Articles by Rev. Dr. Neal Presa
The Rev. Neal D. Presa, Ph.D. is a Filipino American pastor theologian who is Associate Pastor of the 1100-member Village Community Presbyterian Church (Rancho Santa Fe, California), Visiting Professor of Practical Theology for International Theological Seminary (West Covina, CA), Visiting Professor and Scholar for Union Theological Seminary (Dasmariñas, Philippines), Research Fellow for Practical and Missional Theology for the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa), Fellow for The Center for Pastor Theologians (Oak Park, Illinois), and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Foundation (Jeffersonville, IL). He was the Moderator of the 220th General Assembly (2012-2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He is the Book Review Contributing Editor for The Living Pulpit.
by Neal D. Presa
The subversive beauty that lurks in the human story, which gives witness to the power of the hidden Christ, who is real in our speaking and in our living can be seen in comparing the works of Shūsaku Endō, Makoto Fujimura, and Martin Scorsese.
by Neal D. Presa
Although many subscribers to this journal belong to the various Protestant ecclesial traditions, it behooves us to read, reflect upon, and study Congar’s thoughts. His is another important lens into what it means to be the Church, how our life on this side of heaven is a relationship with and response to God and God’s revelation in Christ through the Spirit, and that the dividing wall of sacred and profane, as Congar puts it, is a permeable one because of the comprehensive nature of the Lord’s love and mercies for all of creation.
by Neal D. Presa
Ronald Byars gives us in this present volume a treasure and an invitation. It’s a treasure because as a pastor-professor-theologian, Byars is adept at describing the theology and history of the Lord’s Table, specifically, and sacramental theology, more generally. Even as he belongs to the Presbyterian tribe, he and his writing are ecumenical through and through. He presents actual case studies of pastoral leaders and their congregational communities in living into and living out frequent Eucharistic celebration.
by Neal D. Presa
The pioneering publication of “Preaching the Presence of God” by Korean American homiletics scholar and Iliff School of Theology professor, Eunjoo Mary Kim began a necessary conversation and important consideration of Asian/Asian American preaching, churches, scholarship, and pastoral leadership on the American Christian ecclesial landscape. Churches and the academy are playing catch-up with Asian/Asian American immigration trending as the fastest growing demographic community in the United States. It highlights to the majority culture the distinctive character of a segment of Asian/Asian American cultures and traditions, and the contribution that Asian/Asian American ethos and pathos bring to the table and to the pulpit.
Reviewed by Neal D. Presa
Anglican Bible scholar N.T. Wright addresses the sharp criticism of Reformed Baptist pastor John Piper and other critics who see Wright’s representation of the so-called “New Perspective” as a threat to the doctrines of forensic justification and imputation from the 16th century Protestant Reformation and 17th century post-Reformation.
Reviewed by Neal D. Presa
In this volume, Tim Keller has given us a tour de force that every homiletics professor and pastor will want to buy, read, and apply to their preaching and teaching. In this volume, Keller is careful to say that he has not written a preaching manual, but he has penned his preaching manifesto. In reading this book, you get a sense that you are sitting at the feet of a preaching master while at once with a fellow brother in Christ who is encouraging and rooting you on in the serious business of exegeting text, context, and subtext.
Reviewed by Neal D. Presa
This book is the first volume in “The Promise of Homiletical Theology” series as part of the Homiletical Theology section in the Academy of Homiletics. Boston University homiletics scholar, David Schnasa Jacobsen, collaborated with six other homileticians in describing the multivalent relationships of preaching, preaching preparation and theology. At its core, the volume asserts that every part of the preaching craft is engaged in theology and is itself theological by definition because the subject, object, and predicate of preaching is God.
Reviewed by Neal D. Presa
To know oneself, one must have a proper understanding of God. Or to put it simply: the true identity of God leads to true identity of who we are, whose we are, and what we are to be and to do. For the task and craft of preaching the identity of God is critical, essential, and pivotal. Paul Molnar applies Barth’s theology of the Trinity and election, and then uses the thoughts of one of Barth’s students, the late reformed theologian, Thomas F. Torrance, to bring clarity to Barth’s thoughts on the matter, and to provide a corrective to contemporary theologies.
Reviewed by Neal Presa
As a volume written from and for Global North contexts, Bieler and Gutmann call preachers to synchronic the “how” (form) and the “what” (content) of preaching to the “life-worlds” of parishioners, specifically, and the human family, more broadly.
Reviewed by Neal Presa
Fuller Theological Seminary president Mark Labberton and Redeemer Presbyterian Church pastor Timothy Keller each provide the Church at-large with a clear articulation of how the Gospel influences our walk with Jesus Christ in the public square. What is at stake for all Christians is living faithfully and credibly with the hope that is in us.
Reviewed by Neal Presa
Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010).
Reviewed by Neal Presa
This volume describes the practical implications of being missional upon the preaching craft, and, by extension, upon the mission and ministry of the Church.
