Sermons That Sing - (Dynamics of Christian Worship) by Noel A Snyder (Paperback)

About the Book

Theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds might be helpfully informed by musical theory.

Book Synopsis

Preaching and music are both regular elements of Christian worship, yet they often don't interact or inform each other in meaningful ways. Theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds might be helpfully informed by musical theory-so that preachers might craft sermons that sing.

Review Quotes

"Music and language are human universals that are widely regarded as synergistic. How strange it is, therefore, that their relationship is underexplored by preachers whose ministry involves using sound to inspire the church to make a joyful melody to the Lord amid the world's deafening cacophony! Sermons That Sing is a deep dive into a long overdue exploration from which preachers will emerge creatively recharged to competently lead the procession of praise for God, who joyfully sings over us."

"There are few resources available today that truly bring the homiletic and liturgical arts together in conversation as winsomely as Noel Snyder's Sermons That Sing. This is a resource that every pastor and worship leader should read together. It is an interdisciplinary feast laid out with pastoral grace and acumen that ultimately points us to our singing Savior. I'm already grateful for all that I have learned from it!"

"This positively original book by Noel Snyder is guaranteed to inspire preachers with a vision of sonorously potent sermons that ring true with the good news of the God who, as the poet John Dryden imagines it, sing-speaks creation into being and who mends the human creature with Spirit-ed words that retune the heart to the voice of the Chief Liturgist, Christ himself."

"Throughout the history of preaching, there have been preachers who proclaim the gospel in a musical fashion. They chant, intone, or sing their sermons, literally. Noel Snyder takes readers deeper than historical practice to a theological and methodological framework for engaging homiletical theory through the lens of musicology. Like a musical homiletician, he teaches us how preaching makes music through synchrony, repetition, and teleology. Like a sermonic conductor, he directs us in the gospel symphony of Jesus Christ that is a melody we all should sing. Like a pastoral musician, Snyder leads us to recognize that the melodious good news in the pulpit should be the faithful reverberation of the musical tune of doxology on the altar of our hearts. This book is a must-read for those who desire to practice a hymnic homiletic."

"Sermons That Sing is essential reading for anyone exploring homiletics as it relates to theology and the arts. Noel Snyder masterfully provides a map to orient us into an expansive conversation, where musicality and preaching converge for a melodious dialogue, and the power and possibilities of Christian proclamation within the arts are given their due with honor."

"A fresh and fascinating look into the practice and history of preaching through the lens of music. An insightful and intelligent offering to the field of homiletics even for those who would never call themselves musicians, as Snyder's clear and winsome writing draws the reader into a rich and lively conversation between the two. A great text for those who want to get beyond the noise of preaching and attend to the deeper rhythms within."

"In Sermons That Sing, Noel Snyder avoids mere academic abstraction in favor of substance that generates formative praxis and constructive theology. From Barth to Begbie, from the contours and cadences of tonal harmony to the modal interchange of modern jazz theory, Snyder articulates a musical homiletic in which the relationship between preaching and music is more than merely metaphorical. Through substantive engagement of music theory, musicology, and homiletic theory, Snyder demonstrates how the structures and characteristics of music (such as synchrony, tonality, repetition, and teleology) fulfill a similar function in sermons. By moving beyond music as an illustration for predetermined homiletic techniques, Snyder invites the reader into a new creative and reflective space where the study of harmony fuses with schema of Scripture and the patterns of homiletical communicative action. As a musician and songwriter who is also a preacher and theologian, I found this book to be both intellectually and spiritually satisfying, drawing the reader's curiosity and imagination into the interplay between music and homiletics. Snyder excels by pointing out analogies between music and preaching, and then pointing beyond those surface level similarities toward the more significant deep structures present within both disciplines. These structures function as instruments in the economy of salvation, facilitating the work of the Spirit in the people of God in ways that are deeply creaturely and yet all caught up in the beauty and holiness of God's redemptive, sanctifying, and sonic work. This book is a must-read for those interested in relinquishing neither the role of art and beauty nor the constructive task and praxis of Christian theology, but who long to see their interplay proceed to deeper, more substantive, and spiritually formative integration."

About the Author

Noel A. Snyder (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is program manager at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University and an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).