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As One Without Authority, first published in 1969 is one of the books that has changed the shape of preaching. The fact that a reading of this new edition sounds so familiar is only because the ideas first presented in this book have filtered through the literature of homiletics and the practiced of preaching for the last three and a half decades. This book has made its mark. Craddock, a marvelous writer, has been described as a key figure in the move toward narrative preaching, but is more properly understood as an advocate for induction in preaching (see below). This concern for inductive movement is driven by a fresh respect for the listener. “A line fastened at one end in the text but extended into the empty air at the other hardly constitutes an experience of the Word of God,” he writes (p. 103). This concern for the listener makes for more effective preaching but it also has got him into some difficulty at times with evangelicals who would question his fidelity to the text of Scripture. Such criticisms might not be entirely fair. Clearly, Craddock struggles with a tension between exegetical faithfulness and inductive movement. “Obviously, the next step in our consideration must be in the direction of a use of scripture that is supportive of the thesis regarding inductive movement and yet a use that does not violate the honest exegesis that the text demands as the scripture of the church (p. 94).” Still, following parallel movements in hermeneutics and theology, Craddock has opened the door to a heightened involvement of the reader/listener in interpretation. The challenge, as I see it, is to treat the listener with dignity without any compromise to a faithful exegetical process. Craddock was helpful to me in thinking through these issues.
Excerpt: However, indicution alone is here being stressed for two reasons: First, in most sermons, if there is any induction, it is in the minister’s study, where he arrives at a conclusion, and that conclusion is his beginning point on Sunday morning. Why not on Sunday morning retrace the inductive trip he took earlier and see if the hearers can come to that same conclusion? It hardly seems cricket for the minister to have a week’s head start (assuming he studied all week), which puts him psychologically, intellectually, and emotionally so far out front that usually even his introduction is already pregnant with conclusions. It is possible for him to recreate imaginatively the movement of his own thought whereby he came to that conclusion. A second reason for stressing inductive movement in preaching is that if it is done well, one often need not make the applications of the conclusion to the lives of the hearers. If they have made the trip it is their conclusion, and the implication for their own situations is not only clear but personally inescapable. (pp. 48-49)