He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World
Author: R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN-10: 0-8024-5489-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-8024-5489-8
List Price: $22.99
Format: Hardcover
In He is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., has given pastors a very concise and readable book on the challenging task of preaching within our postmodern culture. Here were some of the highlights for me.
In chapter two, Mohler writes that preaching is grounded in the Triune God who has revealed Himself to His creation. Concerning how God’s special revelation to man relates to preaching, Mohler writes,
“All Christian preaching springs from the truth that God has spoken in word and deed, and that He has chosen human vessels to bear witness to Himself and His gospel. We speak because we cannot be silent. We speak because God has spoken” (42).
In chapter three, Mohler discusses the problem of the lack of expository preaching in today’s pulpits. He argues from Scripture that expository preaching is not just one type of preaching, but rather it alone is faithful biblical preaching. “According to the Bible, exposition is preaching. And preaching is exposition” (50). Mohler believes that the central problem in the crisis of preaching today, is that we have stopped believing that the “hearing and responding to the Word of God,” is indeed, “a matter of life and death” (54). As pastors, we must understand that we not only speak because God has spoken, but that we also speak because the lives of our people depend upon our rigorous study and faithful proclamation of God’s Word.
I wholeheartedly agree with Alistair Begg’s endorsement of Mohler’s book, “Chapter 7 alone is worth the price of the book!” Mohler begins that chapter, entitled, “The Pastor as Theologian: Preaching and Doctrine,” with this statement: “Every pastor is called to be a theologian” (105). Mohler describes the faithful pastor, as a man who not only has deep biblical and theological convictions, but as one who should always be prepared to “define, defend, and document,” said convictions.
Chapter ten, “On Preaching to Dry Bones: An Encouragement to Preachers,” was encouragement that I needed to hear. Mohler writes with the passion of a pastor and the boldness of a prophet, to encourage preachers to persevere in the noble task of preaching, during difficult times.
Mohler closes his book by offering the a brief biography of a pastor worth emulating, by writing about Charles Haddon Spurgeon, arguably the most influential Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century.
Mohler’s He is Not Silent, is an excellent source of conviction and encouragement for pastors in our day. Mohler writes with passion, as he examines the high calling of preaching by engaging both the Bible and the culture with wisdom and discernment. I hope that pastors will read this book, and press on their calling to faithfully proclaim the Word of God in a culture that desperately needs to hear it.
