The Imperative of Preaching

by John Carrick

A Theology of Sacred Rhetoric


Believing that preaching remains of vital importance today, John Carrick argues that its effectiveness can be greatly enhanced if preachers make use of the patterns of communication laid down by God in Scripture for their instruction. He sees in the Bible a sacred rhetoric which the apostles and prophets, and Christ himself, used to awaken, move and persuade their hearers. While depending on the power of the Spirit, the preacher should not neglect any help which Scripture affords.


Sacred rhetoric is based essentially on statements and commands (called in grammar the indicative and the imperative), which, together with exclamations and questions, are of immense significance in the preaching of the Word.


Abundant examples from Scripture and from the preaching of such men as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Samuel Davies, Asahel Nettleton and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, demonstrate Carrick's case in The Imperative of Preaching.


Insisting on the critical importance of applying, as well as explaining, the truth of Scripture, Carrick provides an effective critique of redemptive-historical preaching, arguing that this approach seriously neglects the application of the Word of God.

Genres: Theology

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2003

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest books on preaching. Every expositor should read this book.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read quite a few books on preaching, I have to say. This one was in the top three. Really fine. I'll be doing a more detailed review on my blog.

[Josh Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book. The chapters on Indicative and Imperative are worth the price of admission. I will be re-reading for years to come, Lord willing. Also, Carrick's warnings in regards to Redemptive-Historical Preaching is much needed. Very good.

[Grant Van Brimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

At least every preacher should read.

[David Jamison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic - really practical

[Joonas Laajanen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regret that I didn't read this earlier. Excellent!

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Minister and Preacher needs to read this book. It was phenomenal.

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. John Carrick addresses the different methods or parts of preaching, including indicative, interrogative, exclamative and the imperative. All the chapters were worth reading. But the key contributions of the book are the two chapters on the imperative. There Carrick rebukes those who would leave specific and pointed application out of preaching. I believe this is an important corrective to current preaching trends that tell the story without little, if any, application.

My primary complaint is that all the examples Carrick gives of the various types of preaching are relatively recent. It would have been nice if he had gone back further than Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

[Jake Litwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I’m not big on reading preaching books but this one is by far a must read. This is much more than just a book on simply preaching. If you want a well researched work on the rhetoric of Scripture, this is the one to read.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a unique book on preaching that builds "a theology of sacred rhetoric" on four different moods of verbs: the indicative, the exclamative, the interrogative, and the imperative. Carrick grounds everything in Scripture, with many passages quoted at length, and then illustrates with examples from five preachers: Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Samuel Davies, Asahel Nettleton, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Carrick builds a strong (irrefutable, I think) case from Scripture that we need both the indicative and imperative, and that "true preaching always involves explicatio et applicatio verbi Dei" - both the explication and the application of the word of God. Preaching at its best includes an appeal to the mind (indicative), heart (exclamative), conscience (interrogative) and will (imperative). An extreme towards either indicative or imperative will lead a church into serious error. "If the indicative is permitted to predominate to the exclusion of the imperative, the preaching will inevitably tend in the direction of quietism and antinomianism. If the imperative is permitted to predominate to the exclusion of the indicative, the preaching will inevitably tend in the direction of moralism or legalism." I don't of any other book on preaching that sounds the particular notes found here. Highly recommended.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrick is especially focused on recovering the balance between the *explicatio* and the *applicatio* of preaching, and so he serves up important food for thought for a particular breed of Reformed preachers.

Some takeaways and connections: Make sure your *imperatives* are grounded in the *indicatives*, the historical facts of the gospel. Tim Keller has talked somewhere about the danger of putting pressure on the listener’s flesh—this is the obvious sign of poorly conceived application of a text. The redemptive-historical tendency to avoid application altogether throws the “sacred rhetoric” of preaching out of balance.

Many preachers have probably already worked through this stuff in the week-in, week-out practice of ministry; but for those who are still learning, this book might provide some valuable considerations.

[Stephen Mccollum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I enjoy grammar, I enjoyed this book. Carrick's point is that good preaching makes use of the varied moods of verbs - the indicative (which emphasises the work of God) for explaining the Word of God, the exclamative for bringing necessary emotion to feel the force of the Word, the interrogative to probe the conscience, and the imperative to appeal to the will in application. The chapters on each of these moods are good but have too many lengthy examples which make the chapters a bit cumbersome. Carrick includes over 30 pages of even more examples in the appendices. He should have shortened the chapters and left much more to the appendices. The second chapter on the imperative, which addressed redemptive-historical preaching, is well worth reading.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not aware of the "redemptive-historical school" of preaching that the author spent much of the chapter on imperatives criticising. The author emphasises a balance between the indicative and the imperative.

[Caleb Levi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carrick’s thesis on the relationship between indicative and imperative will sharpen my preaching. He depended on quotations too much for my taste though, which made an otherwise delightful read a slough at times.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on the use of verb moods in preaching. I’ve never read another book on preaching that comes at it from this specific angle. Highly recommended.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As everyone else has noted, the block quotes were a bit much and they might have been relegated, by and large, to the appendices. But the content was spot on, so it gets a 5/5 from me.

[Roger Feenstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hammered out this book in a couple of hours today. It is a good book on the art of rhetoric, or as the cover says, A Theology of Sacred Rhetoric. The primary thrust of the book are four rhetorical devices which make for powerful preaching. The Indicative, the Exclamative, the Interrogative, and the Imperative.

The author states if a preacher is to maintain a ministry that is balanced, he must preach sermons that are balanced by using all of the devices mentioned above. The book is filled with real life examples of sermons by men such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Samuel Davies, and others. It is helpful that the author points out passages of Scripture where indicative, exclamative, interrogative, and imperative are used.

The book has 32 pages of Appendices where the author give illustrations from some of the men mentioned above, using each of the rhetorical devices. Full disclosure: I skimmed those 32 pages.

[Adam Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently written (especially chapter 6) as part of a fight I didn't realize it was important to have a dog in. There are some bizarre tribes in the Reformed world.

That exemplary indicatives are functional imperatives is one of those things that's difficult to recognize as needing to be affirmed because the alternative is so palid... so much so as to make me wonder if this is a case of shadow boxing or worse. But I can't really say the fight interests me enough to bother chasing down the actual opposing case.

[Matt Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tedious but profitable.

This reads like a Ph.D dissertation. It may be 50% or more of this book is block quotes of Scripture quotations or excerpts from sermons.

However, Carrick has made very helpful rhetorical insights into preaching based on his study of Scripture and great Reformed preachers. Namely he has delved into the indicative-imperative relationship in preaching, with helpful explorations of the exclamative and interrogative.

This is a good book for a Reformed preacher looking to be Christ-centered without neglecting application.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some strong points, but overall very uneven. The first chapter is very good, as is the critique of the more extreme forms of redemptive-historical preaching. The rest is padding.

While some would be tempted to think that Carrick is pitting the imperative against the indicative, he is clear that the imperatives of Scripture can only be preached with a strong grounding in the imperatives.

[mpsiple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. On the necessity of both indicatives and imperatives (in that order) in preaching. It had some wonderful short sections, but most of it read like a dissertation. Should have been half the length.

[Joost Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strength of this book is its use of example in the Scriptures for each of the chapters. I found that the chapter on the interrogative--the use of questions in preaching--was the most helpful to me as a preacher. Carrick's style is a bit of butterless toast, but the content is solid.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly valuable resource in that it is accessible (if a bit dense), succinct (if a bit heavy on block quotes), unique (emphasizing the complementary balance between indicative and imperative while using rhetorical and grammatical categories throughout), and Christ-exalting.