Preaching in the Purple Zone

Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is assistant professor of preaching and worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. She is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America with, twenty years of experience. She has pastored three different Pennsylvania churches, in suburban, urban and rural settings with members spanning the red-blue political spectrum. Leah earned both her MDiv and PhD degrees from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and is author of the book Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology and the Pulpit (Chalice Press, 2015). She has been an activist for environmental justice issues for over a decade.

Although the title of [Schade's] book focuses on preaching in the purple zone—implying that the focus would be on getting beyond partisan politics—the real center of her work is examining a more dialogical approach to preaching itself. . . . She introduces a sermon-dialogue-sermon method, providing case studies, model sermons, and even an appendix of resources to announce and support the deliberative dialogue she proposes. . . . Schade has given us a clear path toward loving more and hating less, not by avoiding life in the purple zone but by directly engaging it.

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Preaching about Controversial Justice Issues: Tracing the Contours of the Purple Zone 2 Beyond “Political”: Reframing Our Understanding of Politics and Preaching 3 Homiletical Foundations for Purple Zone Preaching 4 Five Paths of Prophetic Preaching in the Purple Zone 5 Preparing for the Sermon-Dialogue-Sermon Process 6 Preaching Sermon 1: Prophetic Invitation to Dialogue 7 Deliberative Dialogue in the Purple Zone 8 Preaching Sermon 2: Communal Prophetic Proclamation 9 Case Studies from the Purple Zone, Part 1: Immigration 10 Case Studies, Part 2: Four Journeys into the Purple Zone 11 Building Bridges in the Purple Zone: Where Do We Go from Here?Appendix A: Sample Newsletter Article Announcing Deliberative Dialogue Appendix B: Options for Planning One, Two, or Three Sessions for the Deliberative Dialogue Appendix C: “Cheat Sheet” Questions to Encourage Deliberation Notes Selected Bibliography Scripture Index Index