{"id":30107,"date":"2015-05-09T09:30:01","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T14:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=30107"},"modified":"2018-12-18T13:45:03","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:45:03","slug":"ars-praedicandi-preaching-with-the-bible-in-one-hand-and-the-newspaper-in-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/09\/ars-praedicandi-preaching-with-the-bible-in-one-hand-and-the-newspaper-in-the-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Ars Praedicandi:<\/i> Preaching with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other."},"content":{"rendered":"

As anyone who lives within earshot of cable news knows, my city of Baltimore has been particularly troubled in the past few weeks. Because I have the good fortune of not preaching every week, I did not have to address the riots in their immediate aftermath, but had the luxury of a week and a half to think about how and whether to address the issue. You can see the results here.<\/a><\/p>\n

The great 20th century Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth is often quoted as saying that one should preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (it turns out that he never said this in quite this way, but he said things close to it). Things happen in the world and preachers must respond to them, to cast the light of the Gospel upon them, so as to help their congregations read the signs of the times. But this is a risky business. The risks are several:<\/p>\n