We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken

Many books on preaching focus solely on crafting sermons, dealing with parishioners, and other external concerns. We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken focuses instead on the person and formation of the preacher, describing the kind of Christian wisdom and character that are required to hear and speak the Word of God.

Michael Pasquarello here offers a holistic vision of the person and work of the preacher. He emphasizes the kind of person one must become in order to be faithful to the Word of God incarnate in Christ and mediated by the witness of Scripture. To that end, he highlights the wisdom, virtue, judgment, and discernment ministry requires.

While this is not a new subject, it has until recently been considered relatively unimportant, a significant contrast to the views of the patristic and medieval periods in which the holiness of the preacher was of primary concern. Matters of skill, technique, and style were secondary to the spiritual and moral formation of the person who preaches. In other words, what we preach and how we preach should be inseparable. Pasquarello argues for a return to the Augustinian mindset – that the pastor must become, through faith, hope, and love, a “living sermon.”