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The Jazz
of Preaching
How to Preach with Great Freedom and Joy
by Kirk Byron Jones
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 musical vocals? As honest about
heartache as Billie Holliday was every time she sang about the
blues of life? As alluringly clear as the angelic voice of Ella
Fitzgerald? As tenaciously uninhibited in the action of creating
as Duke Ellington? Kirk Byron Jones explains how to dramatically
improve one's preaching through understanding and applying key
elements of the musical art known as jazz. these elements
include innovation; improvisation; rhythm; call and response;
honesty about heartache; and delight. Drawing on a deep love of
jazz and enlivening his discussion with insights drawn from the
tradition of African American preaching. Jones introduces the
reader to rich and rewarding possibilities for constructing and
delivering the sermon.—Abingdon Press, Publisher
Kirk Byron Jones has tapped sweet
dreams and a compelling vision for a time that calls for
"creating a way out of no way." Drawing on the rich
treasures of jazz, Jones calls preachers to unleash their
creative enterprise by risking improvisation, playing with
dialogue, and becoming open to receive the mystery and grace of
it all. This is a book dedicated to deep honesty. It is about
reaching for a "beyond-ness" that can persuade people
to embrace God. Jones invites his readers to listen with a kind
of "tenacious openness" in order to hear and then
participate in the construction of a sound never heard before.
While this is a book about preaching, it is also about life. In
the end, The Jazz of Preaching is about fresh joy and new
freedom in living. It is a testament of gratitude.—Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Senior Pastor,
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois
The Jazz of Preaching is a
remarkable book. You need know nothing in advance about jazz to
be impacted, because he knows not only preachers and theologians
but also poets and novelists--as well as jazz artists. Chapter
2, "Holy Common Ground," is amazing. here's a taste:
"Jazz and preaching share the common ground of mystery.
Both ultimately evade, to use poet David Whyte's phrase,
"the cage of definition." Kirk Byron Jones has more
about preaching to share here--from blues to swing.—Eugene L. Lowry, The William K. McElvaney
professor of Preaching Emeritus, Saint Paul School of Theology
Contents
| 1. Let There Be Jazz |
11 |
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| 2. Holy Common Ground |
25 |
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| 3. Dreaming a Song, Hearing a Sermon |
47 |
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| 4. A Call to Create |
63 |
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| 5. The Freedom of Improvisation |
79 |
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| 6. Can I Get a Witness? Dialogue in Jazz and
Preaching |
99 |
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| 7. Blues Preaching |
111 |
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| 8. The Swing of Preaching |
125 |
Source:
The Jazz
of Preaching How to Preach with Great Freedom and Joy
Kirk Byron Jones, D. Min., Ph.D. teaches
social ethics and pastoral ministry at Andover Newton
Theological School, Newton Centre, Massachusetts, and serves as
guest preacher and teacher at churches, schools, and conferences
around the country.
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Hopes and Prospects
By Noam Chomsky
In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky
surveys the dangers and prospects of our
early twenty-first century. Exploring
challenges such as the growing gap
between North and South, American
exceptionalism (including under
President Barack Obama), the fiascos of
Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israeli
assault on Gaza, and the recent
financial bailouts, he also sees hope
for the future and a way to move
forward—in the democratic wave in Latin
America and in the global solidarity
movements that suggest "real progress
toward freedom and justice." Hopes and
Prospects is essential reading for
anyone who is concerned about the
primary challenges still facing the
human race. "This is a classic Chomsky
work: a bonfire of myths and lies,
sophistries and delusions. Noam Chomsky
is an enduring inspiration all over the
world—to millions, I suspect—for the
simple reason that he is a truth-teller
on an epic scale. I salute him." —John
Pilger
In dissecting the rhetoric and logic of
American empire and class domination, at
home and abroad, Chomsky continues a
longstanding and crucial work of
elucidation and activism . . .the
writing remains unswervingly rational
and principled throughout, and lends
bracing impetus to the real alternatives
before us.—Publisher's
Weekly
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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The White Masters
of the World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest / Black World
Browse all issues
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1965
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____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The
Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding
of Haiti
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update 14
January 2012
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