WHY JOHNNY CAN'T PREACH

I got all enthusiastic and read one of the 14 books assigned for this semester - the shortest one. I had seen the title before, but had never read it: Why Johnny Can't Preach.

Dr. David Gordon wrote the book in 2004 while battling cancer. Facing his own mortality and hoping to spark a necessary conversation, he wrote to get something off his chest: his criticism of the generally poor quality of preaching in the American church. 

I find his critique of American preaching to be tough but fair. 

Gordon outlines 3 questions the hearer should be able to answer after a sermon:

1. "What was the point or thrust of the sermon?"
2. "Was this point adequately established in the text that was read?"
3. "Were the applications legitimate applications of the point, from which we can have further fruitful conversations about other possible applications?"

He protests that for many sermons he has endured, even the first question is unanswerable. Furthermore, even if there is a coherent point, the preacher has trotted out the Scripture passage to support the point he wants to make rather than having drawn his point from the text.  

(That practice drives me crazy.)

Gordon diagnoses the cause of the problem as being preachers lacking deep reading and writing skills. Today's preachers are shaped more by TV and social media than by the great poets and authors who had significant truths to communicate. And did so in complex and beautiful ways.

But Shakespeare can't compete with Tik Tok dance videos. 

It feels like an accurate diagnosis to me, but it leaves me a bit depressed -  because it means there is no quick or easy solution.