331 - Preaching to Strangers: Evangelism In Today's World

Preaching to Strangers: Evangelism In Today's World
By William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. 144 pp. $9.99.

The authors envision most congregations as made up of strangers, that is, as collections of individuals for whom Christianity is largely a private, subjective affair. "Evangelism" in the subtitle refers less to the conversion of hard-core pagans than of current attenders.

The format is excellent. Willimon presents ten sermons he preached in Duke Chapel, and Hauerwas makes a critical response to each. In the background is George Lindbeck, whose cultural-linguistic model of religion is given practical homiletical and theological expression here.

This is vintage Willimon: provocative, humorous, insightful, surprising, contextual, poignant. Willimon attempts to show how Scripture narrates the true meaning of existence. In one response, Hauerwas says the preacher is perfect. In another response, Hauerwas claims that Willimon overlooks basic perspectives on the text or the congregation. Willimon shows guts in putting himself on the line. He is a model for the rest of us.

Finally, however, one must reckon with the underlying post-liberal theological vision of the authors. These sermons and reflections are somewhat confrontational because their God is over-and-against the world. Many readers will find more credible a theology that is more conversational and that allows for more continuity between God's concerns and the world.

Ronald J. Allen
Christian Theological Seminary
Indianapolis, IN.