Honest to God Preaching: Talking Sin, Suffering, and Violence

by Brent A. Strawn

Old Testament scholar and interpreter Brent A. Strawn focuses on the importance of honesty in preaching, especially around three challenging Old Testament sin, suffering, and violence. He makes the case that preaching honestly is critical in the church today. Without honesty regarding these topics, there is no way forward to reconciliation, health, and recovery. Further, it is imperative for today's preachers to deal with the questions of faith arising from these themes in the biblical text itself. In addition to key scripture passages, he turns to several contemporary authors and works as dialogue partners on the three themes. Asserting that keeping secrets can lead to a kind of sickness, Strawn uses texts from the Pentateuch and the Psalms to model honesty about sin, without which there can be no reconciliation, and honesty about suffering, without which there can be no healing. He also looks at the book of Joshua and various psalms to model honesty about violence, which can serve as a way to contain, limit, and ultimately transcend violence. Strawn frames these themes specifically for working preachers, so they can create sermons that speak to these thorny themes with depth and clarity.

Genres: Theology

232 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2021

About the author

Brent A. Strawn (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is professor of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia. He has authored or coedited various volumes and is on the editorial board of Catholic Biblical Quarterly and Journal of Biblical Literature.

Reviews

[Allison Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

yeah I really enjoyed this and think that you would too. Strawn packs quite a bit into a small book, and I will be continuing to think about some quotes in here for a while. His love for the Scriptures is apparent and contagious.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Strawn speak about this book through the On Script podcast—a recurring theme in many of the best books I’ve picked up over the last year. Strawn walks us through the poignant honesty of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures about sin, suffering and violence. He contends this honesty is to be emulated, and as we delve into it, we will recognize ourselves and discover there is so much more about God that we have only begun to understand. Such honesty can lead us on the path to reconciliation, healing and recovery. In the end, this provocative book is a gift to the church inasmuch as it pushes the ones who proclaim the sacred text (among whom I include myself) to wrestle with what it means to speak not only about God, but before God. Highly recommended.

[Rob O'Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reviewing this book for Homiletic, and my review will appear there.