If you've read any Dale Ralph Davis (he has six little commentaries on Joshua-2 Kings) you'll need no persuading about his latest little book The Word Became Fresh. Living up to its bold title in every way, Davis here steps back and speaks mainly to fellow preachers on how to preach OT - something we all need help and encouragement with.The result is an experience that really makes you want to preach as he moves deftly from one OT narrative to another. It's the combination of (lightly worn) scholarship, clear writing (slick but never too slick), a stunning gift for illustration and a wise and warm pastoral heart that makes this such a tour de force. One is left intellectually stimulated and challenged and emotionally stirred and warmed at the same time. Few books do that.
The nine chapters cover how we approach things, looking for quirks in the text, applying theology, how a passage is packaged, dealing with nasties, using the macroscope for the big picture, appropriation or application (but not like anything else you've read on the subject), centring in the right place and finally how to bring this altogether.
To whet you appetite here is the stand out opening of Chapter 3 (Theology)
Despair may have begun creeping over you as you saw the word ‘theology.’ Here’s the thick, heavy stuff, you say. But I don’t know what’s wrong with theology. It’s what we live for, isn’t it? In any case, I’m using the term here to refer to the theology of a biblical text, that is, what the text means to say about God, his ways and his works. Or, to put it a bit differently, I use the term to refer to the intended message of a biblical text. I do not want to discuss how one detects the intention of a text here — I touched on that via a few inadequate hints in chapter 1. Rather, I want to focus on a section of material (the ‘patriarchal’ narratives in Genesis) in which an initial, premier passage (Gen. 12:1-9) determines the meaning of so many of its individual passages. There are reasons for taking this approach: (1) it will allow us to stay within one block of textual material, while mining for the theology of texts; (2) it will illustrate how preceding biblical theology helps to interpret subsequent passages; and (3) I’m writing the book and should be allowed to do what I want.
More info: http://www.christianfocus.com/item/show/983/-
6 comments:
Thanks for the heads up, Gary. I'm reading DRD on 2 Kings at the moment. Great stuff.
Glad to oblige. Thanks for all your help too. You can see how much I've learned from you. Look out for the Bloggy Man. I hope you like him.
Bloggy Man is so cool!
Thanks. I hope others have the same sense of humour (or lack of it).
This reminds me of when Tom Forryan (Derby Road, Watford) and I (Beulah, Watford) were sitting together at the EMA the last time Dr. D. spoke at it. He came and sat beside us and was extremely personable. I asked him how he had enjoyed speaking at the Banner conference a few years previously, he said it had been ok but he hadn’t enjoyed the request not to refer to God as Yahweh. He went on to say that he had taken up the pastorate of “a small church of 200 members” I hadn’t the heart to say Beulah has 9 members. When he spoke to us, he gave his full, undivided attention and was genuinely interested in all that we had to say – what a 1st class individual he is!
Cheers. I'm not sure if we've met but I know your name.
I too heard Dr Davis the last time he spoke at the EMA. He used a brilliant illustration of some verses in Exodus sticking to each other like mozarella on a pizza. I particular liked the way he solved the whole problem of why Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh - we don't know cos it doesn't say!
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