

My major concern has to do with how preachers should understand the theology of the text and relate it to a twenty-first century audience. While I found myself applauding most of what I read, I did walk away from reading Preaching Old Testament Narratives with one major concern and a couple of minor ones. “If we spend ten to twenty hours in focused sermon preparation and cannot figure out concrete ways to apply the message, what is the likelihood that listeners will.”.“We need to show we understand listeners’ struggles the way they do, without a smidgen of judgment.”.
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“The biggest problem with Bible software is that the vast majority of the resources in their packages are junk or outdated and should be avoided.”.“hen pastors start taking a question-based approach to commentary work, they learn to enjoy scholarly commentaries.” Walton is referring here to pastors who go to commentaries with their own questions.


In Part II (chapters 4-13), Walton helps preachers “Deliver the Message.” He covers a wide variety of issues, including “four pillars of excellent preaching” (accuracy, relevance, clarity, inspiring), the introduction, the conclusion, movements (in contrast to main points), overcoming listeners’ objections, developing “picture-painting applications,” moving to Christ, and some wisdom for making good sermons excellent. It takes the time-specific language of the OTM and replaces it with timeless or contemporary equivalents.” This is a major part of Walton’s method, and he insists that “ll moves from the OTM to the THT must be hermeneutically sound.”

In Part I (chapters 1-3), Walton presents five steps to help preachers “Discover the Message.” These steps are: (1) Select a complete unit of thought (2) Identify the theological and historical contexts (3) Study the plot (4) Determine the Original-Theological Message and (5) Craft the Take-Home Truth.įor Walton, the “THT is the message of the sermon…. Walton provides a clear process for discovering and delivering the message of Old Testament texts written in the narrative genre. As far as I can tell, it is the first book-length treatment of this issue by an evangelical since my book, The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative (Baker Academic), was published in 2002. Walton’s book, Preaching Old Testament Narratives. Old Testament narrative texts often intimidate preachers-especially preachers who spend most of their time in the New Testament letters.
