The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
A Manual for Preaching: The Journey from Text to Sermon
Abraham Kuruvilla
Baker Academic (2019). 336 pp.
In A Manual for Preaching, Abraham Kuruvilla offers an overview of how to preach, beginning with opening one’s Bible and ending with the delivery of the sermon before a congregation. Kuruvilla currently serves as a senior research professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Dallas Theological Seminary and as a practicing dermatologist. In many ways this book is a culmination of his decades of preaching and teaching experience, building on what he has previously written and only possible because of his previous practice. It is a personal and practical explanation of his understanding of what preaching is, which is presented in full in his book A Vision of Preaching: Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry (Baker, 2015).
In A Vision of Preaching, Kuruvilla defines preaching as “the communication of the thrust of a pericope of Scripture discerned by theological exegesis, and of its application to that specific body of believers, that they may be conformed to the image of Christ, for the glory of God—all in the power of the Holy Spirit” (1). In A Manual for Preaching, Kuruvilla assumes this definition and looks to help preachers put it into practice. After a brief introduction, the first chapter deals with getting ready to preach, offering instruction on choosing a book of the Bible to preach through, recognizing a pericope, identifying useful tools for sermon preparation, and structuring one’s sermon preparation time.
Chapters 2 and 3 are the most significant in the book, as they form the heart of the sermon vision that Kuruvilla casts. Chapter 2 guides the preacher in discerning the theological thrust of their preaching texts, or how to move from the Bible to the sermon. Kuruvilla maintains that the preacher’s concern with the text is to discern what the author is doing with what he is saying in each particular text. In other words, the purpose of the text, determined through the semantics of the text, is what leads to the valid application of the text. Each biblical text presents some aspect of God’s ideal world, fulfilled and exemplified in Jesus Christ, and therefore each text is an invitation to participate in God’s ideal world by aligning oneself with the image of Christ presented in that text. The preacher must discern this theological thrust through the text, and then serve as a guide to understanding this theology through the text.
Of course, understanding is not the end goal in preaching; being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ and inhabiting the Father’s kingdom is the goal. Chapter 3 guides the preacher in moving from revelation to relevance, from knowing what the Bible says to how it makes a difference in today’s life. Kuruvilla walks through the types and characteristics of sermon application, drawing particularly upon James K. A. Smith’s work concerning the power of habits and rituals for spiritual formation. Kuruvilla helpfully points out that the primary purpose God has in placing a pastor-preacher in a particular congregation is to discern the particular application for that particular congregation, week-in and week-out. This is therefore the most important task in sermon preparation, something that no one else can do for a church. The preacher must know God and his Word, love his congregation, and walk in the Spirit for this to happen, and the preacher must spend a significant amount of time on the task of theologically-driven application, as this is the purpose of everything else in the preaching task.
Later chapters walk through the structure of the sermon, the content of the sermon, illustrations, introductions, conclusions, producing sermon manuscripts and outlines, and sermon delivery. Each chapter ends with examples of how Kuruvilla has put his principles into practice in two different sermon series, one covering the Jacob narrative in Genesis and the other covering the book of Ephesians. This is a strength of the book. Kuruvilla does not just tell preachers what they should do, he shows them how he has done it, and includes numerous personal examples of each part of the process. He also draws heavily upon his experience as a medical doctor and uses that to illustrate how he thinks through preaching. All of this is always presented with the caveat that his methods are guidelines and not rules, as preachers will always want to tailor any guidelines for their own personal benefit.
It is the rare book that is just as helpful for beginning preachers as it is for seasoned preachers, and yet A Manual for Preaching is one of those rare books. Kuruvilla’s primary metaphor of the preacher as a curator, unveiling the wonders of the text so that the church will understand what the biblical author is doing and how they should live it out, is a strong foundation for one’s understanding of preaching. At the same time, Kuruvilla contributes to the ongoing discussion of the role of the “Big Idea” in preaching, engages contemporary sources, and offers a number of practical tips any preacher would benefit thinking through. Whether you are reading for personal benefit or in preparation for a homiletics course, it is worth your time.
Gary L. Shultz, Jr. is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Tallahassee in Tallahassee, FL. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a member of the St. John Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
