Phillips Brooks, the nineteenth-century minister who wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” defined preaching as “the communication of Truth through Personality.”
Truth is “the most authoritative statement of God’s will,” he said. Personality refers to a preacher’s “character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being.” (As Pentecostals, we would add “or her” to Brooks’ statement.)
Absent genuine character, a preacher is merely a “printing machine” or a “trumpet,” not “a real messenger of God.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Bob Eby about the relationship of preaching to the character or virtues of the preacher. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Bob Eby is director of the Cordas C. Burnett Preaching Center and associate professor of Biblical Exposition and Preaching at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri. He is author of Virtue Hermeneutics: New Horizons in Textual Understanding, published by Pickwick Publications.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“In today’s culture, it’s not popular to be against something unless it’s blatantly immoral or illegal,” writes Roger Olson. However, he adds: “If Christianity is to mean something, it has to have some shape, if not boundaries” (emphasis in original).
The thesis of his new book, Against Liberal Theology, is that “liberal Christianity cuts the cord of continuity between itself and biblical, historical, classical, orthodox Christianity so thoroughly that it ought to call itself something other than Christian.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Olson about that thesis — what liberal theology is, why it’s not authentically Christian, and why progressive Christians especially need to know these things. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Roger Olson is emeritus professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University, and author of Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity, published by Zondervan Reflective.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.