Overhearing the Gospel

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Summary: Unpacking Kierkegaard's Indirect Communication
Review: For a time this book slipped under the radar. I couldn't find it in the late 90's, but it's finally being rediscovered. I think this is because it expresses so well the method of communication that has made Hollywood one of the most compelling story tellers on the planet, far overshadowing the impotence of the Church in telling the greatest story ever told, and yet one used almost exclusively by Jesus himself.

Inadvertently a postmodern text, Overhearing the Gospel exposes the modern illusion of direct communication-the idea that each one of us perceives the world in the same way as every other person and we need only disseminate the information.

Through the stories of Søren Kierkegaard, Fred Craddock shows us how to draw listeners into the very act of constructing the final meaning. Through art and story listeners hear more with their heart and understand more deeply when in their own uniqueness they are allowed to complete the meaning. He exposes what Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein have been shouting for years, people are moved more by what is compelling than reasonable. As Kierkegaard often mused, 'I don't have a problem with reason, as long as you understand it only works backwards.'

In respect of how we communicate, the Church needs to catch up with--heaven forbid even learn from--Hollywood. It needs to explain less, trust the heart of the listener and learn again how to tell its story in a more meaningful and compelling manner. As Queen Victoria was purported to have said, "If all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end they would be a lot more comfortable."

Overhearing the Gospel does not deal with the ethics of communication (though it calls the Church to the next level of love and respect for the Other). Neither does it open the door to the underlying philosophical and theological discussions (which in fact lie beneath his more practical lessons). Craddock doesn't even suggest `direct communication' and reason be done away with (he thinks they are indeed necessary). What he does offer us, however, is a start at understanding how indirect communication through the use of art, story, analogy and metaphor can be far more meaningful than explanations, especially when communicating the grace and truth of God in Christ-that which WE cannot directly communicate.

Greg Gorsuch, Common Ground Seattle

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Summary: Craddock always comes back around!
Review: Two great books were first printed in 1978: Overhearing the Gospel, by Fred Craddock and The Prophetic Imagination, by Walter Brueggemann. Although it took me 13 years to become familiar with either one, they were both worth the waiting!

I cannot remember when I heard Dr. Craddock tell the story of gathering the fallen stars in the backyard of his home and storing them in his Grandma's clothes basket; But this story is placed in poignant conclusion to his first chapter: "Concerning Method." Anyone familiar with reading Kierkegaard knows that it requires telling a good story for a parallel metaphor!

Unusual as it seems for Craddock, he focuses upon the quote by Kierkegaard: "There is a lack of understanding in the land...a something which the one cannot directly communicate to the other." This quote is stated at the beginng of each chapter: Concerning the Listener; Concerning the Teller; Concerning the Story. As only Dr. Craddock can do, the quote is used as a large part of the foundation for each chapter. This does not appear to be true for any other Craddock or Brueggemann book! In chapter 4 on Concerning the Story, Craddock touches the peak with, "Stories of Abraham, the Exodus, of Moses, of David..." Again quoting Kierkegaard, which is for me a reminder of Brueggemann. Two pages later he refers to S. K. having "recaptured beautifully this characteristic of the Bible to make one point at a time, with no anxiety about harmony, balance and symmetry!" (Bruegge again.)

When he describes the communicators of the Christian faith with words such as intensity, discipline, passion, pathos, he is also reminding me of the ways in which both he and Prof Bruegge communicate.

After 40 years since Seminary, I have been searching for such a clearly understandable, thoughtful and inspiring book to motivate preaching. Eureka! I finally found it!
Retired Chaplain Fred W. Hood