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Preaching the Luminous Word: Biblical Sermons and Homiletical Essays
Inviting serious theological engagement with texts from all parts of the Christian Bible, Preaching the Luminous Word is a collection of fifty-one sermons and five related essays from noted preacher and biblical scholar Ellen F. Davis. A brief preface to each sermon delineates its liturgical context and theological themes as well as distinctive elements of structure and style. Arranged in canonical order, the sermons treat a wide range of Torah, Prophets, Writings, Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation. They are complemented by essays on various aspects of biblical interpretation for preaching. At once accessible, theologically informed, and rhetorically rich, this volume will engage preachers, teachers, seminarians, church leaders, and serious lay readers.
- GenresTheologyBiblical Studies
356 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 14, 2020
An excellent book of sermons from a preacher with a different method than will be familiar to most evangelicals. Her sermons on the Old Testament are especially insightful and refreshing.
September 4, 2021
Timely sermons of excellence. Y’all. Every single one is a gem and prophetic and necessary.
September 25, 2017
Sermons are a strange genre, as anyone who has ever preached even just once knows. You can say all the "right" things, in some logically-consistent order, but without some kind of en-Spirited delivery, they are dead words, dead air, and practically useless. As such, reading a collection of sermons is, I must confess, a daunting challenge. Without the delivery, without the embodiment of the Word, there'll always be something inevitably missing.
And maybe this is part of what impresses me about Ellen Davis' Preaching the Luminous Word: somehow even her written scripts of sermons, text-objects that ontologically defy the category of "sermon" (because not delivered), become embodied, take on a spiritual prowess, and jump off the page. In his Afterword, Austin McIver Dennis calls Davis' sermons "ecological" and "luminous," two appropriate and rightly-powerful adjectives, and yet two incredibly small and weak adjectives when compared to their referent.
Davis' sermons crisscross the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, with a wit and wisdom that points to a mind well-formed by the texts she traverses. At times she is like a rugged explorer, re-treading old paths for us, while at other times she is like an experienced mountain climber, trained in the art of knowing what to do when lost, when faced with an insurmountable climb, when confronted by impossible difficulties.
This is not to say that every sermon included in this collection is a home run. Sometimes Davis wanders into the very realms of modernism she attempts to defy, sometimes she skews the lines of biblical authority in strange ways; and maybe the problem there is that I am a student of theology reading across a major division in the American church, that between "mainline" and "evangelical." On the converse, however, Davis' best sermons reveal the fullness of biblical theology available to both mainliners and evangelicals alike; she probes the Scriptures (and she reads the Old Testament with a particular zest) for all its prophetic provocations and all its wisdom and all its joy. Truly, Davis' talent, at her greatest moments, is to reveal the Word itself as luminous, with respectful emphasis on "reveal." She treats the text with care and patience and humility, resulting in the very "Holy Preaching" that she exhorts in one of her essays.
The essays are all quite valuable and engaging, my only complaint being that they were too few. But Dennis had a challenge in front of him in selecting sermons and essays for this collection, especially as he organized it canonically. It is clear from even the "small" selection here that Davis has an immense history of preaching under her belt. Maybe what was set before Dennis was a fools' task: too hard to do perfectly, for sure. So my complaint of too few essays should rest.
Theologically, all that Davis discusses here could perhaps be found elsewhere, in varied shape and form. But that is somewhat secondary. Davis instead reveals what making theology embodied can look like, both in the particularization of the preaching-act as well as in the particularization of the lives who have intersected with hers. The opening essay, "On Not Worrying About Sermon Illustrations" actually previews how well Davis utilizes that very matter, with the text at the center illuminating the illustrations provided. This particularized theology serves as a nice counter-weight to the overwhelmingly and increasingly abstract, generalized notion that theology claims these days.
At first, one of my greatest concerns in reading Davis was the distance between her context and my own. A little voice wondered in my head "Sure, this will be an interesting book for me, but will it actually be useful?" After all, Davis is a professor at Duke, the vast majority of the sermons in this book are at chapel either at Duke or Yale, and the rest are almost exclusively drawn from mainline churches, all of a more "high church" bent, on the Atlantic seaboard. There was more than a little doubt in my mind that this more-evangelical, Midwestern, rural pastor would be well-served by a preacher in so different a context.
And that is my last and greatest surprise from Davis. Maybe it's due to her relationship with Wendell Berry? Whatever the case, somehow her voice, carried as it is by the text, has influenced my own preaching, for the better. I have received a stronger, more holistic sense of what biblical, exegetical preaching can look like, a more profound vision of what good preaching can be, and an increased sense of call to the preaching part of a pastor's vocation. In short, what I love the best about this work from Davis is that it has already helped me to become a better preacher. And it is from that grounds that I would highly recommend this collection to any who wish to likewise become better preachers.
And maybe this is part of what impresses me about Ellen Davis' Preaching the Luminous Word: somehow even her written scripts of sermons, text-objects that ontologically defy the category of "sermon" (because not delivered), become embodied, take on a spiritual prowess, and jump off the page. In his Afterword, Austin McIver Dennis calls Davis' sermons "ecological" and "luminous," two appropriate and rightly-powerful adjectives, and yet two incredibly small and weak adjectives when compared to their referent.
Davis' sermons crisscross the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, with a wit and wisdom that points to a mind well-formed by the texts she traverses. At times she is like a rugged explorer, re-treading old paths for us, while at other times she is like an experienced mountain climber, trained in the art of knowing what to do when lost, when faced with an insurmountable climb, when confronted by impossible difficulties.
This is not to say that every sermon included in this collection is a home run. Sometimes Davis wanders into the very realms of modernism she attempts to defy, sometimes she skews the lines of biblical authority in strange ways; and maybe the problem there is that I am a student of theology reading across a major division in the American church, that between "mainline" and "evangelical." On the converse, however, Davis' best sermons reveal the fullness of biblical theology available to both mainliners and evangelicals alike; she probes the Scriptures (and she reads the Old Testament with a particular zest) for all its prophetic provocations and all its wisdom and all its joy. Truly, Davis' talent, at her greatest moments, is to reveal the Word itself as luminous, with respectful emphasis on "reveal." She treats the text with care and patience and humility, resulting in the very "Holy Preaching" that she exhorts in one of her essays.
The essays are all quite valuable and engaging, my only complaint being that they were too few. But Dennis had a challenge in front of him in selecting sermons and essays for this collection, especially as he organized it canonically. It is clear from even the "small" selection here that Davis has an immense history of preaching under her belt. Maybe what was set before Dennis was a fools' task: too hard to do perfectly, for sure. So my complaint of too few essays should rest.
Theologically, all that Davis discusses here could perhaps be found elsewhere, in varied shape and form. But that is somewhat secondary. Davis instead reveals what making theology embodied can look like, both in the particularization of the preaching-act as well as in the particularization of the lives who have intersected with hers. The opening essay, "On Not Worrying About Sermon Illustrations" actually previews how well Davis utilizes that very matter, with the text at the center illuminating the illustrations provided. This particularized theology serves as a nice counter-weight to the overwhelmingly and increasingly abstract, generalized notion that theology claims these days.
At first, one of my greatest concerns in reading Davis was the distance between her context and my own. A little voice wondered in my head "Sure, this will be an interesting book for me, but will it actually be useful?" After all, Davis is a professor at Duke, the vast majority of the sermons in this book are at chapel either at Duke or Yale, and the rest are almost exclusively drawn from mainline churches, all of a more "high church" bent, on the Atlantic seaboard. There was more than a little doubt in my mind that this more-evangelical, Midwestern, rural pastor would be well-served by a preacher in so different a context.
And that is my last and greatest surprise from Davis. Maybe it's due to her relationship with Wendell Berry? Whatever the case, somehow her voice, carried as it is by the text, has influenced my own preaching, for the better. I have received a stronger, more holistic sense of what biblical, exegetical preaching can look like, a more profound vision of what good preaching can be, and an increased sense of call to the preaching part of a pastor's vocation. In short, what I love the best about this work from Davis is that it has already helped me to become a better preacher. And it is from that grounds that I would highly recommend this collection to any who wish to likewise become better preachers.
December 23, 2021
Vintage Ellen Davis—a wonderful collection of essays and sermons on preaching. Each section begins with a homiletical essay followed by sermons as examples of the essay. Biblically, theologically and devotionally rich. Inspired me to preach more from Old Testament.
August 26, 2025
Mostly a collection of beautiful and insightful sermons by Old Testament scholar Ellen Davis. The volume also includes some short essays on preaching parts of the Bible (such as OT prophets and Psalms). This book could also be read devotionally, even if you’re not preparing a sermon.
July 20, 2019
Not a wasted word in this book. A collection of thoughtful sermons and addresses. The only thing lacking inspiration is the book's off putting title.
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February 2, 2022Good
February 17, 2025
Absolutely amazing collection of sermons and essays. Highly recommend for anyone interested.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews