Book Launch: Preaching Fools (Faculty of Theology, 7 Aug)

Book Launch: PREACHING FOOLS. The Gospel as a Rhetoric of Folly (BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS) by Charles L. Campbell & Johan H. Cilliers

Preaching Fools

The court jesters, clowns, foolish ones: all images of the comic, sometimes tragic, fool. Across national and cultural borders, the archetype of the fool has played a significant role in how communities interpret and ascribe identity. As Charles Campbell and Johan Cilliers remind us, the Christian preacher, tasked with delivering a paradoxical gospel, is also a fool. In a delicate exploration with enlightening results, Preaching Fools uses a diverse representation of fools and foolish actions to show how modern preaching is inseparable from the folly of the cross. Campbell and Cilliers walk the fine line between the ugliness and beauty of the gospel and challenge readers toward a deeper engagement with its unsettling message.

Charles L. Campbell is Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Johan H. Cilliers is Professor in Homiletics and Liturgy at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University.

“Campbell and Cilliers have written a book that is at once startling in its simplicity and disturbing in its depth. Preaching Fools is both unsettling and encouraging, compelling and liberating, a marvelous tool for preachers willing to risk the rhetoric of folly to speak truth.” – ALLAN BOESAK, Theologian in Residence, The International Institute for the Study of Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, Free State University

“A deeply theological, multi-dimensional, and challenging portrayal of what it means to be fools in the pulpit! This book is a treasure.” – LEONORA TUBBS TISDALE, Clement-Muehl Professor of Homiletics, Yale Divinity School

“An incisive and discerning work – laced with examples of humor, liminality, and incongruity – that deeply unsettles perceptions of the role of the preacher.”- DENISE M. ACKERMANN, Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University

Date: Tuesday 7 August 2012

Time: 17:30

Venue: Chapel, Faculty of Theology, 171 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch University

RSVP: before 3 August 2012 at Helette, hvdwest@sun.ac.za