Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism

If you’re a preacher and you’ve never listened to Tim Keller’s 2006 lectures at Gordon-Conwell, you really need to correct that oversight. I’m not exaggerating when I say that these lectures changed my approach to preaching. They’re amazing.

I had high expectations, then, when it came to Keller’s 2015 book Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism. It was natural to include it as the first book in my Year of Books on Preaching.

The book contains much of the same material as his lectures. My friend Chris Brauns says that it’s “must reading for all who proclaim the Word in our late-modern moment.”

Here’s where it excels, and a couple of areas in which I wish it had done better.

Praise for Preaching

“This volume is far from a complete textbook on preaching,” Keller writes. “You will have noticed that I’ve spent most of my time on why a certain kind of preaching is needed and what that preaching looks like in principle and in example but relatively little time on how to prepare a good sermon. A manifesto, not a manual, as I told myself many times in the writing of this book.”

As a manifesto, it shines. Keller argues for preaching that does three things:

• it preaches the biblical text, including Christ and his gospel from every text
• it preaches to the listeners’ context, preaching to the heart and the culture
• it preaches the subtext of the preacher’s heart, with spiritual power that comes from the spiritual preparation of the preacher

As you’d expect from Keller, he unpacks all three themes well. If you’re familiar with his ministry, you probably won’t be surprised by his development of the first section: the importance of preaching the Word while preaching the gospel every time, and preaching Christ from all of Scripture. He not only argues for why this is important, but he provides helpful advice on how to do this. I found myself convicted by his evaluation of sermons on Mark 5 by two different preachers. One mentioned the gospel; the other was saturated by the gospel. Keller helps us understand the difference, and how to develop sermons that lay the gospel out clearly.

In my opinion, one the greatest strengths of Keller’s preaching is preaching to the listeners’ context, which he covers his section two. I loved this section, especially the chapter on preaching Christ to the modern mind. I don’t know of any other book that covers this material as succinctly and helpfully as this one. Chapter five is alone worth the price of the book, although this whole section is excellent.

The final section and chapter deals with how to preach from the heart. I’m amazed by how much Keller is able to pack into a small chapter, and how he gets to the crux of the issue with such insight.

Although the book is more a manifesto than a manual, Keller includes an appendix on how one might prepare a sermon.

I can’t think of any book that covers these three areas as succinctly and richly as Keller’s. Preaching deserves a place on every preacher’s bookshelf on the basis of the second section alone. I’m thankful that Keller’s given us this gift.

Three Quibbles

While I appreciated this book, I raise three minor quibbles.

First, it starts slowly. Keller begins with an introduction describing three levels of the ministry of the Word. It’s useful, but I’m not sure it’s a great hook to draw the reader into his manifesto. I wish he’d written it differently.

Second, Keller demolishes the idea that there is a central idea in every text. “Multiple valid inferences can be drawn from such narratives, from which a wise preacher can select one or two to fit the capacities and needs of the listeners.” I’m somewhat sympathetic to his argument, but I believe he takes it too far. I’ve noticed many preachers who preach one of the ideas of the text but not a central one, and it concerns me.

Finally, it’s hard to beat the lectures I mentioned earlier. I could be wrong, but I sometimes sense that Keller’s writing lacks the warmth of his speaking. While this book contains some of the same material as his lectures, I’m glad I heard his lectures first.

Still, what a feast! Keller’s done us a great favor by writing this book. Read it if you haven’t. More importantly, let’s commit to practicing what he teaches. We’d all be better preachers, and our people will benefit from the difference.

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