Based on a decade's experience of preparing ministry students to become preachers and his own experience as one of today's most gifted preachers, Doug Gay offers an imaginative, practical and inspiring guide for all who are privileged with the task of preaching.

40 short, pithy and often humorous reflections consider different aspects of the nature and practice of preaching and aim to fire the imagination, build confidence and develop creativity.

It draws on a wide range of range of writers and theologians on preaching and the creative arts and incorporates voices as diverse as Stanley Hauerwas, Sam Wells and Miles Davis.

Arranged in four parts, What is Preaching?, Learning to Read, Learning to Speak, Living and Preaching it includes topics such as:

* Finding your voice
* Naming the presence of God
* Knowing your people
* Knowing you place and time
* Preaching as nourishment
* Knotty texts
* Wrestling your own blessing from the text
* Choosing the best words
* Preaching without notes
* Preaching from a script
* Putting your heart and your head into preaching
* Getting out of God's way and more.