Gospel Sermons

by Johann Christoph Blumhardt, Christian T. Collins Winn (Editor), Charles E. Moore (Editor)

If you want to pick a theological fight with someone, enter into a discussion about eschatology. You'll encounter a kaleidoscope of opinions and, more likely than not, outright disagreement. On one end of the spectrum there are the doomsday naysayers who, in warning us to get ready for the end, have determined in advance the very signs of Christ's return. On the other end are those who idealize God's future to such an extent that it has virtually no relevance for faith. Enter Johann Christoph Blumhardt. Blumhardt cuts through both end-time speculation and eschatological indifference with a passionate plea to make room, here and now, for God's coming kingdom. Blumhardt's whole approach toward ""last things"" is so out of the ordinary that it fills one with an authentic exhilaration that defies the staid confines of conventional Christianity. These sermons articulate not just a theology of hope but are refreshing, compelling insights into the prophetic vision of the great outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. With confidence and holy expectation, Blumhardt reminds us that we can experience now, and even hasten on, the presence of God's future. We need only pray for it, watch for it, and live for it. It is at hand! ""Many of us who admire a radical apocalyptic theology of resistance have long recognized the importance of the Blumhardts, father and son. They influenced Karl Barth, William Stringfellow, Jacques Ellul, the Bruderhofs, and a host of others who may not even recognize their legacy from these original yet profoundly biblical teachers. This new translation of Johann's Gospel Sermons is most welcome."" --Fleming Rutledge, author of The Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ and Not Ashamed of the Gospel  ""In this remarkable volume of sermons, Johann Christoph Blumhardt steps out of the shadows of nineteenth-century theology into his own bright light as a preacher. In our time, when many sermons have become reduced to self-help, faux prosperity, memoirs masquerading as proclamation, or the politics du jour, Blumhardt's bold and biblically rigorous sermons ring out like a fog bell sounding over a darkened sea, warning us away from the shoals and guiding us safely to harbor."" --Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching Emeritus, Emory University Christian T. Collins Winn is Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota, and an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches (USA). He is author of numerous works, including Jesus Is Victor! The Significance of the Blumhardts for the Theology of Karl Barth (2008).   Charles E. Moore is a member of the Bruderhof Community, an international community movement based on Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. He teaches Bible and Christian Thought at The Mount Academy, and is an editor and author for Plough Publishing. His works include Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard and Action in Sermons by Christoph Blumhardt.

318 pages, Hardcover

Published May 1, 2017

About the author

The elder Blumhardt, Johann Christoph (1805-80), was educated for the Reformed ministry and, after a brief term as executive for a missionary society, became pastor in Möttlingen, an obscure village of Württemberg, southern Germany. His career was uneventful until, in 1842, he had to deal with one of his parishioners, a young woman, Gottlieben Dittus, who suffered some sort of severe nervous disorder and whose household was visited with strange psychic phenomena. Blumhardt concluded that the case was of a kind with those reported in the New Testament as demon possession. After two months of pastoral care and reverent hesitation, discovering that he had no wisdom or power that could help, he and the girl prayed together: “Lord Jesus, help us. We have watched long enough what the devil does; now we want to see what the Lord Jesus can do.”