Scriptural Storytelling: Using the Homiletic Theory of Edmund Clowney for Christ-Centered Preaching of Old Testament Narratives

Abstract

This thesis presents a model for Christ-centered expository preaching based on the preaching theology of Edmund Clowney. The first chapter presents a summation of Clowney’s biblical theology, his regard for the biblical text in both its historical context and scope of God’s total revelation, and preaching of Christ throughout all of Scripture. The second chapter provides an analysis of Clowney’s homiletical writings in order to develop a hermeneutic template for preaching Old Testament narrative. The third chapter presents the application of the hermeneutic template to five of Clowney’s OT narrative sermons. The fourth chapter contains an original expository sermon of an OT narrative passage using the homiletic model created from the second chapter. The fifth chapter presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of the model, and assessment of its implications for preachers, teachers, discipleship programs, and other biblical literary genres.