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Preaching the Creative Gospel Creatively
Christian preaching need not be tedious or predictable. The very nature of the Gospel itself is enough to motivate our best efforts to present it creatively. Beloved professor of preaching, Francis Rossow, provides help for preachers looking to be more creative in their preaching, showing hot varied literary constructions and parallels open numerous, often overlooked, doors to creative preaching.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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October 1, 2019
I am greatly appreciative of the work that Rossow has done and that he displayed in this book, although I had some significant disagreements with him regarding what he calls "the full literal gospel" and the format of this book in particular.
Rossow provides an excellent case for why creativity in preaching is not only permissible but necessary. Granted, I didn't need much convincing, but I can tell that apparently at the time that he wrote this, this was a significant issue. For this, Rossow's work is commendable, even if it is not necessarily what is needed for homiletical instruction any longer, at least in my admittedly limited perspective and experience. Many of Rossows suggestions for creative preaching are excellent. He is especially good at commending the use of art and literature to aid in the homiletic task.
However, I strongly disagree with Rossow regarding what he calls the full literal gospel, particularly what I found to be his strange emphasis that on the cross the Father is damning the Son, that on the cross (not during the later descent into hell) Jesus is effectively experiencing hell on our behalf. I think that this is an over-reading of Jesus' "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", an abuse of the vicarious model of the atonement, and a confusing statement since Rossow must use the words "damn" and "hell" in an utterly unique way when speaking of Jesus' "damnation" on the cross than in any other context. I found that Rossow's constant emphasis on the damnation of Jesus on the cross crowded out other, non-vicarious models of the atonement (e.g. Christus victor) especially those that emphasize the resurrection.
Finally, while there was much excellent content in this book, after a while it became horribly repetitive. It seemed that Rossow included example after example of a creative method which were supposed to be different, but weren't really that different after all. For example, Rossow has example sermons and explanations for sermons that make creative use of legends, nursery shymes, short stories/novels, fables, and fairy tales. I struggled to see how these were fundamentally different and this made the book seem to drag on unnecessarily in the latter half.
Rossow provides an excellent case for why creativity in preaching is not only permissible but necessary. Granted, I didn't need much convincing, but I can tell that apparently at the time that he wrote this, this was a significant issue. For this, Rossow's work is commendable, even if it is not necessarily what is needed for homiletical instruction any longer, at least in my admittedly limited perspective and experience. Many of Rossows suggestions for creative preaching are excellent. He is especially good at commending the use of art and literature to aid in the homiletic task.
However, I strongly disagree with Rossow regarding what he calls the full literal gospel, particularly what I found to be his strange emphasis that on the cross the Father is damning the Son, that on the cross (not during the later descent into hell) Jesus is effectively experiencing hell on our behalf. I think that this is an over-reading of Jesus' "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", an abuse of the vicarious model of the atonement, and a confusing statement since Rossow must use the words "damn" and "hell" in an utterly unique way when speaking of Jesus' "damnation" on the cross than in any other context. I found that Rossow's constant emphasis on the damnation of Jesus on the cross crowded out other, non-vicarious models of the atonement (e.g. Christus victor) especially those that emphasize the resurrection.
Finally, while there was much excellent content in this book, after a while it became horribly repetitive. It seemed that Rossow included example after example of a creative method which were supposed to be different, but weren't really that different after all. For example, Rossow has example sermons and explanations for sermons that make creative use of legends, nursery shymes, short stories/novels, fables, and fairy tales. I struggled to see how these were fundamentally different and this made the book seem to drag on unnecessarily in the latter half.
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