Though there are some who adamantly deny we should do this at all, we are wise to remember that “no one can present a culture-free formulation of biblical truth”: Why? Because we don’t seem to understand what is meant by it.īy contextualization, he does not mean conforming and compromising the truth in order to make it palatable for a 21st century audience-instead, he means communicating the truth in ways that they can actually comprehend. Readers familiar Keller’s other works know that this is a hobbyhorse of his. The bulk of Preaching deals more with the issue of contextualization. Someone can give a great, inspirational message, but if Jesus isn’t there, if he isn’t made known, preaching hasn’t happened. If you don’t see how the chapter fits into the whole story, you don’t understand the chapter. But much would be inexplicable, because you wouldn’t know what came before, and many things that the author was doing in the chapter would be invisible if you didn’t see how the story played out. That is what it is like to read and preach a text of the Bible and not show how it points to Christ. Try reading only one chapter out of a Charles Dickens or Victor Hugo novel without reading anything before or afterward in the book. Would you be able to understand and appreciate the chapter? Certainly you would learn about the characters, and some relatively complete narrative action or subplot could take place within the portion of the book you have read. Most importantly, it fails to show hearers how all of Scripture is about Jesus. Topical preaching, on the other hand, can be helpful at times, and even necessary, but a steady diet of it doesn’t leave people appreciating the scope of God’s Word, nor grasping the Spirit’s power. Keller encourages making expository preaching your typical approach, as it best “expresses and unleashes our belief in the whole Bible as God’s authoritative, living, and active Word” (35). The first section of the book addresses the best methods for preaching.

In Preaching, Keller chooses to take a different approach than other authors writing on the subject by primarily looking at Word ministry philosophically, asking readers to consider how preaching serves the Word of God, reaches people, and is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Would he focus primarily on mechanics? Study habits? The C.S. So when Keller set out to write a book on preaching itself, I was intrigued. He loves words and wordplay, but he’s not trying to entertain you (even though his humor is quite disarming)-he wants you to understand the Bible on its own terms, and to see Jesus in every jot and tittle. There’s a great deal I’ve learned about preaching from the works of Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from listening to men like Daniel Akin and Matt Chandler.Īnd then there’s Tim Keller. One of the things I appreciate about Keller is the fact that he holds his hearers’ attention without drawing too much attention to himself. For me, these includes a few personal friends and mentors, as well as a number of well-known individuals. If you’re a preacher, you’ve probably got a short list of individuals and authors you look to for encouragement and advice.

Preaching tim keller