Volume 3 The Paul L. Holmer Papers: Selected Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers In his teaching and his writing, Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987), not only made important contributions to recent American theology, but was also much in demand as a public speaker and preacher. Following his death, the Holmer family in 2005 donated his papers to the Yale Divinity School Library. In this, the third volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers: Communicating the Faith Indirectly, the reader will see Holmer's deep concern with the problems and possibilities of the sermon, liturgy, ministry, and spirituality. Inspired by Soren Kierkegaard's reflections on "indirect communication," and by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Holmer not only reveals his strenuous reflection on the sermon, but also gives concrete examples of his own efforts to communicate, enabling his hearers and readers to "make sense" of their lives. In the first part of this volume, Holmer reflects upon Kierkegaard's "indirect communication," a communication not of knowledge but of human capacity. In other pieces Holmer turns to liturgy, ministry, and spirituality. In the second part of this volume, the reader sees Holmer's own challenging, uncompromising practice of religious and Christian communication, in a selection of his sermons, addresses, and prayers. For anyone concerned with sermons, liturgy, spirituality, and the challenges of ministry, Holmer's essays and addresses will prove indispensable. This is the third volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, which includes also volume 1, On Kierkegaard and the Truth, and volume 2, Thinking the Faith with Passion: Selected Essays.
Barrett, Lee C.: - Lee C. Barrett is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Heidelberg Catechism (2007), Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard (2009), and co-editor of Kierkegaard and the Bible (2010).
Cain, David William: - David Cain is Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and minister in the United Church of Christ. He is editor of Sermons of Arthur C. McGill, (Cascade Books, 2007), and author and photographer of An Evocation of Kierkegaard / En Fremkaldelse af Kierkegaard (1997).
Gouwens, David J.: - David J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination (1989) and Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker (1996).
Holmer, Paul L.: - One of our most formidable Christian apologists, Paul Holmer, joined the heavenly symposium on June 29th 2004. Dr. Holmer was a product of Salem Covenant Church in Minneapolis. As a graduate student at Yale University during the Second World War, Paul Holmer's thesis (on Nietzsche) was impounded with a government clamp-down on his Kantian (and supposedly pro-German) Professor Ernst Cassirer. Young Holmer easily took another topic, finished his Ph.D. and returned to the University of Minnesota where he taught for 14 years. In 1960 he went back to Yale as professor of philosophy and theology, teaching for 26 years--a brilliant 40-year career doing what he had mastered and what he loved. Paul Holmer wrote a half dozen books, many articles and was especially highly regarded as a brilliant teacher.
Willimon, Will: - Will Willimon is one of the most popular writers on church, ministry, and religion in the United States today. His books have sold over a million copies. He has served as an editor, writer, pastor, and bishop. He currently teaches at Duke Divinity School.
