The End of Words: The Language of Reconciliation in a Culture of Violence

by Richard Lischer

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2005

Overview

After the horrors and violence of the twentieth century, words can seem futile. In this reflection on the place of preaching today, Richard Lischer recognizes that our mass-communication culture is exhausted by words. Facing up to language’s disappointments and dead ends, he opens a path to its true end. With chapters on vocation, interpretation, narration, and reconciliation, The End of Words shows how faithful reading of Scripture rather than flashy performance paves the way for effective preaching; Lischer challenges conventional storytelling with a deeper and more biblical view of narrative preaching. The ultimate purpose of preaching, he argues, is to speak God’s peace, the message of reconciliation. While Lischer’s End of Words will surely be invaluable to pastors and preachers, his honest, readable style will appeal to anyone concerned with speaking with Christian compassion.

Product Details

• Title: The End of Words: The Language of Reconciliation in a Culture of Violence
• Author: Richard Lischer
• Series: The Lyman Beecher Lectures in Preaching
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2005
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Preaching; Reconciliation › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780802862808, 9780802829320, 0802862802, 0802829325
• Resource ID: LLS:NDWRDSLCLTRVLNC
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:46:36Z

About Richard Lischer

A native of St. Louis, Professor Lischer’s graduate theological training is in systematic theology. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has nine years of pastoral experience in rural and suburban settings. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 1979 and teaches in the areas of homiletics and ministry. In his scholarly work Dr. Lischer has sought to portray proclamation as an integrated theological activity. He also has explored the interactions of preaching, politics and contemporary culture, notably in The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America and in his most recent book The End of Words. His theological memoir, Open Secrets, evokes the hidden dynamics of ministry in a small-town parish. Professor Lischer has taught and lectured widely in the areas of practical theology, ministry, religious autobiography and preaching. He has held many distinguished lectureships, including the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 from the Academy of Homiletics.