Product Description

Contemporary preaching suffers from a loss of confidence in the power of the Wordfrom an infatuation with technologyfrom an embarrassment before the biblical textfrom an evacuation of biblical contentfrom a focus on felt needsfrom an absence of gospel

Preaching the practice of publicly expositing the Bible has fallen on hard times. How did this happen? After all, as John A. Broadus famously remarked, Preaching is characteristic of Christianity.

In this powerful book, He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, Mohler shows us how. In a style both commanding and encouraging, Mohler lays the groundwork for preaching, fans the flame on the glory of preaching, and calls out with an urgent need for preaching.

This message is desperately needed yet not often heard. Whether you're concerned or enthused by the state of the church today, join Mohler as he examines preaching and why the church can't survive without it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270441 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Ideal for Preachers and Non-Preachers
Preaching is not just for preachers. Every Christian can, and, I'm increasingly convinced, should be educated about the task and calling of the preacher. I am convinced that there is great benefit in all Christians becoming students of preaching. This applies even to those who will never stand behind the pulpit and bring the Word of God to His people. The book I would recommend to laypersons wishing to learn about preaching and to pastors wishing to learn how to preach better, is Al Mohler's He Is Not Silent. Just released by Moody Publishers, this book is a brilliant and insightful look at the task and challenges of preaching in a postmodern world. It is not a how-to guide and is not a dry exhortation valuable only for those with theological degrees; instead, it is a compelling, winsome, biblical case for understanding the utter centrality of preaching to Christian worship.

This postmodern world has lost its respect for preaching. Once regarded as the center of Christian worship, preaching is now seen by so many Christians as something that is supplemental instead of instrumental. In the Foreword to this book John MacArthur writes, "One of the clearest lessons we can learn from church history is that strong biblical preaching is absolutely vital to the health and vitality of the church. From the birth of the New Testament church until today, every significant phase of authentic revival, reformation, missionary expansion, or robust church growth has also been an era of biblical preaching." Indeed, from the church's earliest days to the Reformation, through revivals and awakenings, it is always preaching that has been the tool God has used to call, draw, change and revitalize his church. And in the face of history's testimony, "it is remarkable that over the past half century (or longer) evangelicals have devoted vast quantities of energy and resources to the invention of novel church-growth strategies that tend to discount biblical preaching." We have taken our eyes off Scripture and off the testimony of history.

Mohler begins his examination of preaching by discussing the state of preaching in our day, turning to Dickens and his famous words, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Though there are signs of great promise and though many Christians are renewing the emphasis on preaching, there remain thousands of churches where the preaching of the Word is minimized or forgotten all together. Mohler offers six factors which together have contributed to undermining the role of preaching in the church and to define it as something other than the exposition and application of the biblical text. Here we see how the world has invaded and shaped the church.

Having set the stage, Mohler puts preaching in its proper context at the very heart of Christian worship, looks to the Trinitarian nature of preaching and then defines true, biblical preaching as being expository in nature. After a chapter defining this type of preaching, he looks to the preacher's authority and purpose, to the importance of preaching the Bible's big story and to the importance of every pastor being a theologian. The book wraps up with a look at the particular challenges of preaching to a postmodern culture, with an exhortation to preachers about the urgency of their task and an encouragement to preachers drawn from the ministry of Ezekiel. An Epilogue provides a brief biography of Charles Spurgeon and discusses his contagious passion for preaching.

This is a book that will challenge and, I hope, shape many pastors. I cannot imagine the pastor would could not derive some benefit from it. Mohler, a great preacher in his own right, is passionate about this topic and speaks as a preacher to other preachers. If you are a pastor, read this book! You will find it a source of great wisdom and great encouragement.

But, as I indicated a short time ago, I think it is also an ideal book for all Christians to read and absorb. Let me illustrate this way. If you were to commit to going to a baseball game at least once per week for the rest of your life, I suspect you would want to understand the sport. Though you would always know that you would never be out on that field, you would still want to know what makes a great player great; you would want to understand how a pitcher faces a batter and attempts to outwit him with a mixture of pitches, speeds, breaks and locations; you would want to see how a manager attempts to set the perfect lineup to face the opposition. Without such knowledge you would not fully understand the game and would not derive as much pleasure and benefit from it. What you take from the game is in many ways contingent on your understanding of it.

In the same way, understanding preaching will help the Christian in many ways. He will know what kind of preaching he should expect and what kind of preacher to seek out; it will give him new respect for the preacher and for the difficulty and uniqueness of the task; it will give him reason to praise God for His gift of preaching and preachers. As Dr. Mohler writes, "A theology of preaching begins with the humble acknowledgment that preaching is not a human invention but a gracious creation of God and a central part of His revealed will for the church." Of course he must read carefully and humbly, knowing that his preacher is imperfect and prone to sin. But his understanding of preaching will teach him how to listen, when to listen and why he must listen to the preaching of the Word.

This is the third book from the pen of Dr. Mohler we've seen in 2008. In my view, it is the best (at least of the three I have read to this point). Though Mohler aptly addressed culture and new atheism in his previous two titles, there is a new kind of passion in this book. Mohler calls for the "re-centering" of an element of worship that has been pushed to the periphery. He does so with confidence based on Scripture and in a way that can appeal to any reader. Buy it, read it, and while you are at it, buy a copy for your pastor.

A bit disappointed
I have always been a fan of Al Mohler. He is one of the few articulate voices proclaiming Truth in a post-modern culture. So, I picked up this book with great anticipation.

Make no mistake. This is a good book, and it ought be read by any committed Believer. However, I was off-put almost immediately by the foreword. And, it telegraphed the overall theme of the book: "Preaching=good. Almost everything else=bad."

I am conflicted in that I agree with the premise of this book. We HAVE strayed away from the Truth of Scripture. We HAVE given our pastors permission to preach in circles, instead of sticking with the Biblical text. We HAVE been too enamored with modern technology. But, Mohler seems to be making the assertion that God's Word can only be heard through preaching. My fear is that, if this view takes hold, we will move back into the days where "the preacher" was viewed as the anchor of the local church (instead of the Body of people being the anchor), and where vibrant Praise is supplanted by a guy who likes to hear himself talk.

The fact is that the Body Of Christ needs to come together to HEAR the Word and to DO the Word. Solid expository preaching SHOULD be the norm. But, it isn't the only way that God speaks to His people. Music is a powerful communication tool. Christian songwriters ought to be encouraged to dig deep and write modern songs that are full of theology, much like the old hymns. One of the reasons I suspect Mohler reacts to the modern church expression is because music has become the focus and so many of the songs are without any grist. They are "feel good" songs. But, we ought not throw the baby out with the bath water. (The pendulum always tends to swing too far in one direction or the other.) Preaching AND music should be ever-present in our corporate gatherings as Believers, and both elements ought to be full of The Truth.

The same is true with technological accompaniments. Yes, we have become too enamored with them. But, if they serve a visual purpose in accenting the Truth of what is being preached or sung, they are useful and sometimes tremendously so.

So, I think Mohler is on the right track here. I just think he is over-reaching a bit.

That said, I will stand with Al Mohler anytime, anywhere in the cause of reclaiming the Truth for our culture. He is clearly a man of great conviction who is capable of hanging out with the intellectuals. In that context, I hope he will remain a strong voice within Christendom.

A Must Read!!!
This book is an absolute must read for all pastors, preachers and lay people who are looking to be under a solid teacher of the Word and it serves as an excellent litmus test for their preaching "techniques" to their congregations as well as others that God has placed under them for instruction. Dr. Mohler does not mince words and is very direct in his approach saying that expository preaching is really the only type of preaching there, is all other so-called types fall short. I wholeheartedly agree that our preachers and teachers should, when delving into the Word of God, Read, Explain, Exhort and Repeat. In this day and age it seems more often than not that only snippets of text are used as mere backgrounds for sermons meant to "enhance your life" instead of teach you how to live right and so the text is further taken out of context. It would be quite refreshing and admonishing if our pastors were to preach the whole counsel of God so that we as the body of Christ would be fully equipped to resist the wiles of the devil.