Book Review: How to Write Narrative Sermons

Posted by Jeff Short on February 7, 2023 · Leave a Comment

How to Write Narrative Sermons by Jim L. Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a good companion to Lowry’s, The Homiletical Plot. Some helpful tips here but read with care.

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Book Review: Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness

Posted by Jeff Short on February 21, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness by Edward T. Welch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very informative. As a pastor, I should be more aware of these issues than what I am. Welch gives us a good place to start. He presents a blend of physical, medical, secular, and biblical counsel.

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Book Review: The Homiletical Beat: Why All Sermons Are Narrative

Posted by Jeff Short on August 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The Homiletical Beat: Why All Sermons Are Narrative by Eugene L. Lowry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The music analogy with tension and resolution for sermons was good. This book deals mainly with the sermon form as narrative form. Narrative form has beginning, middle, and end. Narrative form includes tension in the form of crisis or conflict leading to resolution. Lowry points out that sermons are events over time, more like the process of painting a picture than the presentation of a painted picture. Some good ideas here worth considering about sermonic form and even delivery, but not so much as to sermon content.

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Book Review: The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form

Posted by Jeff Short on April 22, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The Homiletical Plot, Expanded Edition: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form by Eugene L. Lowry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall a pretty good book. The concept of narrative sermon has to do with final form for delivery. So, the parts of the book dealing with how to get a sermon idea were the weakest. He doesn’t underplay exposition or theology, but I think the readers might not take them seriously enough. I understand how speaking of the plot of the sermon could be confusing to some, but it needs to be worked through. You going to have to overlook somethings and other things you will need to discern principles and make your own applications. It is a good and helpful read.

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Filed under Reviews, Short Booklog · Tagged with Church, Pastoral, Preaching, Reviews