Theologies of the Gospel in Context

Many preachers and teachers of preaching talk about the gospel; few name it. Theologies of the Gospel in Context assembles a gifted group of homileticians who think that preachers need to be able to articulate the gospel not ""in general,"" but in a certain time and place, in context. They consider what gospel sounds like for people under oppression, in capitalist economies, in neocolonial contexts, for survivors of trauma, and for disestablished mainline churches marred by racism. Preachers will appreciate these preacher/scholars' desire to articulate the gospel with clarity, especially since the term is so often left unexplained. Homileticians will see a new genre of doing their work as teachers and researchers in preaching: a vision that helps preaching see itself not just as an adjunct to exegesis or communication, but a place of doing theology. In these pages homiletics is more than technique, it is a truly theological discipline.

""This third volume in the important The Promise of Homiletical Theology series brings together a group of outstanding interpreters of contexts and situations in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of the theological nature of preaching. The result is a new and vital awareness of the expansive scene in which preachers are called upon to name the reality of 'gospel' in today's world.""
--John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School 
 
""The six essays included in this volume . . . provide preachers with profound theological insights into 'naming gospel' through distinctive contextual lenses.""    
--Eunjoo Mary Kim, Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics, Iliff School of Theology
 
""The gospel is not the gospel of Jesus Christ unless it is enfleshed in the world in particular contexts. The homileticians in this collection teach this and challenge us to remember that without the gospel, homiletics is a dead discipline and preaching is a vain task. Readers will walk away from these pages knowing that homiletical theology has a heart and that heart beats to the rhythm of the gospel.""
--Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Duke University
 
""With yet another installment in The Promise of Homiletical Theology series, David Schnasa Jacobsen has established himself as the leading homiletical sage of contemporary homiletics. Conferring wisdom and pulling together a diverse cohort of emerging and veteran guild scholars, Jacobsen weaves together a revealing tapestry of essays that attend to the effects of colonialism, modernity, race, and capitalism on preaching.""
--Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Howard University, author of A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights

David Schnasa Jacobsen is professor of the practice of homiletics and director of the Homiletical Theology Project at Boston University School of Theology, where he leads the PhD concentration in homiletics and practical theology. He is author of Preaching in the New Creation: The Promise of New Testament Apocalyptic Texts (1999) and co-author of Preaching Luke-Acts (2001), Kairos Preaching: Speaking Gospel to the Situation (2009), and Mark in the Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries Series (2014).