Designed for use in upper-level college courses and seminary courses on the prophets

Where have all the prophets gone? And why do preachers seem to shy away from prophetic witness? Astute preacher Leonora Tisdale considers these vexing questions while providing guidance and encouragement to pastors who want to recommit themselves to the task of prophetic witness. With a keen sensitivity to pastoral contexts, Tisdale's work is full of helpful suggestions and examples to help pastors structure and preach prophetic sermons, considered by many to be one of the most difficult tasks pastors are called to undertake.

This book is a call for preachers to learn the importance of keeping their eyes on the vision of Jesus and biblical prophets when preaching - that of doing justice, caring for others, and being equitable. The book attempts to make a biblical argument for the importance and the content of prophetic preaching, and argues that the issue is not preaching from a text taken from the prophetic corpus but preaching on the themes that echoed over and over from the biblical prophets themselves.

For nearly two millennia, despite repeated prohibitions, Christian women have preached. Some have preached in official settings; others have found alternative routes for expression. Prophecy, teaching, writing, and song have all filled a broad definition of preaching. This anthology, with essays by an international group of scholars from several disciplines, investigates the diverse voices of Christian women who claimed the authority to preach and prophesy. The contributors examine the centuries of arguments, grounded in Pauline injunctions, against women's public speech and the different ways women from the early years of the church through the twentieth century have nonetheless exercised religious leadership in their communities. Some of them based their authority solely on divine inspiration; others were authorized by independent-minded communities; a few were even recognized by the church hierarchy. With its lively accounts of women preachers and prophets in the Christian tradition, this exceptionally well-documented collection will interest scholars and general readers alike.

The Old Testament prophets are a neglected treasury of biblical examples for pastoral preaching. Too often the prophets are misunderstood as focusing on future or social justice issues. This book shows that the prophets are essentially preachers--very good ones--whom we must learn from. By comparing recent rhetorical analysis of the prophets to some of the best of current preaching literature, this book shows that the prophets preached the way that we ought to preach. It will help you to hear the prophets the same way that a pastor benefits from listening to a seasoned and exceptionally gifted preacher. We can benefit not only from what the prophets say but how they say it. By seeing how the prophets grab and keep their listeners, how they enhance clarity and relevancy, how they make truth come alive and how they persevere in their ministry, you too can learn to preach like the prophets.

In this compelling book, G. Lee Ramsey Jr.mines the riches of southern fiction and discovers a colorful assortment of ministers who arise out of the religious South. At once mystical and mischievous, these ministers haunt the margins of southern life while preaching a gospel that startles and compels. But their oddness is also their appeal--and part of their gift. For through these colorful portraits of Christian ministry, today's readers are challenged to think about what matters in ministry and to re-imagine ministry in ways that bring new life to the church and community. Throughout, Ramsey shows how ministers such as Roger Hagan in Will Campbell's The Conventionand Hazel Motes in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Bloodcan help show us the stumbling blocks to faithful ministry and steer clergy and congregations forward in today's world.

In February 1534, a radical group of Anabaptists, gripped with apocalyptic fervor, seized the city of Münster and established an idealistic communal government that quickly deteriorated into extreme inequality and theocratic totalitarianism. In response, troops hired by the city's prince-bishop laid siege to the city. Fifteen months later the besieged inhabitants were starving, and, in the dead of the night, five men slipped out. Separated from his fellow escapees, Henry Gresbeck gambled with his life by approaching enemy troops. Taken prisoner, he collaborated with the enemy to devise a plan to recapture Münster, and later recorded the only eyewitness account of the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster. Gresbeck's account, which attempts to explain his role in the bizarre events, disappeared into the archives and was largely ignored for centuries. Before now, Gresbeck's account was only available in a heavily edited German copy adapted from inferior manuscripts. Christopher S. Mackay, who previously produced the only modern translation of the main Latin account of these events, has adhered closely to Gresbeck’s own words to produce the first complete and accurate English translation of this important primary source.

In this challenging and enlightening treatment, Brueggemann traces the lines from the radical vision of Moses to the solidification of royal power in Solomon to the prophetic critique of that power with a new vision of freedom in the prophets. Here he traces the broad sweep from Exodus to Kings to Jeremiah to Jesus. He highlights that the prophetic vision and not only embraces the pain of the people but creates an energy and amazement based on the new thing that God is doing. In this new edition, Brueggemann has completely revised the text, updated the notes, and added a new preface.

Aaron Chalmers equips the reader with the knowledge and skills they need to interpret the Prophets in a faithful and accurate fashion. Providing the basic contextual and background information needed for sound exegesis and sensitive interpretation, he also gives guidelines for practical application and preaching and teaching the Prophets today.

In Ephesians 4:11, the apostle Paul tells us that Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the church. He did this in the days of the New Testament; the question is, does Jesus still give all of them to the church today? This book seeks to address this question. In this book you will find: . The ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers defined. . Names of people in the Bible who held these ministries. . Descriptions of each ministry from a biblical-historical perspective. . An examination of the contemporary expressions of the ministries of evangelists, pastors, and teachers. . Answers to objections about the presence of apostles and prophets in the church today. . A case for the continuance of the ministries of apostles and prophets in the modern church. . A description of the ministries of apostles and prophets in the contemporary church. John P. Lathrop is a graduate of Zion Bible College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is an Ordained Minister with the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and is currently active in pastoral ministry at the Christian Pentecostal Church in Newton, MA. In addition to pastoring, he regularly writes for Vista magazine, the official publication of the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, and for the Pneuma Review, a publication of the Pneuma Foundation. He has ministered overseas in the countries of Indonesia and Zimbabwe. He and his wife, Cynthia, are the parents of five adult children: Carrie, Joshua, Deborah, Stephen, and Daniel. The Lathrops also have two grandchildren.