Review of With God in the Crucible by Peter Storey

Here is my Amazon.com review of

Peter Storey, With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005). 

Powerful sermons that concisely tell the story of the fall of apartheid in South Africa, November 13, 2008

By
Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews

I was moved to tears and deeply challenged by this tale of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa–illustrated by the concise sermons of Peter Storey. In 1990, apartheid began being dismantled. In 1994, the first democratic elections were held. Storey was involved before, during and after these events. Storey was the pastor of Central Methodist Mission Methodist in Johannesburg from 1976 to 1989; Methodist Bishop of the Johannesburg/Soweto area from 1984 to 1997; and Professor of the Practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School from 1999 to 2006. Storey himself is a white South African but served alongside black leaders like Desmond Tutu who wrote the foreword.

It took me about 4 hours to read the 175 pages. There are 23 sermons here which may sound like a lot but they are only 2-5 pages each. Each sermon is prefaced by a description of the dramatic events that occasioned the sermon. The sermons launch from a relevant Scriptural text and are illustrated with poignant stories and powerful quotations.

Retired United Methodist Bishop Ken Carder required this book for first year MDiv students in his Introduction to Christian Ministry course at Duke Divinity School and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Note:

I do not think of Amazon.com reviews as significant academic
reviews of the book.  People who view this review at Amazon.com will
already be browsing the book.  My review is intended to give the person
a better idea of what is in the book, thus helping them decide if they
want to buy it.  No one had reviewed Storey’s book so I thought I would
give people a better idea of what it was all about. 

Related resources:

See my other post about Storey at:
Education in the Local Church: Taylor, Willimon, Storey, Niebuhr, and Groome

An online article by him is:
Peter Storey, Rules of Engagement: Faithful Congregations in a Dangerous World. Inaugural Lecture for Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Chair of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke University Divinity School, 1999.  Storey taught at Duke Divinity School from 1999 to 2006.

See the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence website for more Duke Divinity School resources on pastoring. 

We read the following books in Bishop Ken Carder’s Introduction to Christian Ministry course at Duke Divinity School, where I am the preceptor (teaching assistant).