The Jazz of Preaching, 20th Anniversary Edition

Learn to preach from your soul!

What if preachers were as contagiously joyful in their preaching as Louis Armstrong was in his playing and singing? As rich in their sermonic renderings as Sarah Vaughn was in her virtuosic vocals? As honest about heartache as Billie Holiday every time she sang the blues? As alluringly clear as the voice of Ella Fitzgerald? As tenaciously uninhibited in the action of creating as Duke Ellington?

This may be too much ask, even of persons who are "called by God." However, as Kirk Byron Jones demonstrates, preaching can be enhanced by an understanding of the inner dynamics of jazz. The forms, rules, and styles of jazz can inform one's practice of preaching, and its simultaneous structure and spontaneity can help preachers better understand their own art.

In his classic text for students and practitioners, Jones explains how preaching is dramatically improved with the application of key elements of jazz, including innovation, improvisation, rhythm, call and response, honesty about heartache, and delight. This 20th Anniversary Edition includes a new element—preaching from your genuine soul. Chapters include instruction and exercises for applying the jazz elements to preaching preparation and performance. This edition also includes an Introduction, in which the author sets the context for the new material and articulates his conviction that this approach to preaching is needed now more than ever.

The Jazz of Preaching 20th Anniversary Edition introduces the rich and rewarding possibilities that arise when preachers tap into their own creativity—and their own soul--when constructing and delivering the sermon.