Just Preaching: Prophetic Voices for Economic Justice

Just Preaching: Prophetic Voices for Economic Justice. Edited by Andre Resner, Jr. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2003. 234 pages.

Ministers are frequently exhorted by ethicists, theologians, and authorities in the field of preaching to preach justice; that is, to call attention to God's desire for all situations in life to mediate God's unconditional love and God's unrelenting will for right relationship for every creature. Despite the persistence of these themes in the literature and lore of preaching, and the respect accorded to the title "prophetic preacher," very few sermons or series of sermons (to my knowledge) are devoted to exploring a single social problem in depth and complexity. Preachers tend to "sideswipe" social issues; that is, to mention them in passing or, perhaps, to use an illustration from a particular social phenomenon. Members of the congregation are then left with neither the preacher's own theological and ethical analysis of a social situation nor with a model of a theological methodology that will allow them to evaluate other forms social circumstances.

This excellent collection of essays and sermons will help the preacher deal with the aforementioned set of circumstances in three ways. First, it inspires the preacher to want to develop sermons on issues of justice. Second, it is packed with information about the particular topic of economic justice, a subject about which many preachers have strong convictions but little hard information (other than what they vaguely remember from years ago in Econ 101, a course that hardly emphasized justice). Third, the book contains twenty-three sermons that go far beyond "sideswiping" this issue to model how a preacher can devote an entire sermon to an aspect of economic justice.

The volume is divided into eight parts. Each part begins with one or two introductory essays, written by an authority, that provide hard-hitting information about a topic, and includes two or three sermons from leading preachers focused on that topic. The authorities and preachers include women, men, African Americans, Latin Americans, Christians, Roman Catholics, Protestants, a rabbi, local pastors, leaders of local agencies, and teachers in colleges and theological seminaries.

The editor offers a practical seven-step outline for preparing a sermon on an aspect of economic justice: (1) identify an aspect of economic injustice in one's particular socio-cultural location; (2) analyze it from socio-cultural, political, theological, and biblical perspectives; (3) bring into the conversation key texts and perspectives from faith and wider bodies of knowledge; (4) compassionately probe personal issues involved; (5) work out the focus of the sermon; (6) develop the sermon so as to have a likelihood of speaking to one's congregation; and (7) test the sermon using appropriate theological tools.

The topics, essayists, and preachers are: the relationship between economics and justice (essays by Marvin McMickle and the editor, sermons by Diana Brown, Margaret Moers Wenig, and Kim Latterell); motivation for preaching on economic justice (essay by James Child, sermons from William Sloane Coffin, Lewis Kamrass, and Melanie Morel Sullivan); how God relates to preaching justice (biting essay by Walter Brueggemann, with sermons by Patrick D. Miller Jr., Mary Catherine Hilkert, and Roger Lovette); poverty and homeless in the United States (essay by Karen Olson, sermons by Charles Kroloff, Brian Byrne, and James Forbes); children, poverty, and justice (essay by Marian Wright Edelman, sermons from Walter Burghardt and Pamela Coutre); how the poor interpret their own situation (essay by Francisco Garcia-Treto, sermons by William Coats, Thomas Tewell, and Jim Burklo); preaching in congregations and contexts that are affluent (essay by Dale P. Andrews, sermons by Barbara Brown Taylor, Cliff Lyda, and Bryan O'Rourke); and preaching "outside the lines" (that is, preaching to motivate listeners to action) (essay by Bob Ekblad, sermons from Victor McCracken, Steven Egland, and Ann Palmerton).

The editor and authors seek to help pastors develop sermons that not only promote individual acts of caring for others, but also to motivate others to become involved in acts of justice. A bonus is an appendix that calls attention to just Neighbors, a curriculum developed by the sponsors of the Interfaith Hospitality Network and designed to lead congregations into detailed awareness of poverty and mobilization for systemic change.

Every preacher could benefit from reading this well-edited anthology. A preacher could use any one of its sections as the basis for a series of sermons, or each of the eight sections as the basis for a series of eight sermons on economic justice. The book could also be used to organize a seminary class on preaching on economic justice, or as a supplementary textbook in classes on social ethics (such as the church and the urban poor).

Ronald J, Allen

Christian Theological Seminary

Copyright Christian Theological Seminary Winter 2004
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