Description

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This book provides a theology for social crisis preaching by arguing that Christian proclamation is the best prescription for the social crises in our world. Social Crisis Preaching positions the pastor as a sacred anthropologist, one who is aware of both the crises in one’s community, but also as one who has a firm understanding of the people in the pews. It also equips the preacher with both the hermeneutical and homiletical tools to confront social crisis with biblical integrity. Lastly, this book argues that social crisis preaching develops Christians disciples and congregations, as those who care about and confront the social crisis in their neighbor’s community, following the biblical mandate to “love your neighbor as yourself.”    

About the Author

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Tyshawn Gardner (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of Biblical and religious studies and director of the PreMinisterial Scholars Program at Samford University. 

 

Praise For…

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“Crisis. Such an alarming word, a grab-you-by-the-throat word. But this is the truth of where we are. And in a crisis, what we need is God. We need a fresh proclamation of good news. And we need Tyshawn Gardner to show us the way.”
—Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary and author of Love Big, Be Well and A Burning in My Bones: The Biography of Eugene Peterson
 
“So many of our books are not answering the questions we should be asking. We are weary of manuscripts that diagnose but cannot solve. Here is a book we've been waiting for! The Lord has given Tyshawn a discourse the church needs right now. The crisis facing Christian preaching is at fever pitch. The pulpit has at times been handicapped by the academy and politicized by culture. We need an example of the kind of preaching that fits our current milieu. This is it. The words in these pages are like lights on the path. Read them and preach.”
—Charlie Dates, senior pastor, Progressive Baptist Church, Chicago, IL
 
“Dr. Tyshawn Gardner’s volume presents an unprecedented combination of biblical exposition, Christian anthropology, and innovative analysis of the current public debate in our social crisis.  The national consciousness in the post-George Floyd era pleads for such a book. After the theological and exegetical discussion, Dr. Gardner bridges the often-uncrossed gap between the study and the pulpit. He builds a sturdy bridge to carry the biblical message over the chasm that often exists between the exegetical insight and venue specific proclamation. Born from the reflections of a gentleman who combines academic credentials with extensive pastoral experience, this is a book both for the knowing and the perplexed when preaching on today’s controverted issues.”
—Joel C. Gregory, George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism and director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching, George W. Truett Theological Seminary

“Gospel preaching at its best is a social enterprise. Like a wise physician, Dr. Gardner provides an accurate diagnosis and proper response to the existential crises confronting the church in the twenty-first century. Social Crisis Preaching is a work that will challenge the status quo of the pulpit and pew. Dr. Gardner writes with the mind of a scholar but with a pastor’s heart.”
—Frank Kennedy, Jr, executive pastor, New Mount Olive Baptist Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
 
“He is insightful, biblical, prophetic, and engaging with his encouragement and challenges to the reader. This book is being released in the middle of a racial reckoning, a mental health pandemic, and global health pandemic. The timing of this release could only have been arranged by God. It’s a book that I believe will give vocal cords and a voice back to the marginalized and oppressed by way of the pulpit heralder and the hearers of the pew. It also places tools in the hands of others that make the work doable for all people.”
—Cokiesha Bailey Robinson, founder, Cross Spring Ministries, and associate dean of student diversity, Grace College   
 
 “Social Crisis Preaching is a textbook that addresses inequities and injustice in our world by viewing them through a redemptive lens based upon the biblical text. In a day when the tendency is to assign the biblical text to a secondary function or role, Dr. Gardner connects social crisis preaching to its primary source: the Bible. In this work, the ancient scriptural text gives voice to the contemporary social texture so that the fruit and the root, the cure and the cause, the consequent and the antecedent, are held in unrelinquishable tension. The book is saturated in a Christological solution, thus offering the only way society and its members can be redeemed to Christ.”
—Robert Smith, Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity and professor of Christian Preaching, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University 
 
“In this wonderful book, Gardner contends that the preaching of the gospel necessarily involves the preaching about crises in society. Sin has marred humanity and created the social conditions which dehumanize human beings. The gospel is the healing salve that abrogates the corruptive powers of sin. Real gospel preaching, then, mandates addressing the source and symptoms of sin in order to overturn its authority in the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about preaching the truth of Jesus Christ without compromise.”
—Ralph Douglass West, senior pastor, The Church Without Walls, Houston, TX

“As a pastor and an academic in the Deep South for nearly 20 years, Dr. Tyshawn Gardner has written a guide for preachers interested in ‘social crisis preaching.’ His practical illustrations and sample outlines will be a helpful guide for preachers who will dare to address, from the biblical texts, some of the challenging social crises of our day. Even when readers disagree with Dr. Gardner’s method, suggestions, and conclusions, they will still learn.”
—Jarvis J. Williams, associate professor of New Testament interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary