Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination

by Mary Catherine Hilkert

It is not a lack of training in the art of rhetoric that accounts for the ineffectiveness of preaching within Christian churches. More significant is the lack of adequate theological foundations. While recognizing the great contribution that neo-orthodoxy and the "dialectical imagination" have made, Hilkert's major contribution is a scholarly examination of the resources of the "sacramental imagination."This examinations shifts the focus from the divine-human gap and the sinfulness of humanity to the grace discovered in everyday life, and the word entrusted to the entire community of faith. With particular attention to what constitutes "women's experience," the final chapters engage the issue of how social location shapes the experience of both hearers and preachers of the word.

Genres: Theology

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

Reviews

[Holy Spirit]

211.2 HIL

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Hilkert gave this protestant some things to think about like the role of the sermon with worship.

[Kevin Estabrook · Rating 2 out of 5]

yuck