Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Mark Driscoll had some interesting words to say on narrative preaching that I thought were worth chewing the cud over. In "A Narrative Approach: Will it Preach?" he says this:

"The trend today is away from propositional truth: 'We don’t need propositional truth. We need narrative truth and embodied truth.' Actually, if we’re going to be multi-perspectival, we need all of it."

I think this is quite true. A truly holistic approach demands a both/and response, not an either/or response.  Yet I do get the feeling that he's missed something. There's not a word said on how a narrative approach to the gospels or acts, which are truly narrative, could be helpful. Like a true Reformed boy he skips over them as quick as possible to get talking about Romans again. And there's no word on how narrative preaching has been very successful in Africa, that mostly ignored land where Christianity is growing so vigorously. So I think he overstates his case, but, and this is a big but, I think he is essentially correct in cautioning against overcorrection. So how far do you think we should take it?

2 responses to “Narrative Approach: Pros and Cons”

  1. more fire Avatar

    I recently read Driscoll’s book “Radical Reformission.” It’s definitely an interesting read. I feel like he is very knowledgeable about missiology in a hip urban setting, but he tends to drop the ball by extending his views across a broad spectrum. He wrote that open-air preaching is not relevant anymore and should be abandoned. That method might not work in proclaiming the Gospel in Seattle, but in NYC, Chicago and other urban settings it is a great way to share the message of God’s grace to a large audience. Overall, Driscoll makes great points. Thanks for getting me to think about a great book.
    Jason
    http://www.morefire.wordpress.com

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  2. Matt Stone Avatar

    You’re welcome Jason. I have seen street preaching work in Africa, even though it is personally a huge turn off for me and many Sydney-siders, so I’ve learned not to ride off anything. It’s all about right context isn’t it!

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