centered focus in preaching becomes impossible. The pulpit, Gordon argues, is “the place to declare the fitness of Christ’s person, and the adequacy of both his humiliated and exalted work for sinner” (91).
Gordon also briefly identifies one other issue: the content of preaching. Gordon notes that much of what passes as preaching today is not truly preaching, but falls into categories he calls Moralism, How-To, Introspective, and Social Gospel/Culture War. If this is the case, then a Christ-centered focus in preaching becomes impossible. The pulpit, Gordon argues, is “the place to declare the fitness of Christ’s person, and the adequacy of both his humiliated and exalted work for sinner” (91).
January 22, 2025
I found this book refreshing to read because Gordon writes in a way that is direct and punchy. I felt like I was reading an older guy graciously gripe about the lack of solid preaching in church today. Due to modern media, and other factors, many preachers cant preach well today. One of the most convincing arguments he makes is that most people who preach cannot do a close reading of texts well. Exegesis is the close reading of texts and preaching requires sound exegesis. As a 24 year old who has seen the negative effects of instant social media, I see tendencies in my life about what he was talking about. I am grateful for this older mans critique.
The most helpful (and practical) bit I found was in the final pages. Gordon urges his readers to become better preachers by cultivating 3 sensibilities: the sensibility of close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant (106).
The most helpful (and practical) bit I found was in the final pages. Gordon urges his readers to become better preachers by cultivating 3 sensibilities: the sensibility of close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant (106).
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