Book Review: Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller

Wow!  Timothy Keller is really intelligent.  Now, that I have that out of the way.

Keller's book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism,  is a wonderful combination of drawing wisdom deep out of the well and making it accessible to someone of average intelligence (like me.)  I think he does a great job of drawing on the collective work on the modern-day sermon.  He, surprisingly, disagrees with both Fred Craddock (my favorite preacher) and Andy Stanley (many Pastor's favorite preacher).  I think he has valid concern with each of those guy's approaches to what a sermon is and what is to be accomplished within the sermon.  His main difference in opinion with them revolves around the debate of Expository Preaching vs. Topical Preaching.  (Expository starts with the Bible and works out to daily life, whereas Topical starts with daily life and goes into the Bible.  I agree completely with Keller's assessment in the book.)

I also enjoyed the book because I had Timothy Keller's voice in my head as a I read it.  I used to listen regularly to his sermons when I had a long commute.  His voice is unimpressive, he isn't funny, and he sounds a bit like a Professor leading a lecture.  However, his sermons are powerful even just listening to them in my car.  He digs into our minds and brings us to the life of the Kingdom contained in the pages of the Bible.  He is a masterful preacher.

I have thought of Keller as an intellectual and not someone who I would take advice from in practicality.  I was surprised with how practical this book was.  I think it's a must read for anyone that preaches.

Here are some of my highlighted quotes:

Speaking about preaching with a lack of personal conviction, "Instead of proclaiming, warning, and inviting, you will be sharing, musing, and conjecturing."

Writing on the subject of "what authority does the Bible have in people's minds today" he writes, "Put your energy into simply preaching it - into actually exposing people to it in its clearest and most vivid form.  Then the extraordinary power and authority of the Word will become self-evident - even in the most antiauthoritarian settings"

"There are, in the end, only two ways to read the Bible:  Is it basically about me or basically about Jesus?"  Simple and genius.

"There are many problems with the sovereign self as a philosophy of life.  To begin with, it assumes we know what we want - that our inner desires are coherent and harmonious."

and my favorite....

"I would say that it's fine if listeners are taking notes in the first part of the sermon, but if they are doing so at the end, you are probably not reaching their affections."

Great book.  I hope it makes it's way into all preaching classes and courses.  Thank you Timothy Keller for your hard work and accessibility.