410 - Telling the Story: Variety and Imagination in Preaching

Telling the Story:
Variety and Imagination in Preaching
By Richard A. Jensen
Minneapolis, Augsburg, 1980. 189 pp. $5.95.

In this breezily-written book on preaching strategies, Jensen, a systematic theologian at Wartburg Seminary in Iowa, seeks to identify and describe varieties of sermonic styles, and he discovers three: "didactic," "proclamatory," and "story." The first aims at teaching the "lessons" of a biblical text. It is, in Jensen's view, often abstract, usually based upon a propositional view of biblical truth, always loyal to the principles of formal logic, and-not surprisingly clearly the villain of this piece.

Jensen sends two alternate forms of preaching to the rescue which, against the didactic style, emphasize the oral and non-prepositional character of the biblical word. "Proclamatory preaching" seeks to recapture the immediacy of the gospel message. Phrased in personal, present-tense language, it does not merely report about the faith but issues a call to faith in the present. "Story preaching," the third variety, also prizes present-tense listener involvement, but it has the added dimension of the narrative mode. It utilizes stories which, in some sense, "parallel" the biblical stories so that, in effect, "the story is the preaching itself." Jensen gives practical hints and illustrative sermons for each of his three forms.

This book is not the place to look for a well-developed theory or theology of preaching. Jensen argues his case in broad sweeps, and the three varieties of preaching (even with the example sermons) are more suggestive than they are clear. But, then again, Jensen states forthrightly that his purpose is to help and encourage preachers rather than to exhaust scholars. And he clearly accomplishes his goal.

Thomas G. Long
Columbia Theological Seminary
Decatur, Ga.