What do you think?
Rate this book
Preaching Jesus: The New Directions for Homiletics in Hans Frei's Postliberal Theology
The post liberal, cultural-linguistic theology of the Yale School has been one of the most important theological developments in the United States during the latter twentieth century. In this unique book, which combines theological analysis and homiletical reflection,Charles Campbell examines post liberal theology as it is embodied in the work of Hans Frei and develops the implications of this theological position for the theory and practice of preaching. Arguing that the trouble with homiletics today is fundamentally theological, Campbell offers Frei's theological position as a means for enriching the Christian pulpit and renewing the church.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 10, 2015
Preaching Jesus is an exciting book that deals with substantive theological issues on the role, method, and meaning of preaching. Campbell does not pull any punches in critiquing recent trends in homiletics, especially the proponents of narrative preaching. Campbell's main goal is to introduce Hans Frei's postliberalism -- and so at times defending Frei against misinterpretation-- so that Frei's perspective can open new options in homiletics.
His main points of retrieval from Frei concern the centrality of identifying Jesus Christ and granting his personage the priority as agent in that identification. One way this manifests is that Campbell repeats at several points that the task of the Gospels and therefore of preaching is to identify Christ and remember that "Jesus is the subject of his predicates." In other words, it is not appropriate to identify Jesus' properties and then generalize them as "good morals" or as general "life lessons" for self help. Rather, the task of identifying Christ's properties is for the end of recognizing his character as an agent so that the Church comes to see Christ's presence and agency in their midst.
This all-too-brief summation should make it clear what Campbell's criticism of narrative preaching centers on. He does not have a problem with narrative as a style, in fact narrative does -- as people like Craddock have insisted -- rightly connect the method of narrative with the content and form of the Gospels. The danger that he detects is that narrative preaching often makes the general storied nature of our life the connecting point between Christ's stories and our personal private stories. Rather, according to Campbell, the Church as the community enabled and sustained by the continuing agency of Jesus is the connecting point between Christ and us. Christ is the subject of his predicates, the agent that drives his story and our stories.
His criticisms of the narrative homeliticians are often too harsh, in my opinion. At moments he acknowledges that the persons he critiques have made positive contributions, but at times he overstates his criticisms to make it explicit what he is distancing himself from.
Overall, it is a valuable contribution to homiletics and is valuable to all preachers. My pleasure with the book is especially the theological emphasis. Preaching is a theological task and has a theological purpose. Campbell emphasizes this aspect and reflects well on the theological meaning of preaching.
His main points of retrieval from Frei concern the centrality of identifying Jesus Christ and granting his personage the priority as agent in that identification. One way this manifests is that Campbell repeats at several points that the task of the Gospels and therefore of preaching is to identify Christ and remember that "Jesus is the subject of his predicates." In other words, it is not appropriate to identify Jesus' properties and then generalize them as "good morals" or as general "life lessons" for self help. Rather, the task of identifying Christ's properties is for the end of recognizing his character as an agent so that the Church comes to see Christ's presence and agency in their midst.
This all-too-brief summation should make it clear what Campbell's criticism of narrative preaching centers on. He does not have a problem with narrative as a style, in fact narrative does -- as people like Craddock have insisted -- rightly connect the method of narrative with the content and form of the Gospels. The danger that he detects is that narrative preaching often makes the general storied nature of our life the connecting point between Christ's stories and our personal private stories. Rather, according to Campbell, the Church as the community enabled and sustained by the continuing agency of Jesus is the connecting point between Christ and us. Christ is the subject of his predicates, the agent that drives his story and our stories.
His criticisms of the narrative homeliticians are often too harsh, in my opinion. At moments he acknowledges that the persons he critiques have made positive contributions, but at times he overstates his criticisms to make it explicit what he is distancing himself from.
Overall, it is a valuable contribution to homiletics and is valuable to all preachers. My pleasure with the book is especially the theological emphasis. Preaching is a theological task and has a theological purpose. Campbell emphasizes this aspect and reflects well on the theological meaning of preaching.
April 11, 2025
Phenomenal read. I especially enjoyed the back half of his work. Campbell does a great job outlining some of the pitfalls people fall into when it comes to narrative preaching. It was a bit difficult to be challenged by this work as some of my thinking was exposed and changed through the course of this book.
I'll definitely be coming back to this work and thinking through his arguments. I deeply enjoyed it.
I'll definitely be coming back to this work and thinking through his arguments. I deeply enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews