The Divine Voice: Christian Proclamation and the Theology of Sound

by Stephen H. Webb

"Freedom begins in the ear before it reaches the mouth." Every once in a while a book comes along that profoundly makes the most original thoughts immediately familiar. The Divine Voice is such a book. Stephen Webb challenges readers to take sound seriously. Not only did God's first "sounds" speak the world into being, but sound and voice have also played an undeniably central role in biblical revelation, prophetic proclamation, and the New Testament call to verbal witness. Webb goes on to make the surprising claim that the obligation of all Christians to witness to their faith is "inseparable from the need to acquire and practice the rhetorical skills of public speaking." While the very words "public speaking" might strike terror in many readers' hearts, Webb confronts the issues of stage fright and speaking disabilities head-on, pointing his readers to the biblical narratives concerning difficult speaking. The Divine Voice performs its own significant insight: the life of the pilgrim is not just a spatial journey, but is an audition of sorts, in which we take the Bible's words as our own. As Webb points out, the good news is that we've already been cast in the play. Now, we can embrace a life of witness by rehearsing and "inhabiting the sounds of faith." An indispensable book for preachers, students of homiletics, and all concerned to see (and hear) sound in new ways.

Genres: Theology

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very deep and thought provoking book. It is a great theological and historical overview of the place of rhetoric and sound in the Christian church. It is also thoroughly trinitarian and Webb deftly ties his subject matter into the doctrine of the Trinity. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because the book gets overly technical in some parts, especially in the middle of the book. That might not be an issue for those accustomed to reading about theo-acoustics, but it was a challenge for me.

[Jamie Howison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating - occasionally meandering - sustained reflection on what the author calls "theo-acoustics" or the theology of sound. With a focus on the spoken word, there's a good deal here on preaching. I'd expected more on music, which is what drew me to the book in the first place, but Webb's words about the Word were certainly worth the read!

[Mmetevelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Webb has a vivid and conversational writing style but the book is all over the place. He opens with a strong analysis of the primacy of hearing over sound in Christian theology and it's biblical background, engages modern theories about voice, then engages in a long historical digression which becomes a theological one, and then wraps up with new ideas unconnected to the issues he raised in the beginning. For this reason I found it enjoyable to read but hard to interact with.

I would still recommend this book for anyone who has some interest in the topic as Webb cites a pretty impressive array of sources though he struggles to use them systematically.

[John Edward]

62 pages into it, I found it fascinating. By the end, however, I was a little dissapointed.