A Peculiar Prophet: William H. Willimon And The Craft Of Preaching

by William H. Willimon, Michael A. Turner (Editor), William F. Malambri (Editor)

There is no more trusted mentor of preachers in North American Christianity today than William H. Willimon. The author of over sixty books, a frequent preacher and teacher in pastors' schools and events, Willimon has earned a following as one of the people to whom preachers turn more often than any other. Turner and Malambri make Willimon's role as a mentor to preachers more available than ever. Both former students of Willimon's, they provide detailed and practical tools for learning from this "peculiar prophet." They offer samples of Willimon's sermons, and commentary on them by other leading preachers and homiliticians such as Tom Long and Peter Gomes. The point of this examination of Willimon's work is not simply to praise it, but to assess both its strengths and its weaknesses, and to help readers learn in the process how Willimon can be a model of what to do and--at times--what not to do in the pulpit. Written with the needs of practicing preachers in mind, this book will make a significant contribution, not only to understanding a great preacher, but also to preaching itself.

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School, Duke University. He served eight years as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he led the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For twenty years prior to the episcopacy, he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Phil Whittall · Rating 3 out of 5]

peculiarEvery now and then I need to read a book on preaching. It's so easy to slip into a default way of bringing the Word to people. The preacher gets comfortable and the people get comfortable. Everyone knows what to expect. It will sound like this and end like that.

I want to be a continual learner about the art and craft of bringing alive the Word of God so that people meet the Word of God (Jesus) through my words. So it's good to try and read, listen to people who are ahead of you and different from you. So I picked up one of the many preaching books I have on my shelves but haven't yet read.

This book contains several of William H Willimon's sermons and then people discussing why Willimon is a great preacher. Marva Dawn & Stanley Hauerwas are among the contributors which is a compliment.

There aren't many contemporary Methodists that I would list as influences now, but Willimon would be one of them. He believes the Gospel (in much the same way Wesley did), he preaches in a way that disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed. I enjoyed reading why he is a great preacher and that has made me think about my own preaching.

So why is Willimon so well regarded among US preachers? A few reasons seemed apparent

He is a master storyteller. I'm not sure how good I am at this and would love to be better
He doesn't qualify every challenge. He leaves the challenges of Jesus raw, lets them have impact. That makes him memorable and a robust challenging voice in contemporary culture
He picks up on the unusual, the odd, the unique in scripture and has a way of putting the spotlight on that, that in turn puts God's spotlight on us. I'm looking forward to learning more from Willimon.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those interested in preaching this might be of interest. I'm not a huge fan of Willimon but he is an interesting character.