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Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition
The pastors and seminary students who browse the shelves of Christian bookstores are looking for resources that will help them inject vigor and passion into their ministry. What they need is a book on narrative exposition, a book that will help them connect to the younger, contemporary members in the church such as GenXers and millenials. This is that book. Because they are speaking to a younger society more attuned to lively dialogue and visual images, pastors need a fresh wineskin for a timeless message of redemption. Calvin Miller, who has preached and equipped preachers for decades, offers a volume of helpful insights for pastors to deliver the heart of the gospel via the Jesus-endorsed vessel of compelling storytelling. For the working pastor, Miller's crash course on preaching is a welcomed study.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2006
35 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Calvin Miller
176 books49 followersCalvin Miller has written over 40 books of popular theology and inspiration. A former pastor, he is professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his wife, Joyce, have two grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 11, 2020
I've found something useful in about every book on preaching I've read. Some adjustments could've made this a higher rating from me, but those would come from differences between me and the author, so it will have to stand. It was a bit of a back-and-forth as I read it, but the good parts were really good. I also picked up a couple of book recommendations.
October 22, 2016
Good stuff here. Calvin Miller speaks to expositors about making even propostional texts more image-driven. He's also big on application. Don't just explain the text, but make it connect with everyday life. I also loved his emphasis on preachers bringing more of themselves into the pulpit. Again, don't just explain the text - telling people what the experts say about a text. Tell them what the text means to you personally. Many great insights in this volume. I wished the book had a little more coherence. Miller seemed to be bouncing around a little bit. But, overall, I really enjoyed reading it. Very helpful resource.
October 22, 2020
I preach and teach in Christian churches and so for me it follows therefore that I am also a student of preaching i.e. always learning about what I'm doing to both sharpen my faithfulness in the task and improve my skills. In the modern, and now postmodern, field of homiletics there has been a stand off between the practice of expository preaching and narrative preaching. This book, as the title indicates, brings the two together and, in my view, does so admirably.
The following explanation may help the reader understand a pretty standard definition of expository preaching.
"A sermon is not expository simply because it addresses a subject in the Bible. Neither does quoting numerous Scripture references in a sermon make a preacher an expositor.
“It is one thing to quote a Bible passage. It is quite another to explain accurately what the passage really says, and what it actually means, especially in our contemporary circumstances.”
A sermon that explores a biblical concept is in the broadest sense “expository,” but the technical definition of an expository sermon requires that it expound Scripture by deriving from a specific text main points and subpoints that disclose the thought of the author, cover the scope of the passage, and are applied to the lives of listeners.
Chapell, B. (2005). Christ-centered preaching: redeeming the expository sermon (Second Edition, pp. 131–132). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
From the introduction; "By the dawn of the third millennium, the sermon as mere lecture was on the ropes. But the sermon which picked up on Augustine’s word narratio was alive and well. The narratio was the story-saturated, image-driven sermon.
Miller, C. (2010). Preaching: the art of narrative exposition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
Miller has done a creative and entertaining job of synthesizing the two approaches. Highly recommended for Christian preachers.
The following explanation may help the reader understand a pretty standard definition of expository preaching.
"A sermon is not expository simply because it addresses a subject in the Bible. Neither does quoting numerous Scripture references in a sermon make a preacher an expositor.
“It is one thing to quote a Bible passage. It is quite another to explain accurately what the passage really says, and what it actually means, especially in our contemporary circumstances.”
A sermon that explores a biblical concept is in the broadest sense “expository,” but the technical definition of an expository sermon requires that it expound Scripture by deriving from a specific text main points and subpoints that disclose the thought of the author, cover the scope of the passage, and are applied to the lives of listeners.
Chapell, B. (2005). Christ-centered preaching: redeeming the expository sermon (Second Edition, pp. 131–132). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
From the introduction; "By the dawn of the third millennium, the sermon as mere lecture was on the ropes. But the sermon which picked up on Augustine’s word narratio was alive and well. The narratio was the story-saturated, image-driven sermon.
Miller, C. (2010). Preaching: the art of narrative exposition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
Miller has done a creative and entertaining job of synthesizing the two approaches. Highly recommended for Christian preachers.
July 28, 2018
Calvin Miller has carved himself out a niche as the storying preacher: one who advocates for the sermon itself being controlled by a narrative. With much flourish (sometimes distracting from the point), Miller argues for communicating the Bible’s main message as a story every Sunday. One of the more helpful parts of the book is that Miller provides a question and answer section throughout the book and at the end of chapters which the reader can fill out as a practical application and meditation on Miller’s advice. Taken all together the questions are overwhelming. But especially Miller’s section on creating the sermon as a story from start to finish (even using stats and the like) is probably best followed by walking through the questions he has provided. The end of the book also has an appendix with several recommended resources on preaching, divided into categories, which would be a good launch point for my next foray into preaching literature.
September 23, 2019
This book is not a how-to guide for narrative preaching. Miller's emphasis is more on adding narrative elements to different styles of preaching. He wants sermons to be relational more than they are cerebral. Some of the highlights of the book are Miller's off-hand comments about the inner life of preachers and the motivations that are rarely so directly written about. His chapter on writing the sermon (ch.7) was my favorite. It distills his main ideas in the most direct ways.
I found his practical elements to be underwhelming. I'm not going to have 25 short answers I fill out before each sermon so I would have preferred a more realistic system, but that was the only real negative aspect of the book.
I found his practical elements to be underwhelming. I'm not going to have 25 short answers I fill out before each sermon so I would have preferred a more realistic system, but that was the only real negative aspect of the book.
May 6, 2019
Учуден съм от донякъде ниската оценка на книгата. За мен е една от най-хубавите книги за проповядване, които съм чел напоследък. Като бонус образният език на автора прави четенето й докъде естетическо удоволствие.
September 2, 2020
A tossed salad of preaching advice ranging from the profound to the petty. I appreciated chunks of it but found myself profoundly disagreeing with other portions. For someone who is an avowed pentecostal, he doesn't deal much with the role of the Spirit in proclaiming the Word.
February 22, 2022
The approach to preaching is very artistic and focuses on building stories within a sermon. Not a bad practice, but it will be better served in an audience that seeks more story than facts and academics (which also isn't bad). The congregational context will be essential in the preaching approach.
November 7, 2019
Calvin's chapter on style is worth the price of the whole book.
April 6, 2010
Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition
What I expected was to be another book teaching how to prepare a sermon was a very pleasant and different book. There are indeed some very good points about creating a sermon and the author gives many pointers along the way in the form of questions and outlines that one can use to help guide them in their sermon preparation. This book was different in that it teaches things that most preachers will probably never learn in seminary: the interaction with the congregation.
Miller calls for us to be expositors, but not dull, dreary ones. We should be expositors who can tell the story of God's glory in a manner that grips the hearts and minds of the people. Whether we add humor, drama, good illustrations, or use a narrative text, we should always seek to create something more than a three point sermon. It's not that we should have a 4-7 point sermon. It's that we should rather refuse to take the one point of a text and break it into pieces that seem unrelated. Let the sermon have one point even if our outline has seven. What? Yes. The sermon should find the big picture of the text and simply repaint the picture so as to appeal to the heart of each hearer with the message of God.
In so doing, Miller reminds us to exegete our text before we turn to the books. We should read our text and learn all that we can from it on our own before we turn to the library to see what others have to say about it. In so doing, we become part of the text, it becomes part of us, and our people recognize the fact that what we are preaching is from our hearts.
Not only should we exegete the text, but we should exegete the congregation. Most pastors know to whom they are preaching. We should see the crowd, know their needs, heartaches, and struggles. We should then take our text and see how it relates to them and how we should apply it to them.
What truly spoke to me, however, is the fact that Miller calls for the preacher to be a person in whom the fire of God burns. The church will seldom get on fire if the pulpit is not burning brightly. He calls for the pastor to be a man of character who will live what he preaches and have a good testimony before the people so that they know he is genuine. The strength of a sermon is not always found in rhetorical skill, but often in relationships. The people often listen because of what and who the pastor is instead of how he speaks.
The author also warns us about common pitfalls such as: expecting each sermon to be our best, and the next sermon to improve upon that. Often we fail. When we are committed to being faithful, and the church knows that we love Christ and them, we can relax in the performance category and get down to the work of simply getting the message across. He also speaks about dealing with disruptions, long-term pastorates, and much more.
If I were to sum it up, I would say that Miller calls the preacher to not only be a good expositor who can relate the message to the people, but to be a sermon in himself so that the people will listen to him.
Thanks to our friends at Baker for this review copy.
What I expected was to be another book teaching how to prepare a sermon was a very pleasant and different book. There are indeed some very good points about creating a sermon and the author gives many pointers along the way in the form of questions and outlines that one can use to help guide them in their sermon preparation. This book was different in that it teaches things that most preachers will probably never learn in seminary: the interaction with the congregation.
Miller calls for us to be expositors, but not dull, dreary ones. We should be expositors who can tell the story of God's glory in a manner that grips the hearts and minds of the people. Whether we add humor, drama, good illustrations, or use a narrative text, we should always seek to create something more than a three point sermon. It's not that we should have a 4-7 point sermon. It's that we should rather refuse to take the one point of a text and break it into pieces that seem unrelated. Let the sermon have one point even if our outline has seven. What? Yes. The sermon should find the big picture of the text and simply repaint the picture so as to appeal to the heart of each hearer with the message of God.
In so doing, Miller reminds us to exegete our text before we turn to the books. We should read our text and learn all that we can from it on our own before we turn to the library to see what others have to say about it. In so doing, we become part of the text, it becomes part of us, and our people recognize the fact that what we are preaching is from our hearts.
Not only should we exegete the text, but we should exegete the congregation. Most pastors know to whom they are preaching. We should see the crowd, know their needs, heartaches, and struggles. We should then take our text and see how it relates to them and how we should apply it to them.
What truly spoke to me, however, is the fact that Miller calls for the preacher to be a person in whom the fire of God burns. The church will seldom get on fire if the pulpit is not burning brightly. He calls for the pastor to be a man of character who will live what he preaches and have a good testimony before the people so that they know he is genuine. The strength of a sermon is not always found in rhetorical skill, but often in relationships. The people often listen because of what and who the pastor is instead of how he speaks.
The author also warns us about common pitfalls such as: expecting each sermon to be our best, and the next sermon to improve upon that. Often we fail. When we are committed to being faithful, and the church knows that we love Christ and them, we can relax in the performance category and get down to the work of simply getting the message across. He also speaks about dealing with disruptions, long-term pastorates, and much more.
If I were to sum it up, I would say that Miller calls the preacher to not only be a good expositor who can relate the message to the people, but to be a sermon in himself so that the people will listen to him.
Thanks to our friends at Baker for this review copy.
February 19, 2015
I had the privilege of meeting Calvin Miller several years ago, and he captivated my heart and mind to the power and potential of true narrative preaching (and how my flare for the dramatic could be of use in preaching). Honestly, no one does narrative better than Calvin Miller (except maybe the concept's originator, Eugene Lowry).
Now, narrative preaching has gotten a bad rap over the last 30 years. And, to some degree, rightfully so. Most preachers who engage the narrative form of either text or sermon mishandle their message and (at worst) bore the congregation to tears with the listless tale or (at best) "tell a good story." Yet neither learning or transformation occurs as a result of the Word being preached.
Now, this does not mean that Miller's book is the essential manual for developing narrative sermons. Lowry is still a better resource for that. What Miller offers--and he does offer some great technical and performative insights--is insight into how the preacher becomes the "narrative exposition." How have *we* been changed by the reading of and wrestling with the text? If the congregation comes expecting a transformative word, they must see how that word has transformed the preacher first through the preparation of the sermon before they can be opened up to the word in their own lives.
Miller's book is about the craft of preaching like David Hansen's wonderful book *The Art of Pastoring* is about the craft of ministry. Neither focus as much on technique as they focus on the minister becoming a "parable of Jesus" (Hansen's words). Pulpit novices and veterans alike will do themselves a favor by purchasing this book and spending some time with a modern spiritual master.
Now, narrative preaching has gotten a bad rap over the last 30 years. And, to some degree, rightfully so. Most preachers who engage the narrative form of either text or sermon mishandle their message and (at worst) bore the congregation to tears with the listless tale or (at best) "tell a good story." Yet neither learning or transformation occurs as a result of the Word being preached.
Now, this does not mean that Miller's book is the essential manual for developing narrative sermons. Lowry is still a better resource for that. What Miller offers--and he does offer some great technical and performative insights--is insight into how the preacher becomes the "narrative exposition." How have *we* been changed by the reading of and wrestling with the text? If the congregation comes expecting a transformative word, they must see how that word has transformed the preacher first through the preparation of the sermon before they can be opened up to the word in their own lives.
Miller's book is about the craft of preaching like David Hansen's wonderful book *The Art of Pastoring* is about the craft of ministry. Neither focus as much on technique as they focus on the minister becoming a "parable of Jesus" (Hansen's words). Pulpit novices and veterans alike will do themselves a favor by purchasing this book and spending some time with a modern spiritual master.
August 11, 2014
Books on preaching are always great and terrible at the same time. It's helpful to be reminded of the reasons to preach and to be guided in the art of creating a message, and all the more when your guide is an artist of the stature of Calvin Miller. The terrible bit is the challenge to take the risk of being creative without clouding the word of God. Interesting read though, with a useful synopsis of other books on preaching Miller has found helpful.
September 21, 2015
Am I better off reading this book? Probably so. This book was a challenge for me. It is challenging material presented in a challenging style. I definitely got some great nuggets from this book. I may revisit it sometime when I have more time to focus on the book as a whole.
August 6, 2016
It's a good book with a different point of view than say a traditional book on preaching. There are helpful points here and there and so worth reading. I disagree somewhat with his premise which is why I give it three stars.
October 23, 2012
Miller writes a helpful book looking at the development of creative, Christ-centred, Biblical Sermons that touch the lives of real people. This book is well worth exploring.
February 14, 2014
This wonderful volume is a must have for every preacher. It reflects practical wisdom about the nuts and bolts of preaching as well as the art and personality of the individual preacher.
January 21, 2016
I wouldn't rank it as a top book on preaching, but it did offer some helpful advice. For me, the best tip the book offers is regarding a sermon motif.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews