The Waiting Father

Description

A collection of sermons offering deep insights into the spiritual message of Jesus’s fifteen major parables by Helmut Thielicke, the great German preacher and theologian. These were originally preached in Michaelskirche, Hamburg, in the mid-1950s. Thielicke approaches the parables in novel ways. In treating the prodigal son, for instance, he concentrates more on the loving father than the rebellious son, emphasising the centrality of forgiveness. Similarly on the pharisee and the publican, he shows that the publican is guilty of spiritual pride and arrogance, drawing attention to the dangers for the faithful. Both among expositions of the parables and among books for preachers, ‘The Waiting Father’ stands in a class of its own. Great scholars are usually poor preachers, and great scholars are rarely good preachers, but Thielicke manages to combine distinguished scholarship with fine preaching. Helmut Thielicke was an outstanding mid-twentieth century German preacher and scholar. He preached against the Nazis during the Second World War in Stuttgart and later became Rector of the University of Hamburg. Among his other books are ‘Prayer that Spans the World’, ‘Life Can Begin Again’, and his autobiography ‘Notes from a Wayfarer’.   ‘A great preacher, able to speak with tremendous power in the language of ordinary people so that is it seems that the very Word of God is being uttered to this generation.’ Baptist Times. ‘Expository preaching at its best, full of fresh and profound thought, couched in our contemporary idiom, challenging our everyday life at many points.’ Methodist Recorder. ‘An exciting book, full of the fire of great preaching and also full of the careful exegesis of the scholar. These sermons should be studied by the preacher who desires to discover how best to get his message over to a modern congregation, as well as by the student who wishes to know how the parables apply to life today.’ The Life of Faith.