The Best of Will Willimon
Acting Up in Jesus' Name
Published March 2012
The best of the best from one of the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world
He’s been called a contrarian, a provocateur, and a few other things we can’t say in print. He’s also been called one of the twelve most effective proclaimers of the gospel in the English-speaking world. He’s been a pastor, a chaplain, and a bishop. But ask William H. Willimon how he sees himself, and he’ll tell you it’s as a preacher and a truth-teller. He has pursued that passion for preaching the truth of God in over sixty books.Gathered in this volume are Willimon’s best writings on what it means to be a faithful Christian, and a faithful preacher of the Christian gospel, in today’s world. All the themes that so enliven his writings–the gospel’s refusal to be co-opted by the culture, the strangeness of Christian faith, the centrality of the preached word of God–are present here. Whether you’re a long time Willimon reader or are encountering him for the first time, you will find inspiration and much food for thought from this, one of God’s most “peculiar prophets.”
About the Author
William H. Willimon
Will Willimon is a preacher and teacher of preachers. He is a United Methodist bishop (retired) and serves as Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. For twenty years he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. A 1996 Baylor University study named him among the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English speaking world. The Pew Research Center found that Will was one of the most widely read authors among Protestant clergy in 2005. His quarterly Pulpit Resource is used by thousands of pastors throughout North America, Canada, and Australia. In 2021 he gave the prestigious Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale Divinity School. Those lectures became the book, Preachers Dare: Speaking for God which is the inspiration for his ninetieth book, Listeners Dare: Hearing God in the Sermon.
