So, Why Can’t Johnny Preach?
March 21, 2011Peter Mead reviews Why Johnny Can’t Preach.
A few problems with many preachers today, according to T David Gordon:
True preaching requires close examination and study of a quality text, something non-readers have no experience of today. People don’t study classical languages. They don’t read literature. They aren’t equipped to really study a text. People read for content, but don’t learn to look at how a text communicates.
True preaching requires careful composition. But people don’t write letters anymore. They talk on the phone. Instead of careful composition, we live in a day of easy and cheap talk.
True preaching requires a sensibility of the significant. But the only way to watch hours of television is to turn off such sensibility, so most do.
[...] Collin Hansen at The Gospel Coalition posts this excerpt from Peter Mead’s review of Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Has Shaped the Message by T. David Gordon: True preaching requires close examination and study of a quality text, something non-readers have no experience of today. People don’t study classical languages. They don’t read literature. They aren’t equipped to really study a text. People read for content, but don’t learn to look at how a text communicates. [...]