Preaching After God: Derrida, Caputo, and the Language of Postmodern Homiletics

"In this grand-scale book, Snider takes on the enormous task of rethinking homiletics in light of postmodern thought, and comes up with a fresh and wonderful preacher-sized proposal for speaking of God in times like ours. His refreshing honesty and engaging style will kindle new hope in those who secretly fear that preaching may be impossible in progressive circles. His energy and delight in asking the big questions will inspire others to do the same. A lively conversation-starter of a book."- Anna Carter Florence, author of Preaching as Testimony and Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary
"There is a growing industry of Christians attempting to domesticate the work of radical thinkers to fit them into an already existing theological system. Provocative writers are thus tied to a Procrustean bed by religionists seeking to make them fit within an already established religious dogma. Not so with Snider. Here he reads these vital thinkers seriously and subtly, pouring their new wine into the old wineskins. Why? So as to crack open the actually existing church and help prepare the way for a new reformation."- Peter Rollins, author of Insurrection
"In Preaching After God Phil Snider adroitly shows that postmodern theology will preach! He mounts an impressive argument that a 'homiletic of the event' is the best way to reach a world that has had enough of a supernaturalism that nullifies human agency, without sinking into an anthropologism where human subjects are the only game in town. He has an ear for postmodern theory and the gift of telling us what preaching needs to be. A must read for theologians and preachers alike."- John D. Caputo, author of What Would Jesus Deconstruct? and Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus at Syracuse University & David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Villanova University
"With a scholar's reach and a pastor's wisdom, Phil Snider courageously explores the postmodern crisis in religion and, thus, in preaching. He invigorates preaching once again by proposing a dangerous homiletical wager, that preachers risk everything, not on the power of their dogma but instead on the advent of the in-coming God. A most provocative book!"- Thomas G. Long, author of Preaching from Memory to Hope and Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology, Emory University
"There has been a lot of talk about preaching over the past number of years--debates about its viability and vitality ... But in the midst of all that talk, very little has been said about content. It was assumed that we all knew 'what the message' was, that it was simply a matter of finding the right container. Phil Snider ups the conversation by inviting us to consider the content of the influential and culture-shaping world of continental philosophy and offers us ways to incorporate it into our communicating. Phil doesn't want us to domesticate these ideas, he wants us to use them to inform and frame a new way of preaching, but beyond that, a new way of thinking about life, God, church and everything in between."- Barry Taylor, Fuller Theological Seminary
Preaching After God introduces readers to the positive theological themes stirring in the work of influential philosophers like Jacques Derrida, John Caputo, Peter Rollins, and Slavoj ?i?ek. Phil Snider shows how engaging their thought provides possibilities for preaching that highly resonate with postmodern listeners, especially those who don't wish to see Christianity reduced to little more than superstition and magic. Six lectionary-based sermons are included as examples.