Doug Gay opens up the art and sacrament of preaching. And he doesn't just open it, he inhabits it. This is a book that deepens the practice of language in public. -- Padraig O'Tuama
This is one of the most stimulating and refreshing books on preaching that I have read in years. The book is divided into four sections: Preaching – Reading – Speaking – Living. In 40 bite-sized chapters Doug Gay provides a fast-moving feast of homiletic tapas. Years of thinking about preaching and teaching preachers are carefully distilled into a brief but substantial primer for preachers. The book teaches so many helpful lessons, delights with many well presented examples, and persuades the reader to develop a more varied preaching palette. Along the way, the author introduces the reader to some of the preachers and thinkers who have helped preachers over the years (it was great see a chapter inspired by Samuel Wells; an undervalued national treasure). Peppered with some of the best ideas about preaching, the book includes Tom Long’s brilliant, and deceptively simple concepts: focus and function. Doug Gay has not written an exhaustive book on preaching but he has liberally scattered numerous highly suggestive ideas that like seeds, which if allowed to take root, might just prove to be very fruitful. If you are a preacher buy this book and read it. If you love your pastor, buy this book and give him it as a gift...worth every penny! -- INSPIRE magazine
Gay's book of short reflections on the preacher's calling and craft is engaging and recommendable. A beatitudes-inspired baptism homily included here is delightful ('blessed are babies who cry when they need to...'); and a funeral eulogy for a close friend is profound. This is one to return to. -- The Reader
