Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Willimon quote

"Reaching out to speak to the world, we fell in face down. Too troubled by our expectations of what our audience could and could not hear, we reduced the gospel to a set of sappy platitudes anybody could accept and no sensitive, thinking person could resist. 'Open minds, Open hearts, Open doors.' Our testimony got reduced to whatever the market could bear. In the process of such 'preaching', distinctive Christian speech was jettisoned and the discourse of instrumental, utilitarian, therapeutic Deism is the dominant homiletic mode. Finney’s pragmatism triumphs. A-theistic, simplified wisdom now dominates popular preaching (Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life) because preaching is no longer an expression of the peculiar actions of a Triune God."
- Bishop William Willimon of North Alabama Conference


Thanks to John Meunier for directing me to the Bishop's post, "What if Wesley Was Right?" )
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5 comments:

  1. Randy Roda5:50 PM

    Now that's profound, true and wonderful all at the same time.

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  2. Eric Park10:19 AM

    Great quote, Keith. Thanks for sharing it.

    As you probably know, I'm a big Willimon fan. Hauerwas too. Their ministry certainly had quite an impact on me in seminary and in my experience as an intern at Duke Chapel.

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  3. Anonymous5:51 AM

    As noted in the other comments great quote, but it reminds me of another one "How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat"..PF

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  4. Eric Park9:17 AM

    That'll be enough of that!

    After all, we don't need no education!!!!!!!

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  5. Jeff Kahl2:07 PM

    Keith,

    A great critique of much of contemporary Christianity. It's almost as if preaching is reduced to "How is God's Word useful to you" instead of "How can you be used for the furtherance of God's Word."

    Cheers............
    Jeff

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