From D.A. Carson's and Tim Keller's chapter, "Gospel-Centered Ministry" in The Gospel As Center:Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices (Crossway, 2012). Note especially the last line (read the full chapter here: http://static.crossway.org/excerpt/the-gospel-as-center/the-gospel-as-center-download.pdf).
"Over the last few years there has been a major push to abandon expository preaching for what is loosely called “narrative” preaching. The diagnosis goes something like this:
These are postmodern times, marked by the collapse of confidence in the Enlightenment project and a rational certainty about “truth.” So now hearers are more intuitive than logical; they are reached more through images and stories than through propositions and principles. They are also allergic to authoritarian declarations. We must adapt to the less rational, nonauthoritarian, narrative-hungry sensibilities of our time.
In our understanding, it is a great mistake to jettison expository preaching in this way. But in some quarters, the response goes something like this: “Because postmodern people don’t like our kind of preaching, we are going to give them more of it than ever.” They are unwilling to admit that much conventional use of the expository method has tended to be pretty abstract, quite wooden, and not related to life. It is also true that many traditional expository preachers like the “neatness” of preaching through the Epistles instead of the vivid visions and narratives of the Old Testament. But most importantly, expository preaching fails if it does not tie every text, even the most discursive, into the great story of the gospel and mission of Jesus Christ."
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