aBeLOG
Welcome to the aBeLOG, a series of (hopefully!) fortnightly posts on all matters homiletical. I intend to touch on whatever grabs my attention regarding preaching—issues contemporary and ancient, ideas hermeneutical and rhetorical, personalities conservative and liberal, publications antiquarian and avant-garde. Essentially, I’m going to follow my own homiletical olfactory instincts up rabbit trails and after red herrings. Comments are always invited and appreciated.
DMin
25 FEBRUARY 2020
These are the products of a Doctor of Ministry Webinar conducted by Dallas Theological Seminary: “Look Before You Leap.”
Click on each item below for content …
Video
Handout
Comments/Questions
Several questions were asked by chat, some of which I was able to answer in the live forum. Expanded answers from that event and answers to questions that I couldn’t get to then are written out below …
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Why
Genesis 46:1–47:31
Agents of divine blessing, obediently trusting God for blessing in their own lives, extend God’s blessing to others.
Divine promises—of presence, of return, of greatness of nation, and to be unafraid (46:2–4)—all encourage the patriarch Jacob in his decision to leave Canaan. What is interesting in God’s word of exhortation is that he promises to make Jacob “a great nation there,” in Egypt, in a foreign land (46:3). That would also remind Jacob that this move
Kill the Big Idea?
For those interested in a different—and somewhat provocative!—approach to preaching, check out my ARTICLE in a recent issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society:
“Time to Kill the Big Idea? A Fresh Look at Preaching”
(JETS 61.4 [2018]: 825–46)
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See Steven D. Mathewson’s RESPONSE to my article in the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society:
“Let the Big Idea Live! A Response to Abraham Kuruvilla”
(JEHS 19.1 [2019]: 33–41)
And here
Ecclesiological Singleness
A quick to note to alert you of an essay I’ve written: “Ecclesiological Singleness.”
That title is my take on celibacy. More about it in the article.
Comments welcome!
New Book: A Manual for Preaching!
Folks, my latest opus on preaching is out: A Manual for Preaching: The Journey from Text to Sermon (Baker, 2019).
This is intended to be a companion volume to A Vision for Preaching: Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry (Baker, 2015). The latter was a big-picture view of preaching; the former, current work, explains the nitty-gritty of crafting a sermon.
And since my “vision for preaching” is fairly broad, you don’t have to be a senior pastor somewhere,
Genesis 44:1–45:28
Self-sacrificial solidarity with the suffering, recognizing God’s overriding sovereignty, promotes divine blessing.
This section describes the remainder of the events on that fateful second trip to Egypt made by Joseph and his brothers. Benjamin had been brought along. Joseph, still incognito to his brothers, invites them to a grand feast and everything appears to be fine and dandy, at least till they get ready to return to Canaan.
Then comes the test that will reveal
Preaching @ Stonebriar Community Church
Quick note …
I am preaching at Stonebriar Community Church, north of Dallas, in Frisco, on August 11 and 18 (9:00 am and 10:45 am).
[For other speaking events, see here.]
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.