Synopses & Reviews
Many books on preaching focus solely on crafting sermons, dealing with parishioners, and other external concerns. We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken focuses instead on the person and formation of the preacher, describing the kind of Christian wisdom and character that are required to hear and speak the Word of God. / Michael Pasquarello here offers a holistic vision of the person and work of the preacher. He emphasizes the kind of person one must become in order to be faithful to the Word of God incarnate in Christ and mediated by the witness of Scripture. To that end, he highlights the wisdom, virtue, judgment, and discernment ministry requires. / While this is not a new subject, it has until recently been considered relatively unimportant, a significant contrast to the views of the patristic and medieval periods in which the holiness of the preacher was of primary concern. Matters of skill, technique, and style were secondary to the spiritual and moral formation of the person who preaches. In other words, what we preach and how we preach should be inseparable. Pasquarello argues for a return to the Augustinian mindset that the pastor must become, through faith, hope, and love, a living sermon.
Synopsis
What kind of Christian wisdom and character are required to hear and speak the Word of God with authenticity? How does the person of the preacher his or her spiritual life, moral formation, wisdom, and virtue affect the spoken sermon? / Following Augustines assertion that the preacher must become a living sermon a person whose language and life are one with the truth of God incarnate in Christ Michael Pasquarello here puts forth a vision of preaching that is grounded in personal character, wisdom, judgment, and discernment. Pasquarellos holistic vision draws deeply from the Christian tradition, especially retrieving the wisdom of the great Dominican preacher Thomas Aquinas. / Distinctive for its expansive, interdisciplinary approach to preaching as opposed to the how-to, technique-driven programs prevalent today Pasquarellos We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken deals with some of the most significant yet neglected concerns related to preaching and pastoral leadership in our time.
Table of Contents
Introduction : we speak becasie we have first been spoken -- Speaking with integrity -- The preaching life as exemplary wisdom -- Thomas Aquinas and the Dominicans : ordering the "preaching life" -- Homiletical happiness : the joy of preaching -- Preaching as the practice of wisdom -- The grammar of the preaching life.