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.
Hermeneutics & Celibacy
A couple of months ago, I was at Beeson Divinity School (of Samford University) in Birmingham, AL, to deliver their William E. Conger, Jr., Lectures in Preaching.
Part of my engagements at Beeson also included an interview with the Dean of the School, Dr. Timothy George, for a podcast that he hosts.
Here is a snippet of our conversation:
Timothy George: This word, you use this word, we use it all the time here at Benson, hermeneutic, which
Genesis 40:1–41:57
Trusting in God’s working even when it is indiscernible results in divine blessing.
Joseph is in jail, falsely accused of rape. But God is always at work, even if one cannot see him working. Though God is not mentioned in this section, the literary absence of God is not a literal absence of God.
Joseph has with him in prison, the Pharaoh’s baker and butler, in detention for unknown crimes. These two fellow prisoners have a pair of dreams (40:8–19). Joseph interprets
Genesis 39:1−23
Integrity in every situation enables one to be an agent of divine blessing.
Genesis 37:36 makes a seamless connection with 39:1; in 37:36, Joseph is sold (and Egypt is mentioned), and in 39:1, he is bought (and Egypt is mentioned again). In a little more than a decade, the kidnapped slave, Joseph, would rise to be the Prime Minister of all Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. Andh God’s word to make the descendants of Abraham a blessing to all nations (12:3; 18:18; 22:18;
Homiletics & Hermeneutics
For those interested in a debate on preaching, here goes:
Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today (Baker), edited by Scott Gibson and Matthew Kim (both of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), just came out in December 2018.
Your faithful blogger had the privilege of presenting one of those four views and commenting on each of the other three views produced, respectively, by:
Preaching @ Stonebriar Community Church
I am preaching at Stonebriar Community Church, north of Dallas, in Frisco, on August 19 and 26 (9:00 am and 10:45 am).
[For other speaking events, see here.]
Preaching @ Northwest Bible Church
I am preaching at Northwest Bible Church, here in Dallas, on July 22 and 29, and August 5 and 12 (9:00 am and 10:35 am).
Doing some of the darker chapters of Judges, dealing with Abimelech, Jephthah, Micah and the Levite, and the Levite and Concubine.
Lots of blood and gore promised! Come one, come all!
[For other speaking events, see here.]
“Is it Bad to Be Single?”
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
Psalm 34:10
God bless the singles!
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. 