Yet while Miller does tell us where the rubber hits the road, he has not quite shown us how. The inclusion of several sermons as an appendix -- annotated to illustrate just where and why he does what -- might well be expected to demonstrate the how of the process. Perhaps his next edition will include this. That would make it a perfect volume to introduce preachers to these communication dynamics. It is so close to perfection now, however, that I plan to use it as one text in a pastoral preaching seminary class I teach this fall. My only problem is determining what else I can possibly add to the discussion after we have listened carefully to all Calvin Miller has said!

Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1993), 274 pp., paper, $10.95.

Here is a unique book which will be appreciated by a diversity of preachers and laity. Taylor is Rector of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville, GA, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, a speaker on the national Protestant Hour radio program a popular speaker at clergy seminars, and the author of two sermon collections, Mixed Blessings and Seeds of Heaven.

Part autobiography and part model sermon presentation, this volume is filled with helpful and discerning counsel. With gut-wrenching honesty, the author faces the issues and stresses which strain and stretch every pastor who strives to break through barriers raised by personal history and negative contexts. William H. Willimon describes her offering well as "an engaging story of the birth of her own voice as a preacher, the struggles to bring the gospel to speech, and the joys of being an instrument of God's will."

A creative, timely and authentic contribution to the literature of spiritual formation, this book chronicles the author's growing disillusionments growing up in American society during the Vietnam era, the common frustrations felt by all those who face unexplained suffering, and the heartaches arising within all men and women when our God, as we imagine Him to be, refuses to act according to our expectations. Sweet memories, wistful desires, and joyous discoveries fill its pages, rubbing crushed shoulders against many of the agonizing realities with which life crowds us all.

One somewhat unexpected delight is her emphasis on the rediscovery of Luther's "priesthood of all believers" concept, and her insistence that while ordained clergy fulfill spiritual offices, every Christian is to be a witness whose spiritual vocation is as real as that of the preacher. "To interpret the good news of the past so that it is understood as the good news of the present and the future."

If you are intrigued by the way that well-chosen words can hit and fit, the crystal clarity of Fred Craddock's gentle introduction will please you almost as much as Taylor's singing syntax. If you respond to quality sermon models, or seek resources for fresh interpretations of seemingly-stale texts, you will find her imaginative hermeneutics to be as theologically valid as they are vigorous and new.