The Shape of Preaching

Theory and Practice in Sermon Design

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Many pastors are just too busy to fellow the latest theories on preaching and sermon form. In The Shape of Preaching, Dennis M. Cahill seeks both to educate the working pastor on the current issues of sermon design and enable them to use this design in a way that can change their preaching.
After first laying the theoretical groundwork with discussions of the theological, cultural, and literary roots of the new approaches to sermon design, Cahill expertly guides the preacher through a practical process for designing sermons that speak to people in the world today.

Endorsements

"Dennis Cahill has mined the gold from the homiletical field and gathered it with clarity and discernment. He has the scholar's openness to the big questions and the working preacher's hunger for answers that are useful in creating engaging and faithful sermons today."--Thomas G. Long, author, The Witness of Preaching

"Preaching seems more complicated than it was in days gone by. Dennis Cahill gives the reader a great introduction to the forms and functions of preaching as it is becoming and not as it used to be. Follow his advice and you will preach sermons that are not only clear but compelling."--Kenton C. Anderson, author of Choosing to Preach

"Dennis Cahill understands the literature of preaching and the whole art of sermon construction better than anyone I know. He has written this important book to try and pry dull sermon forms from their one-size-fits-all homilies. He wants us to see that every text is unique and deserves its own way of arguing for its particular truth. So, may all who are suffering from sermonic sameness, let this book pry them from the dull rails of their customary sermon structures. May all of us allow Cahill, like a homiletical Einstein, to put into our preaching his simple formula by which light and matter are born anew in sermons that are fascinatingly diverse."--Calvin Miller, author of Preaching

The Author

  1. Dennis M. Cahill

    Dennis M. Cahill

    Dennis M. Cahill (D.Min., Gordon-Conwell Seminary) has been in the pastorate for more than twenty years. He is the founding pastor of Christ Community Church, a Bible Fellowship Church in New Jersey, and is active in the Evangelical Homiletical Society.

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