Thomas Frank A. - How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon

Frank Thomas has written a passionate summons: amid the current destructive chaos of our society, there is an urgent need for moral imagination. Such imagination is the antithesis of diabolic and idolatrous imagination that is all to the fore in our public discourse and practice. Thomas fleshes out moral imagination with close reflection on the practice of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Before he finishes, Thomas shows how the urgency of moral imagination belongs peculiarly to the work of the preacher. This book is a welcome call for gospel-grounded courage and truth about the neighbor issues in a way that refuses the self-serving fakery that dominates our public life.

Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA

Timely and prophetic, How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon presents a homiletic essential for our churches today. Thomas insists that it is up to the preacher to recapture and reclaim the moral imagination of our nation so that the gospels message of freedom is true for all people. With attention to specific figures whose witness models the qualities and characteristics of moral imagination, Thomas inspires the preacher toward powerful proclamation that both challenges and critiques any speech that subjugates or subordinates. How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon is a must read for preachers to recover and reimagine the leadership role of the church for the sake of justice for all.

Karoline M. Lewis, Associate Professor of Biblical Preaching and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN; author, She: Five Keys to Unlock the Power of Women in Ministry (Abingdon Press)

Open this book at your own risk. It is dangerous because in it, Frank Thomas tells the truth about the world and the moral imagination needed today in order for preaching to be redemptive. It is honestly prophetic and daringly hopeful, challenging us to move beyond a diabolical imagination to a moral one. Its not only Kennedy or King or Hall who can be dangerous communicators; Thomas reminds all of us that we are called to be dangerous too.

Luke A. Powery, Dean of the Chapel, Duke University, Durham, NC

Frank Thomas knows how to live dangerously in the pulpitwalking on the wild side with Jesus but in a beguiling, inviting way. Now Thomas encourages the rest of us preachers to preach with risk and delight, restoring the grand adventure of our vocation. This book is filled with wisdom and truth that Thomas has gained from his lifetime as one of our very best preachers. How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon is sure to be a regular in my preaching classes as I entice a new generation of preachers to be dangerous with Jesus.

Will Willimon, author of Conversations with Barth on Preaching (Abingdon Press); Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC; United Methodist Bishop, retired

Warning: Preachers, if you are comfortable with the status quo of white privilege, patriarchy, hetero-normativity, and classism, do not read this book. If you are comfortable with sermon series that reduce the gospel to self-help acronyms, dont read this book. But if you have the courage to look honestly at our landscape and bring the moral imagination of the Christian tradition to bear on it, open these pages. Your sermons may never be the same again. But then again neither will the churchor the worldbe the same anymore if enough of us follow Thomass advice.

O. Wesley Allen, Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

Frank Thomass How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon is wisdom for preachers in an age of diabolical imagination and moral leadership bankruptcy. The foundational principles of Thomass paradigm for moral imaginationequality, empathy, wisdom, and poetrycan inspire a revival of habits that have gone silent in our times: speaking truth and practicing good ethics. Thomas offers readers a timely project for nurturing hope within a politically chaotic commonwealth.

Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Howard University School of Divinity, Washington, DC; founding director, The Preaching Project; author, Exodus Preaching: Crafting Sermons about Justice and Hope (Abingdon Press)

In this lucid and compelling book, Frank Thomas plumbs the depths of American moral rhetoric for insights that will help preachers. How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon provides new and dramatic ways in which the moral imagination in a democratic society can be nurtured by visionary, empathic, wise, and artistic preachers.

John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Nashville, TN

How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon gifts the reader with a shared meeting point of Thomass well-recognized pastoral sensibilities and critical analysis all in one text. This practical approach to preaching uses moral imagination to envision possibilities for our world and pulpits today. This is a timely text in uncertain times.

Lisa L. Thompson, Assistant Professor of Homiletics, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY

Frank Thomass How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon is now and will remain on my short list of books on preaching. It has the heft to deliver much of contemporary preaching in America from its milquetoast cultural captivity. The time is ripe for preachers to preach as if the soul of the church, preaching, the nations, and preachers depends upon it. I am persuaded that it does.

Gregory Vaughn Palmer, Resident Bishop, Ohio West Episcopal Area, The United Methodist Church

FRANK A. THOMAS

Foreword by William J. Barber II

HOW TO PREACH A DANGEROUS SERMON

Copyright 2018 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2200 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37228, or e-mailed to .

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been requested.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-5683-9

Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Common English Bible. Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations in from Ive Been to the Mountaintop by Martin Luther King Jr. are reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., c/o Writers House as agent for the proprietor New York, NY. 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. renewed 1996 Coretta Scott King.

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 2710 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To the memory of my brother, Frederick Erwin Thomas.
Home at last: where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest