We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken: A Grammar of the Preaching Life

What kind of Christian wisdom and character are required to hear and speak the Word of God with authenticity? How does the person of the preacher — his or her spiritual life, moral formation, wisdom, and virtue — affect the spoken sermon?

Following Augustine's assertion that the preacher must become "a living sermon" — a person whose language and life are one with the truth of God incarnate in Christ — Michael Pasquarello here puts forth a vision of preaching that is grounded in personal character, wisdom, judgment, and discernment. Pasquarello's holistic vision draws deeply from the Christian tradition, especially retrieving the wisdom of the great Dominican preacher Thomas Aquinas.

Distinctive for its expansive, interdisciplinary approach to preaching — as opposed to the how-to, technique-driven programs prevalent today — Pasquarello's We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken deals with some of the most significant yet neglected concerns related to preaching and pastoral leadership in our time.