Consider this quote:
Start with a life issue, a real problem, personal or social, perplexing the mind or disturbing the conscience; face the problem fairly, deal with it honestly, and throw such light on it from the spirit of Christ, that people will be able to think more clearly and live more nobly because of that sermon.
It may sound like a model for evangelical preaching.
It may sound like the sermon you heard last week.
It may sound like that which you are hoping to hear tomorrow.
The quote comes from Harry Emerson Fosdick, a father of popular liberal theology in the USA.
Kevin DeYoung provides an extended quote from James W. Thompson’s book Preaching Like Paul: Homiletical Wisdom for Today which outlines the problem with Emerson’s model and how it is problematic for evangelical who would seek to use that model as a template for their own preaching.
DeYoung adds more material to his original post to address the push-back that questions whether he means personal issues cannot be addressed in preaching.
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