Will It Play in Peoria? The Rhetoric of Folly and Its Application in Sermons (Vol. 2)

A brilliant and riveting philosophy of preaching combined with an brutal assessment of the difficulty of preaching in a post-modern culture defines the first half of the book. Dr. Kennedy combines contemporary rhetorical studies with homiletical theories to map a guide for preaching well. The absolute necessity for the preacher to be a life-long reader is a constant theme along with the power of words and the preacher’s need to work in words the way a potter works in clay. The second part of the book offers sermon samples that adhere to the preaching philosophy of Dr. Kennedy. His sermons read like well-reasoned arguments because the sermon is an argument. The sermons are packed with visual power and homiletical imagination. The Bible is read symbolically in an attempt to explicate the plain meaning of Scripture. The metaphorical power to create reality appears throughout the book. These are sermons you would have wanted to hear.