The people’s preaching class: Fred Craddock in retirement
Sometime in the late 1980s I was presenting a paper on my dissertation when I noticed that the most important person in postwar American preaching was sitting in the first row. I had the opportunity to meet Fred B. Craddock later, and that day changed my life.
During the 1960s and ’70s Fred Craddock reshaped preaching in mainline pulpits through two of his books: As One Without Authority (1969) and Overhearing the Gospel (1978). The world of homiletics has embraced, resisted, and grudgingly revisited the message of these books. They remain among the most important works on preaching in the last 60 years, and their wisdom undergirds most of today’s best preaching.
A few months ago I went to Cherry Log, Georgia, to talk with Craddock and find out what he has been doing since his retirement from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. I also wanted to find out about the work of the Craddock Center, which was established to carry on his passion for preaching the gospel in words and deeds.
