Good preaching not only requires its practitioners to become skilled biblical exegetes. It also requires them to become adept in 'exegeting' local congregations and their contexts, so that they can proclaim the gospel in relevant and transformative ways for particular communities of faith. Unfortunately, however, homiletical texts and courses have not always attended as carefully or thoughtfully to the exegesis of contexts as they have to the exegesis of the texts. While preachers have been provided with detailed methods for biblical interpretation, congregational interpretation has frequently been left to the intuition and hunches of the local pastor. This book seeks to correct that imbalance.
