Getting to God
Preaching Good News in a Troubled World
by Joni S. Sancken, Luke A. Powery and John Rottman
Foreword by Paul Scott Wilson
Imprint: Cascade Books
Joni S. Sancken is associate professor of homiletics at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. She is an ordained pastor in the Mennonite Church USA and is the author of several books, including Words That Heal, and All Our Griefs to Bear.
Luke A. Powery is the dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is an ordained Baptist minister (Progressive National Baptist) and the author and editor of several books, including co-author of Ways of the Word: Learning to Preach for Your Time and Place and a general editor of the nine-volume lectionary commentary series for preaching and worship, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship.
John M. Rottman is the professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was ordained in the Christian Reformed Church and served two congregations in the Toronto (Canada) area. Most recently, he has become passionate about prison theological education and what God is doing in prisons.
“Paul Scott Wilson has done more than any other recent scholar to insist on the theological character of preaching through his four-pages approach to the sermon, attention to the evocative possibilities of language, and emphasis on preaching Christian doctrine. This book, written in his honor by three of his most talented students, opens even more windows on how preachers can bring the good news of a gracious and redeeming God to an increasingly troubled world.”
—Ronald J. Allen, Christian Theological Seminary
“Getting to God reminds us that sermons fail if they do not first ‘get to God,’ that is, point boldly to God’s action in life. Since God’s action is never abstract, the authors also sharpen our attention to the very particular contexts of preaching. Thus, by guiding those of us who preach to ‘get to God,’ they free us to preach in ways that show how ‘God gets to us.’ A stimulating and much-needed volume!”
—Thomas G. Long, Candler School of Theology