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Preaching John
The Gospel of John exhibits a peculiar Christian language and thought that need to be understood and employed in the preaching ministry. The preacher's task involves penetrating the thick and often confusing language of the Gospel and comprehending its frequently paradoxical theology. The preacher can find new and powerful resources for preaching in Johannine language and thought, as well as its use of narrative and discourse. These discoveries facilitate preaching John in ways that are consistent with recent trends in homiletic theory. The method of this book is to combine the practical (how to preach John) with proposals for understanding the Gospel. The author offers a variety of sermon ideas and designs throughout each chapter based on numerous passages selected from the Revised Common Lectionary.
264 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 11, 2025
Den här var bra. Jag blev taggad på att predika utifrån Johannesevangeliet! Jag hoppas återvända till den här ofta när jag jobbar i församling och ska predika Joh.
June 11, 2019
Offers some helpful ideas on preaching from John. The examples of Kysar's own style of narrative preaching, however, is quite loose and takes many liberties with the text that results in a rather bizarre product at times.
July 26, 2018
To all my preacher friends, this book is invaluable. Amazing exegesis that places John's Gospel alongside the synoptics. Clearly written with depth of thought and excellent homiletical examples.
July 14, 2012
This is the second book that I have read from Robert Kysar and it was as beneficial as the first one. Kysar has some really unique ideas. He is very creative and his enthusiasm for the gospel itself is evident in his writing. Let me give you a few of the highlights as well as a few of the negative points.
First of all, I love the instructions he gives in the beginning of the book for preaching from the gospels in general. He thinks that comparative analysis from the gospels is not as beneficial as letting each gospel speak for itself. While I don't agree with that entirely he has some excellent points. The sermon examples show how masterfully he can take a complex topic and break it down for the congregation. He shows ideas and gives you some helpful tools to cultivate those ideas.
His concepts on the cross as the enthronement of Christ is powerful and I think that he makes a very solid case. I love the ideas that he has about self identity being restored to the individual through coming into a right relationship with God. I like some of his illustrations as well such as using a night-light to describe the "light in the darkness" passage or using Curly's "one thing" from the movie City Slickers to talk about Peter's confession of Jesus in John 6.
There are however a couple of things that I did not enjoy. First of all, he seems to downplay John's perception of the cross as expiation for sin and suggests that John does not see it that way. Of course, he has a hard time moving around John 1:29. Another problem I have is his take that the gospel is hateful towards the Jews. This is of course ably contested by a number of scholars, furthermore, it is hard to overlook the fact that the writer is more than likely a first century Jew who I believe is John the Son of Zebedee. Lastly, he sees that the fluid nature of various passages allow us to rethink issues that are clearly wrong in the Bible. I don't think that we have the right to rethink anything in regards to morality. Lastly, it was geared toward the Lutheran lectionary which made it less useful to non- Lutherans
With the exception of these features there are a number of excellent things in this work and I respect Dr. Kysar for his years of study. If you are preparing lectures this would be a good source for your study. This is not a general studies on John but it certainly helps to see how others tackle the thick language of John's gospel while preaching it.
First of all, I love the instructions he gives in the beginning of the book for preaching from the gospels in general. He thinks that comparative analysis from the gospels is not as beneficial as letting each gospel speak for itself. While I don't agree with that entirely he has some excellent points. The sermon examples show how masterfully he can take a complex topic and break it down for the congregation. He shows ideas and gives you some helpful tools to cultivate those ideas.
His concepts on the cross as the enthronement of Christ is powerful and I think that he makes a very solid case. I love the ideas that he has about self identity being restored to the individual through coming into a right relationship with God. I like some of his illustrations as well such as using a night-light to describe the "light in the darkness" passage or using Curly's "one thing" from the movie City Slickers to talk about Peter's confession of Jesus in John 6.
There are however a couple of things that I did not enjoy. First of all, he seems to downplay John's perception of the cross as expiation for sin and suggests that John does not see it that way. Of course, he has a hard time moving around John 1:29. Another problem I have is his take that the gospel is hateful towards the Jews. This is of course ably contested by a number of scholars, furthermore, it is hard to overlook the fact that the writer is more than likely a first century Jew who I believe is John the Son of Zebedee. Lastly, he sees that the fluid nature of various passages allow us to rethink issues that are clearly wrong in the Bible. I don't think that we have the right to rethink anything in regards to morality. Lastly, it was geared toward the Lutheran lectionary which made it less useful to non- Lutherans
With the exception of these features there are a number of excellent things in this work and I respect Dr. Kysar for his years of study. If you are preparing lectures this would be a good source for your study. This is not a general studies on John but it certainly helps to see how others tackle the thick language of John's gospel while preaching it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews