Michael Jensen has a great post on things that need to disappear: - Merely 'explaining/teaching the Bible' and not preaching the living Word of God. (I think we should ban the phrase 'we are now going to hear the Bible explained'. I don't need it explained. I need it preached.)
- Introducing us to the text and not to the issue addressed by the text.*
- Providing overelaborate explanations of the biblical-theological background to no great end.
- Moralising from the Old Testament.
* which is really hard to do, and is one of the many reasons I think Tim Keller is a genius, because he seems to be able to do this one really well.
See also: Michael Jensen's next bookblog HIM: An Introduction, and his excellent post on preaching like Peter Roebuck
This just sounds like a bit of a rant. Why are you giving it airtime Bish?
ReplyDeleteCould someone explain what preaching is, or should we just take it on trust?
Isn't that more of a cultic/authoritarian view of authority?
I sometimes need something explained and preached. Can't we have both done well?
As much as he'd be flattered at the comparison, I think I spy a typo. I think his name is Michael Jenson, rather than Michael Jesus. Although as Freudian slips go, inadvertantly showing you were thinking about Jesus is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteTom - Why? Cos it's my blog and I wanted to...
ReplyDeleteYes OF COURSE it's a rant, Tom. What else are blogs for?
ReplyDeleteAnd it is Michael JensEn, Nathan, speaking of typos!