Preaching: a chorus of witnesses Nr. 2 April 75(2021) Union Presbyterian Seminary creator text 75,H.2 continuing 99 Contributors 100 Editorial Richard W. Voelz 102 On Shrieking the Truth: Mary and Proclamatory Wailing Donyelle C. McCray Drawing on examples of the Virgin Mary, Margery Kempe, and Mothers of the Movement, this article explores wailing as a form of prophetic speech. According to Christian tradition, the Virgin Mary wailed at the crucifixion, and her cries constituted a substantive message of judgment and lament. Many in the medieval church considered her a preeminent preacher. Margery Kempe, a medieval pilgrim preacher, and the Mothers of the Movement, African American activistmourners, also herald a divine message through wailing. In illuminating this form of bearing witness, this essay considers the sonic dimensions of the gospel, the authority of the preacher, and the nature of divine revelation. 112 The Edge of Water: Preaching Sovereignty in Rising Tides Jerusha Matsen Neal This analysis of two Fijian Methodist sermons responding to climate catastrophe argues for the significance of preaching that emerges from displaced and occupied communities, particularly for Christianities shaped by Western colonialism. Not only do these testimonies call the Western church to repentance, they challenge the West’s overeager cooption of “place” as a theological project. In their proclamation of ontological alternatives to Western political and epistemological sovereignties, these sermons call listeners – and preachers – to a radical relationality with the world and with God. 123 Preaching by the Rivers of Babylon: How an Exile from Pulpit and Pew Can Change White Preaching On the Other Side of Pandemic Casey T. Sigmon Preaching platforms have always influenced the message preachers prepare and the message people receive, for good and for ill. The shift from the pulpit platform to social media platforms during stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals a legacy of White supremacy haunting the sanctuary. This essay explores this legacy, its relationship with technoculture, and its impact on the practice of White preaching. 134 Questions for Conversational Preaching Richard W. Voelz This essay considers the role of questions within sermons in dialogue with efforts to develop an ethos of conversational preaching. Questions reveal much about who preachers are, how they relate to listeners, and how they envision the homiletical situation. And in so doing, they continue to highlight the relationship between theology and rhetoric in preaching Between Text and Sermon 146 Isaiah 52:1–7 Claire George Drumheller 149 Mark 1:9–15 Gennifer Brooks 152 1 Corinthians 9:8–18 Jacob D. Myers Major Reviews 155 The Overshadowed Preacher: Mary, The Spirit, and the Labor of Proclamation by Jerusha Matsen Neal Karoline M. Lewis 158 The Beauty of Preaching: God’s Glory in Christian Proclamation by Michael Pasquarello III Robert W. Brewer 161 Preaching the Luminous Word: Biblical Sermons and Homiletical Essays by Ellen F. Davis with Austin McIver Dennis Frances Taylor Gench 164 Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels by Craig S. Keener Sarah E. Rollens 167 Shorter Reviews 186 Book Notes 0030026 0020-9643 20260801081203.0 0079382