Christ-Centered Preaching & Teaching

by Ed Stetzer (Editor), Daniel I. Block (Contributor), Walt Kaiser (Contributor)

Why is there resurgence in a discussion primarily about hermeneutics? Perhaps, some of the popularity of the Christ-centered hermeneutic comes from a generation of Christians that long for a more biblically grounded understanding of Scripture.

Interestingly enough, I have found that while many pastors argue for the importance of Christ-centeredness, there is disagreement on what it should look like. For this reason I recently asked several leading pastors and theologians to examine and discuss Christ-Centered preaching at my blog.

They included:
• Dr. Daniel Block (Wheaton College)
• Dr. David Murray (Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary)
• Dr. Walt Kaiser (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary)
• Dr. Bryan Chapell (Grace Presbyterian in Peoria, IL)

Appendix One and Two are built from a discussion The Gospel Project we hosted earlier this year.

The e-book is a compliation of these essays that we hope will advance the conversation.

In the series, the authors looked at both the strengths and weaknesses of adopting a Christ-centered hermeneutic. Because of the popularity of the series and its usefulness to the local church, we decided to compile the posts into this e-book.

Genres: Christian, Ebooks

36 pages, ebook

First published October 23, 2013

About the author

Ed Stetzer, PhD, holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair for Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and is the dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership at Wheaton College. He also serves as the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton. Stetzer is a prolific author and a well-known conference speaker. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; holds two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and has written or cowritten more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles.

Stetzer is a contributing editor for Christianity Today and a columnist for Outreach magazine. He is frequently interviewed for or cited in news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. He is also the executive editor of The Gospel Project, a bible study curriculum used by more than one million people each week.

Stetzer cohosts BreakPoint This Week, a radio broadcast that airs on more than four hundred media outlets. He serves as the interim teaching pastor at The Moody Church in Chicago. Stetzer lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife, Donna, and their three daughters.



You can also connect with Ed on Facebook and Instagram.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.
Block’s contribution is most helpful, IMO.

[Bob Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compilation of blog posts from Stetzer's blog on Christianity Today. For me, this was a somewhat unfamiliar topic and I felt like they were splitting hairs, straining at gnats in distinguishing between ways to approach Christ-centered preaching. For one not familiar with technical theological vocabulary (soteriology, eschatology, etc.), have a dictionary available. The consensus seems to be that the best preaching and teaching is to take the tack that all of Scripture shows God's plan of redemption that was completed in Christ. Good about pointing out the pitfalls of this approach. The examples of how to treat Samson and Delilah and David and Goliath were very helpful for me and the best part of this short book.

[Michael Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book with contributions by various authors dealing specifically with how to preach Christ from the Old Testament. This book shows the importance of Christ-centred preaching, but also warns against too much allegorising.