Preaching

Rating:
Summary: Fred Craddock - Prince of Preachers
Review: From the Introduction where Dr. Craddock promises to walk the reader through the process of selecting a text to the delivery of the sermon... to the chapters of enriching the form and delivering the sermon - he delivers the goods!

I doubt that anyone other than Fred Craddock could claim to have been mentor and role model to as many other preacher-teachers, like, Barbara Brown Taylor, Joanna Adams, John Claypool, Gail O'Day, and Thomas Long.

From his emphasis on theological content to creative imagination ...Dr. Craddock spices up his serious language with such pithy phrases as, "A quiet voice through a cabin door, President Lincoln says we're free," is no less a shout than 76 trombones coming down Main Street on the Fourth of July!

He allows to creep into his sermon, the humor of a nearby seated passenger on their flight from St. Louis to Seattle who became ill and went outside for a breath of fresh air. The response comes back, "But that didn't really happen. Did It?"

Allegorically, the words from Genesis, "and Abram went out from Ur of the Chaldees," could be interpreted, "and the soul left the confines of the body."

The first time I heard Craddock, he gave his version of the earliest Black tradition of The Creation Story. He stirred my creative imagination! Just like I get to every Seminar on Style and Form, when he is on at Cherrylog Christian Church, I love to hear his latest presentation... Nowhere else can you read this but in his Preaching!

Rating:
Summary: The most usefull text I have read in seminary
Review: I am a seminary student, as I am sure many of those reading this review are, or where. You know the assigned reading requirements, and you know about how much of the required reading you actually complete. With that in mind, let me say that this is the only text this semester I have not set aside, or failed to read, it is that valuable.
Dr. Craddock gives a sound theology of preaching, explains method in an easy to follow manner and gives the simple, practical, information so frequently missing from classroom discussions.

Rating:
Summary: The most usefull text I have read in seminary
Review: I am a seminary student, as I am sure many of those reading this review are, or where. You know the assigned reading requirements, and you know about how much of the required reading you actually complete. With that in mind, let me say that this is the only text this semester I have not set aside, or failed to read, it is that valuable.
Dr. Craddock gives a sound theology of preaching, explains method in an easy to follow manner and gives the simple, practical, information so frequently missing from classroom discussions.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written.
Review: If Craddock actually preaches the way he writes, then he has no business writing a book about preaching. Although the book is filled with insightful details and does a good job framing the sermon process, the language it is written in is poor. Since when were academics excused from writing clearly and succinctly?

Rating:
Summary: The title says it all!
Review: This is an excellent basic text on preaching. Although I am not yet a preacher and am just getting ready to enter seminary, I can't imagine a more comprehensive book on the subject. I expected Craddock to beat the drum for his favorite style of sermon, the inductive, but surprisingly this is not even mentioned. For more info on the inductive style, I would refer the reader to "As One Without Authority". Especially valuable are the sections concerning the pastor's study habits, and how time spent in study is actually time spent with the congregation. Craddock is acknowleged as one of the greatest preachers of his generation, and this is an excellent way to learn from the "master".