How Far Down Dare I Drink?
Promises Greater Than Dreams
Edited by Marie-Helene Davies and David William Cain
Foreword by Leslie C. Smith
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
This volume of sermons reflects Davies' imaginary qualities as he puts himself in the shoes of both biblical characters and the members of his congregation, using Christological exegesis and his love of art to produce compassionate, credible, and relevant sermons.
The late Horton Davies was a professor at Princeton University, which exchanged courses with Princeton Theological Seminary. He held degrees in English from Edinburgh University and went on to study philosophy at Mansfield College, Oxford. He founded the department of religion at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, before returning to teach at Oxford and then at Princeton. He was the author of Worship and Theology in England, Varieties of English Preaching 1900-1960, Like Angels from a Cloud, and The English Metaphysical Preachers, 1588-1645.
"Delivered across the decades spanned by his career, these occasional sermons effectively display both Horton Davies' mastery of a literary genre he so thoroughly explored in his scholarship and his own deep and abiding love of the arts."
--John F. Wilson, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
"Through mastery of the homiletical art, Horton Davies shares the good news of the Christian faith for one's heart, mind, and soul, in such a way as traverse the seasons of time. He articulates the faith so as to challenge and comfort, and to clarify and question with both boldness and humility.
'This is a text for the times!' he proclaimed in a 1972 sermon at Westminster Abby, referring to Rom 8:24. 'But cries the modern man, bewildered and disillusioned, where can I find hope?' Some forty years later, our longing and cry are the same. Horton leads us on our journey for hope and life, showing us the way to 'Christian hope, not utopianism; a hope in God.' This is indeed a book for our times!"
--Paul Jeanes III, Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ
"A good sermon makes you want to start (at last) being a Christian. Horton Davies' addresses emphatically achieve this: they are intellectually serious and personally honest, grounded in the central truths of historic faith, moving and exhilarating. Every preacher will learn from them--not least, will learn to want to be a Christian."
--Rowan Williams, Magdelene College, Cambridge, England