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Product Review Summary: Important Concern, Good Prescription Written at a point of personal crisis, Why Johnny Can't Preach puts across ideas and arguments that reflect a crisis in the larger evangelical world. T. David Gordon decided to put these ideas on paper while facing a diagnosis of terminal cancer, so there is an air of urgency to the work. He wanted to discuss why preaching (specifically among evangelical and reformed circles) is so bad. I, too, feel his sense of urgency.
The book begins with the sobering revelation, "Part of me wishes to avoid proving the sordid truth: that preaching today is ordinarily poor." Drawing on his teaching, preaching, and academic background in media ecology, Gordon proceeds to lay out the case that most preaching misses all the foundational homiletical principles. The most glaring of which may be what is labeled "Evangelical Tone," or the sense that the preacher is proactively proclaiming Christ and Him crucified.
The middle two chapters make the case that Johnny can't preach because he can't read and he can't write. We live in a culture that creates a kind of "aliteracy": pastors can read, but they can't read for meaning or significance. In addition, pastors by-in-large can't communicate well in writing. And if our future pastors enter seminary lacking these foundational tools, all the theological and homiletical training in the world can't save future pulpiteering tragedy.
Gordon ends up arguing for training our missing "pre-homiletical sensibilities" in seminary and Bible colleges. He is most assuredly right. Without an analytical eye to deep reading for meaning and flow, and without the ability to sift through the insignificant to get to the significant, expositing a text becomes an exercise in futility.
While there is a lot to commend, Gordon fell a little short on treating Johnny's inability to write. His short chapter on this issue dwelt entirely on telephone conversations, and I am sure there is a lot more he could have said. I addition, Gordon placed a lot of weight on the usefulness of yearly reviews of the pastor's preaching by his congregation or peers. If the trained preacher lacks the necessary skills to tell good preaching from bad, how can the untrained public be any better?
All in all, however, Gordon's book is a tremendous work and deserves to be read by those who are interested in reviving the Church through Christ-centered and life-giving preaching.
Product Review Summary: Outstanding Analysis of the State of Preaching David Gordon tells us in his short but powerful book that Johnny can't preach. It is not the fault of Johnny's seminary. It is not that Johnny is lazy or is insincere, but he is failing in the basic task of preaching. This failure results in sermons which are not true to the text, which have no unity of content and little or no momentum. This failure results in the impoverishment of the gathered people of God who are hungry to hear solid preaching. Gordon tells us that Johnny's problem is that he has been shaped by a shift change in the dominant media which has taken place in the last 60-70 years. We have moved from being a society of the printed word, of reading and writing, to being a society of the visual, television, movies, internet and the like. Gordon tells us that this visual culture has not only affected the average hearer of a Sunday morning sermon, it has profoundly affected the preacher. Gordon asserts that most preachers are out of their depth in dealing with the profound because they are breathing the air of a banal culture. He points out that the basics of careful reading and clear writing are lost on most of the preachers he has heard and this lack of precision in preparation leads to lack of clarity in the pulpit.
While Gordon lays out his major premise of cultural influence in the first three chapters, chapters 4 and 5 are helpful in their own way as Gordon in chapter four speaks about the content of the sermon, making a plea for Gospel-centered preaching which avoids errors like moralism, pragmatism and politicism in the pulpit. Chapter 5 is a plea to return to cultivating skill in reading and writing as well as an encouragement to pastors to seek constructive feedback from their congregants.
This is a short but thought-provoking work which will shed new light on preaching in our day.
Product Review Summary: A Serious Problem Identified I thought T. David Gordon did an excellent job of pointing out a big problem with today's preaching without being more critical than necessary. I think many pastors could benefit, learn and grow from taking to heart what is presented in this book.
Product Review Summary: An essential critique on preaching today It's interesting what you say when staring death in the face. David Gordon was in just that situation as he wrote the compelling words from his heart on the present state of preaching. You don't have to listen far and wide today to realize that his critique of modern preaching is so true. Yes there is good and even great preaching today, but it is the exception, not the rule. This is a book that preachers need to read. This is a book that is a good primer for self-examination. We are living in a day when preaching is being replaced by alot of other things that entertain, supposedly hold people's attention better and draw the crowds. But the fact remains that it is by the preaching of the gospel that God has ordained to save souls and communicate his message. This book is short and can be read in a brief time, but its brevity is overshadowed by the importance of its message. It should be read by ministry students, pastors, pastor search committee members and those who teach homiletics.
Product Review Summary: Timely Book for My Generation As a young pastor, I benefitted from this book. At age 31, I need all the counsel I can get. Great book, easy read, and worth every penny!
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