Abstract
David Heywood,
Transforming Preaching: The Sermon as a Channel for God’s Word
, SPCK: London, 2013; 160 pp.: 9780281063413, £12.99 (pbk)
David Heywood’s excellent book provides an invaluable resource for both the novice preacher and for the more seasoned practitioner, to say nothing of its usefulness to the homiletics teacher as a source of classroom exercises. Crucially, he begins with a question that too many preachers fail to ask: ‘Why preach?’ His rationale for the purpose of preaching is crisp and theologically clear, offering a good starting point for preachers to begin to think through their own theology of preaching.
Heywood marshals a good defence of the place of uninterrupted speech in contemporary society, though perhaps there was also room here for reference to the massively popular TED Talks and the enduring popularity of stand-up comedy. Undoubtedly, the received wisdom that people cannot listen for more than a nanosecond is fallacious.
Preaching is placed firmly in the mission of God, an observation which is both refreshing and challenging in a context in which some are questioning the place of the sermon. The key point is that preaching should do something, as an aspect of the transforming ministry of God. The underlying point is that preachers need to be intentional and reflective about what they are trying to do and how they are going to achieve that end. Importantly, Heywood considers carefully the needs of the congregation, exploring how people learn and what barriers there are to effective listening.
Borrowing from Jeff Astley’s concept of ‘ordinary theology’ (Ordinary Theology (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002)), Heywood discusses the importance of helping people to name and challenge their ‘mental models’ – these are deep structures of expectation and understanding which all of us bring to the content of the sermon.
Heywood’s contention is that effective preaching will affect these internal models – either in challenge or in confirmation. The goal of transformative preaching lies in people reframing their world-views. To this end, Heywood offers David Kolb’s learning cycle as a useful tool for the preacher, with particular emphasis on helping the hearer to reflect on what they have heard. Central to this is the conviction that the Spirit helps us to make connections between our life experience, our mental models and the conclusions that we draw from them. In this analysis revelation is deeply embedded in the mundane muddle of the everyday.
The step-by-step guide to sermon preparation is an excellent resource for beginners trying to orient themselves on the homiletic landscape and for more seasoned preachers who find themselves stuck in a rut. Particularly helpful is Heywood’s clarification of the differences between deductive and inductive preaching, supported with clear examples.
The book is helpfully structured with each chapter containing useful sets of exercises designed to help the preacher to think through the themes raised. These exercises should be of particular interest to homiletics teachers as they will translate well in to small-group discussion. Each chapter ends with relevant suggestions for further reading. This is an excellent resource – well engaged with the literature and well worth reading.