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Rating: 
Summary: Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book...
Review: Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book on preaching to postmoderns. Dr. Johnston first gives a brief overview of postmodern culture. While it's not exhaustive life Carson's The Gagging of God or Dockery's The Challenge of Postmodernism or Grenz's Postmodern Primer, that does not mean it doesn't do the job. He boils a lot of it down and gives the neccesary basics to understanding our current culture.He then describes some ways to engage the listeners, ways that preachers should truly understand. He encourages the preacher to move from descriptive preaching (expository preaching using multiple points) to narrative preaching (expository preaching that uses the plot of the Biblical text). The author discusses barriers to communication with postmoderns and then how to make a connection and make inroads to the listeners and finally different sermon style and delivery options.
Rating:
Summary: Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book...
Review: Graham Johnston has put together a wonderful book on preaching to postmoderns. Dr. Johnston first gives a brief overview of postmodern culture. While it's not exhaustive life Carson's The Gagging of God or Dockery's The Challenge of Postmodernism or Grenz's Postmodern Primer, that does not mean it doesn't do the job. He boils a lot of it down and gives the neccesary basics to understanding our current culture. He then describes some ways to engage the listeners, ways that preachers should truly understand. He encourages the preacher to move from descriptive preaching (expository preaching using multiple points) to narrative preaching (expository preaching that uses the plot of the Biblical text). The author discusses barriers to communication with postmoderns and then how to make a connection and make inroads to the listeners and finally different sermon style and delivery options.
Rating:
Summary: On the mark
Review: Johnston's review of postmodernism is accurate and concise. Announcing that modernism has collapsed is one flaw. We live in a mixture of the two - dare I say - philosophies. The other complaint I have about the book is the reliance on secondary sources. Besides these two problems, this is an excellent book. Postmodernism has come of age in the new century. It's been growing steadily since the sixties. Anyone who was around for the hippie movement can recognize all the signs. However, postmodernism has become mainstream and even adopted by some in the church. (Whatever happened to being renewed in the spirit of the mind?) Johnston not only shows how the world has infiltrated the church but how to reach those with the gospel without accommodating to this age. His understanding that popular postmodernism is a parasite feeding off of modernism is incisive. In essence, postmodernism is a reaction to modernism as feminism reacts against a male dominated society. Christians ought not imbibe either as a philosphy. We do better with pre-modern philosophy and its attention to reality. This book is more than helpful. It ought to be read by all those who minister today.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, practical book on communicating to postmoderns
Review: The deeper I got into this book, the better it got. There were a few moments that is got a little "deep" for me, but it turned out to be a very practical book, with great ideas on communicating to today's culture. I liked the author's views on how the church should not "run" from pop-culture, but rather embrace it and use it as an opporunity to reach people. I think this book would be a great read for any pastor or church leader in the midst of transition towards reaching unchurched people.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, practical book on communicating to postmoderns
Review: The deeper I got into this book, the better it got. There were a few moments that is got a little "deep" for me, but it turned out to be a very practical book, with great ideas on communicating to today's culture. I liked the author's views on how the church should not "run" from pop-culture, but rather embrace it and use it as an opporunity to reach people. I think this book would be a great read for any pastor or church leader in the midst of transition towards reaching unchurched people.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad if you're convinced already
Review: This book is certainly not bad - it does provide some insight and practical advice for preaching to a postmodern world, and, in this way, may be helpful. My main criticism is that all of the (foot)notes quote other Evangelicals about their analyses and perspectives of postmodernism without letting postmodernists speak for themselves on the matter. Accordingly, this book may be a good introduction for someone who knows nothing about postmodernism and for someone who has an Evangelical background, but it is rather superficial and stereotypical in its presentation. If your primary exposure to postmodernism is from reading this book, you will not learn how to think as postmodernists think, you will learn only how some Evangelicals believe postmodernists think. For a non-religious, concise, and insightful approach, I highly recommend Christopher Butler's "Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction," published by Oxford University Press.
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