Cross Talk: Preaching Redemption Here and Now

by Sally A. Brown

Overview

Contending that preachers have become silent on a major doctrinal theme of the Christian faith—the meaning of the crucifixion and the cross as a theological symbol—Sally A. Brown describes the nature and causes of this phenomenon and provides a strategy for reclaiming "cross talk" in the pulpit. Brown proposes a metaphorical and pastoral model for preaching about the cross. Preachers can reclaim preaching on the cross, she urges, by joining New Testament metaphors to pastoral situations rather than adapting atonement theories for the pulpit. She offers specific examples in sermons designed for particular homiletical occasions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664230029
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	03/03/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sally A. Brown is Elizabeth M. Engle Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. She is the coeditor of Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
At a Loss for Words: Why Preachers Are Falling Silent about the Cross     11
From Theory to Metaphor: Rediscovering New Testament Cross Talk     29
Challenging Cross Talk Gone Wrong     49
God in Pain: Cross Talk about Suffering     71
God's Weakness: Cross Talk for a Violent World     89
Jesus' Death as Sacrifice: Can This Metaphor Be Saved?     108
Open Gestures toward Mystery: Cross Talk in Its Liturgical and Cultural Context     124
Biblical Texts Referencing the Death of Jesus in the New Revised Common Lectionary     141
Notes     147
Index     164