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Book Review: Preaching and the literary forms of the Bible ::
In a previous issue of Perspective Steve Marquet reviewed Haddon Robinson’s excellent book Expository Preaching. From what you might call the ‘ABC’ of preaching, Steve now reviews an ‘DEF’ title!
Source: Perspective Vo2 No2 © Perspective 1999
Author: Thomas G. Long
Published: Fortress Press
Reviewer: Steve Marquet
YOU’VE PREACHED on Matthew 19:21-35, the parable of the unmerciful servant.. Some weeks later you come to Ephesians 4:32 (arguably a tad short for an expository message, unless you’re a Lloyd-Jones devotee!), which also deals with the issue of forgiveness. The first passage is a parable within a gospel, the second an instruction within a letter. Will there he any significant difference between these sermons other than author references?
T. G. Long’s Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible is an extremely well written book with a clear message for expository preachers.
He argues that the literary form and dynamics of biblical texts can and should make a difference to the sermons based on them. This is not only due to what the texts say, but also how they say it.
In his first two chapters, Long seeks to provide the reader with a methodology for taking the literary characteristics of biblical texts into account in the text-to-sermon process. In the remaining six chapters, he sets out to Apply that approach to preaching on psalms, proverbs, parables, and letters.
In Part 1 of this book (The Approach) Long has some valuable insights for the Biblical expositor. His point here is that because the Bible consists of a variety of literary and rhetorical forms, we need to develop a process of sermon preparation which is sufficiently nuanced to recognise and employ these differences in the creation of the sermon itself.
As evangelical expositors, it would be inadequate for us to view biblical texts simply as ‘inert containers for theological concepts.’ Form and content are equally important in appreciating the ménage of a passage from the Bible.
In order to facilitate this process, Long formulates five helpful questions. The first four are part of the exegetical process:
1. What is the genre of the text?
2. What is the rhetorical function of the genre? (i.e. what effects of impact are the literary features of a particular genre designed to produce in a reader?)
3. What literary devices does this genre employ to achieve its rhetorical effect?
4. How does the text under consideration, in its own literary setting embody that characteristics and dynamics in questions 1-3?
Here he gives us a clear idea of how this exegetical approach might work out with reference to Matthew’s genealogy at the beginning of his Gospel. Long points us to the fact that this genealogy largely fits the pattern of the genealogical genre but at other points makes some surprising departures. The combined effect of these features on the reader, i.e. its rhetorical effect, could be summed up thus: ‘Let me introduce you to Jesus the Christ, the one who, by the design of God, is the inheritor of David’s kingship and the fullness of Israel’s history, bin in ways which will surprise and trouble you. Listen now to his story Long’s point is well made.
Long’s fifth question comes at the point of writing the sermon: 5. How may the sermon in a new setting, say and do what the text says and does in its setting?
This does not mean for example, preaching in poetry when tackling a psalm or punctuating each point with a ‘Selah’. Rather, it involves seeking to ‘regenerate the impact’ of that text on a new audience, based entirely on a close reading of that text itself.
Each chapter of Part 2 of Long’s book is devoted to exemplifying the approach for preaching on psalms, proverbs, narratives, Jesus’ parables, letters, concluding with a ‘wrap-up chapter’.
In my opinion the most valuable material of these chapters is his succinct and pithy discussion of the literary features and rhetorical function of each of the above biblical genres. For example, under his discussion of preaching on the psalms, Long highlights the more ‘condensed and concentrated’ nature of poetry or its ‘higher voltage’, especially its frequent appeal to the level of imagination. His application of the method to Psalm 1 is superb. Long is surely on solid ground to suggest that an effective sermon on Psalm 1 should not only describe the contrast which the Psalm sets up but also reproduce its visual and emotional impact on the hearers.
It is disappointing to have to state that in the main, Long’s actual application of his method to particular examples of the genres in each chapter (except the one on psalms) is woeful.
His non-evangelical view of Scripture leads him to come a cropper, when he attempts to apply the passage’s message to his contemporary audience. It sadly degenerates into little more than moralising. It is scarcely possible to believe that the masterly story of Ruth could deteriorate into ‘an opportunity to forge a connection between the church and Boaz’ and to challenge a congregation that: “Beyond the walls of every church lies a neighbourhood and a world -a Ruth, if you will – saying, you are the next of kin. Fulfil the Law.”
In his wrap-up chapter the Princeton Professor of Preaching and Worship takes the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal in 1 Kings 18. After structuring the passage along episodic lines, he then proceeds to apply the passage to a modern audience in a manner worthy of Barbara Thiering’s ‘pesher’ technique. The congregation is equated with Elijah, ‘the troubler of Israel’ in its role to the larger society, apparently disturbing it by telling it that ‘every person is a child of God and worthy of dignity and care’!
How he applies the section where Elijah calls down fire from heaven defies sanity!
The ultimate criticism of his sermon examples is their complete failure to reckon with the death and resurrection of Christ. He moves from text to sermon, seeking to create a moral impact, but ignoring the earth-shattering impact of the Cross and the salvation historical direction of the Old Testament toward it.
Having made these somewhat devastating criticisms, I stand by my original contention that Long’s book, especially the first part, has a lot to offer expository preachers. Developing a sensitivity not only to what biblical texts say, but also to how they say what they say, will go a long way to making us more effective communicators of the Bible’s message.
At time of writing, Steve Marquet was the pastor of Riverwood/Punchbowl Presbyterian Church, Sydney, Australia