Playing with Fire: Preaching Work as Kindling Art

Offering a fresh approach to homiletics, David J. Schlafer provides an invitation to preaching by way of metaphor. Starting with the fire of Scripture, and engaging in the work of preaching as play, Schlafer offers new ways of approaching the preaching moment. Taking into account the preacher’s call, the stages of preparation, the role of the congregation, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of it all, we discover that playing with fire is a sacred act indeed. Two metaphors dance together across the pages of this book: fire and play. Two metaphors, plus a hunch: that texts of the Scriptures, the grounding voices of inspiration for Christian preaching, offer more than just truths to be interpreted and transmitted. What we call the Scriptures are the work of a great company of preachers. The Bible is a treasure lode of imaginative insights regarding how the mystery of preaching might be entertained. —from the Introduction

Offering a fresh approach to homiletics, David J. Schlafer provides an invitation to preaching by way of metaphor.

DAVID J. SCHLAFER is an Episcopal priest who has taught preaching at Nashotah House, Seabury-Western, the University of the South, Virginia Theological Seminary, and the College of Preachers. His previous books are Surviving the Sermon, Your Way with God's Word, and What Makes This Day Different? Schlafer conducts seminars and workshops on homiletics in the United States, Canada, and England.