Book Recommendation

I would like to recommend Learning to Speak of God: Patience as a Homiletical Virtue, a recent book by my colleague, Mason Lee.

“We are indebted to Mason Lee for this discerning work on the homiletical virtue of preaching. This is the kind of vision we need if preaching and the life of preachers are to recover their rightful place within the larger work of God and the formative activity of the Holy Spirit. In this insightful book, we don’t have to choose between God or ourselves but are invited to patiently wait upon divine grace in all our speaking and living.” – Michael Pasquarello III, professor of Methodist divinity, Beeson Divinity School

“Mason Lee has produced a fine work that challenges homiletics’ primary dependence on the discipline of rhetoric. He makes convincing arguments for the place of patience in the practice of preaching that goes beyond just the public presentation. This virtue enables the preacher to rise above the vices of pride and hastiness. In turn, patience equips the preacher to allow the text to speak on its own, respect listeners’ responses, and take a long-range view of how preaching shapes a congregation.” – Dave Bland, professor emeritus of homiletics, Harding School of Theology

“Mason Lee revisits one of homiletics’ oldest debates: how does preacherly virtue (or its lack) relate to the credibility of sermons? After reviewing with us the state of play, Lee expands the question itself: What virtue most crucially sustains theological integrity as we engage the web of interpretive practices that carry us to the pulpit? Lee’s surprising answer: patience. That path of patient curiosity Lee traces works to energize and liberate preachers, all the way to Sunday.” – Sally A. Brown, professor emerita of preaching and worship, Princeton Theological Seminary