In expository preaching circles, the name of Dr. Sidney Greidanus has become synonymous with the idea of preaching Christ from the Old Testament. He has been able to put his experience as both pastor and professor to good use in his series of books on Preaching Christ from the Old Testament. We’re pleased to offer his complete series of five volumes for the Accordance Library, beginning today. These volumes may be purchased together as a set or individually.
Greidanus calls the methodology used in his books a “redemptive-historical Christocentric method.” He has developed a 10-step method for going from the biblical text to the sermon. These steps are included in every book. Context and literary features are essential early steps for understanding the passage. That is, Greidanus emphasizes that no passage in the Old Testament can be looked at from a Christocentric perspective before it can be understood in its original setting.
Each of the four volumes on specific Old Testament books are means of giving further concrete explorations of the methods in the first book upon specific writings of the Old Testament. The final volume focuses on the 22 psalms found in The Revised Common Lectionary for reading in Year A of the Christian year. Each chapter of these books walks the reader through the issues related to Greidanus’ 10 steps of sermon preparation. These chapters are not sermons themselves but explorations of methodology related to specific passages. Sample sermons following Greidanus’ methods, preached by the author himself at actual churches, can be found in the appendices of the books.
Although initially written for classroom use, Greidanus states that he has preachers, seminary students, and Bible teachers in mind as the target audience of these volumes. Scripture quotations are most often from the New Revised Standard Version.
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (5 Volumes)
Regular Price $169
Here is a brief overview of the individual volumes.
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (1999)
This is the volume that started it all! When Dr. Greidanus began teaching preaching classes at Calvin College, he wanted to offer a course on Christocentric preaching in the Old Testament. To his surprise, he couldn’t find a suitable textbook; so he wrote his own.
Greidanus outlines an overview of this book in his preface:
We are about to embark on a journey of discovery. Our voyage will take us from the necessity of preaching Christ to the necessity of preaching from the Old Testament (Chapter 1), to the necessity of preaching Christ from the Old Testament (Chapter 2), to the struggles in church history to attain this requirement (Chapters 3 and 4). We expect to learn from the failures as well as the triumphs. Meanwhile, we will have to sort through many fundamental issues on which there is no agreement among contemporary scholars. For example: What do we mean precisely by preaching Christ? Is God-centered preaching of the Old Testament sufficient, or should preachers aim for explicitly Christ-centered sermons? Is the Old Testament a sub-Christian, a pre-Christian, or a Christian book? Should the Old Testament be interpreted in its own context, in the context of the New Testament, or both? Does or does not the Old Testament witness to Christ, and, if so, how? Is typological interpretation in the same league with allegorical interpretation? Is the New Testament use of the [p. xiv] Old Testament normative for preachers today, or is this “precritical” interpretation outdated (Chapter 5)? And how, specifically, does one go about preaching Christ from the Old Testament in a responsible manner (Chapter 6)? We will conclude our journey by suggesting specific steps for moving from Old Testament text to Christian sermon (Chapter 7) and by providing concrete examples of ways of preaching Christ from the Old Testament (Chapter 8).
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament
Regular Price $33.90
Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons (2007)
From the publisher:
Packed with unique features, Preaching Christ from Genesis
- uses the latest scholarly research to analyze twenty-three Genesis narratives
- presents the rhetorical structures and other literary features of each narrative
- discloses the message for Israel (theme) as well as the author’s likely purpose (goal)
- explores various ways of preaching Christ from each narrative
- offers sermon exposition and commentary in oral style
- suggests relevant sermon forms, introductions, and applications
Including helpful appendixes — “Ten Steps from Text to Sermon,” “An Expository Sermon Model,” and three of the author’s own Genesis sermons — this volume will be an invaluable resource for preachers and Bible teachers.
Preaching Christ from Genesis
Regular Price $37.90
Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons (2010)
From the publisher:
A respected expert in both hermeneutics and homiletics, Greidanus does preachers a great service here by providing the foundations for a series of expository sermons on Ecclesiastes. He walks students and preachers through the steps from text to sermon for all of the book’s fifteen major literary units, explores various ways to move from Ecclesiastes to Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and offers insightful expositions that help the preacher in sermon production but omit the theoretical and often impractical discussions in many commentaries.
Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes
Regular Price $29.90
Preaching Christ from Daniel: Foundations for Expository Sermons
From the publisher:
In Preaching Christ from Daniel Sidney Greidanus shows preachers and teachers how to prepare expository messages from the six narratives and four visions in the book of Daniel. Using the most up-to- date biblical scholarship, Greidanus addresses foundational issues such as the date of composition, the author(s) and original audience of the book, its overall message and goal, and various ways of preaching Christ from Daniel. Throughout his book Greidanus puts front and center God’s sovereignty, providence, and coming kingdom.
Preaching Christ from Daniel
Regular Price $33.90
Preaching Christ from the Psalms: Foundations for Expository Sermons in the Christian Year (2016)
From the publisher:
Beginning with a general introduction on how pastors can interpret and preach from the biblical psalms — and why they should — Greidanus proceeds by discussing twenty-two psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, supplying the building blocks necessary to preach from Psalms at Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and other major days and seasons of the church year. In addition to laying out basic homiletical-theological approaches suitable for each selected psalm, these chapters also provide verse-by-verse exposition, bridges to Christ in the New Testament, and ideas for placing the psalmist’s words into contemporary context.
Preaching Christ from the Psalms
Regular Price $39.90
For even more information, check out this review.