In his posthumously published collection of lectures, Theology of Mission, John Howard Yoder introduces an interesting analogy to differentiate between communication that is truly evangelical, as opposed to that which is simply manipulative.  The former, which he describes as proclamation, begins from a theological starting point.  The latter, which he describes as persuasion, starts from an anthropological starting point.  Yoder introduces the analogy of a train compared to a taxi in an attempt to introduce the difference between these two modes of speech.  As someone raised on the music of Johnny Cash, I’m probably partial to the suggestion that “the kingdom is more like a train,” but I’ll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.  Here’s the quote: Continue reading Persuasion vs. Proclamation →