Peculiar Speech; Preaching to the Baptized Book

In this book William Willimon, a mainline Methodist, aims to recover the distinctiveness of Christian preaching. Most preaching in churches today, Willimon argues, does little more than prop up the prevailing assumptions and beliefs of a dying culture.

Instead of the typical preaching maneuver of figuring out what the world wants and then talking mostly about that, and somehow slipping a little 'Jesus' into the conversation (and of course, it is the Jesus that American's prefer... Jesus gracious, meek, mild, democratic, progressive, liberal, and therapeutic to the core), Willimon argues for a different and more faithful approach to preaching. Willimon argues that Christianity has a different message than the rest of the world, so for goodness sake, preach like it!

He argues that all of this is assumed in the practice of baptism, thus the subtitle of the book, "Preaching to the Baptized." To be baptized means to be brought into a community with an entirely different way of understanding reality than what you get from democratic, liberal, progressive, republican, conservative, and therapeutic America. Preaching needs to live in that zone of peculiarity. If the message you heard on Sunday at church is one that you could have heard just as easily from Bill Maher, Dr. Phil, Oprah, or a community organizer, then the preacher screwed up. If the preacher's message amounted to saying whatever it takes to pack out the church, the preacher screwed up.

Preachers, you aren't policymakers, you aren't talking heads, you aren't therapists, you aren't the next 'big thing,' you aren't leading a movement to take back America, or to recover [insert thingy that some social constituency wants America to recover]. Rather, you are like the Apostle Paul, a "preacher of foreign divinities" (Acts 17:18), you have a way of understanding the world that cannot be learned from CNN or the Republican National Conventional or the Rotary Club (not that those things are wrong, they just aren't what you are called to do as a preacher). Your calling is by definition strange to this world. And when you preach the right way, it may not start the next big movement in America. And that is AOK with God! In fact, some people may consider you an idiot babbler (like with Paul, Acts 17:18), some may mock you ( like with Paul, Acts 17:32), but provided you preach the message faithfully and don't water it down with the sweet nothings of modernity, it's possible that some might actually get saved (Acts 17:34).

This is Willimon's basic point. Have I mentioned that Willimon says these things as a United Methodist with liberal social leanings? That's why his argument is so refreshing and intriguing.

Table of Contents:
1. Chapter 1: "Preaching as Baptismal Speech"- Here Willimon discusses the uniqueness of Christian proclamation. We have a different message to talk about than what worldly politics or culture has.

2. Chapter 2: "Preaching as Baptismal Repentance"- All preaching aims at repentance, changing the way the congregation sees and relates to the world, themselves, and God.

3. Chapter 3: "Preaching to Pagans"- The world's accounting of itself is not neutral, but socially contrived. It isn't a 'given.' Neither are the assumptions the average person walks around with each day. Because of that, Christianity needs to keep its proclamation pure, rather than selling out. This means becoming conversant in the world's language, but not compromised by it (see Acts 17).

4. Chapter 4: "Preaching as Politics"- Christian preaching is entirely political... but it is a different politics than an earthly one. It is a heavenly politics, rooted in the kingdom of God, expressed in the alternative community of the church.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's relatively brief, but it packs a punch. In a day, when I see the church in America terrified of the thought that unbelievers would consider us "weird" or not "with it," Willimon's point is that maybe being thought weird is the first step towards Christianity growing a backbone and actually having something interesting to say in America that hasn't already been said a thousand times over by all the gatekeepers of pop culture. Maybe life would be more interesting if we didn't care if people thought our churches were "cool."

My one critique (aside from the fact I come from a different theological tradition than Willimon. I am a theologically conservative Presbyterian) is that he utilizes Yale School theology and cultural hermeneutics a lot to develop his argument. In my opinion, a confessionally sound doctrine of revelation would've worked even better, in my opinion.

Other than that, this is a book for preachers who are interested in recovering the scandal of the cross, and who insist upon a better reason for getting out of bed in the morning than just "trying to be the next big thing."