Storycraft
The Art of Spiritual Narrative
- Preaching & Worship
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2022
FritzSearch.com earns a commission on purchases made through Bookshop.org links.
Publisher's Description
In Storycraft, renowned author Walter Wangerin Jr. explores the power of narrative and storytelling to impact message, messenger, and hearer. Through preaching and teaching, the gospel comes alive--is incarnated--in the words, actions, and stories we tell. Well-crafted stories shape the relationship between tellers and listeners, between preachers and people. And in the telling, trust is established, faith is formed, and lives change. "A well-told story gives people eyes that see, ears that hear, tongues that taste, fingers that touch, and hearts that can be moved. But even before we start to create a story, and then to tell it, we should trust we have the abilities to craft it well enough to lead our listeners to the truth" (chapter 3). Wangerin draws on personal experience and a host of voices to make a case for the importance of embracing story as an essential tool for communicating the gospel in preaching and teaching settings. He turns to personal anecdotes, wisdom from ancient classics, and a provocative anthology of narrative types. Together, Wangerin's reflections create a theology of story that shows how the Word of God takes on flesh in practiced speech. The sections of the book focus on the effect of spoken stories and the process of building a story step by step. It then provides several examples of stories for telling and expands on the importance of theatrics in preaching and teaching. In a very real sense, preachers and teachers of the gospel are actors. Motion and meaning flow not simply from words but from the embodied presentation of the preacher, who approaches the task as script writer, director, and actor.
Endorsements (2)
“A Tribute to Walter Wangerin Jr. Walter Wangerin Jr. died on August 5, 2021, while this book was in its final stages of editing and production. You can learn more about this remarkable pastor, author, and teacher at walterwangerinjr.org and discover his numerous books. The following excerpts were written by his friend, best-selling author Philip Yancey, in “My Benediction to the Beloved Storyteller, Walter Wangerin Jr.” (Christianity Today, August 9, 2021). These comments are provided with Philip’s gracious permission. “As both a sermonizer and an artist, with graduate degrees in theology and English, Walt lived with the constant tension of how best to express themes of grace and the cross. As a pastor, he found that story conveys truth most effectively and profoundly. As he told one interviewer, ‘While the intellect must be addressed in communicating Christian truth, it will not be truth for the hearer until the hearer is also touched deep within himself or herself.’ “Walt knew he was swimming against the tide. He spoke of the ‘cool pragmatism’ of modern literary taste. He sought instead to draw the reader into another world, a suspension of disbelief carried more by music and lyricism than by sense and reason. He once told me in a letter that ‘a writer hopes for the obedience of a good reader who says, “I will enter this world a while, however different it is from my own more familiar expressions of truth.”’ “Rest content, dear Walter. You have given us a well-crafted life. Because you paid attention, so can we.” Praise for Storycraft “Preachers want hearers to experience the good news the way Dietrich Bonhoeffer described it: as Christ walking among the congregation as the Word today. In this book, Walt Wangerin Jr. teaches us to draw upon the stories of Scripture, the breadth of literature, and the stories of ministry, and then consider the important fine details of how we embody our preaching. He graciously invites us into his life, ministry, and legacy to show us why we experience great stories and great preaching as gospel events that transform lives.”
“Wangerin’s Storycraft is unique among books describing the role of stories in preaching. He explores the power of story through the art of telling stories. In doing so, he strikes the perfect balance of reason and art. With simple and singular clarity, he guides the reader in creating and classifying stories. With wide-ranging glimpses of story and poetry, he invites the reader to explore the mystery of this art.”
See something wrong on this page? Report a problem