The Censored Pulpit

The Censored Pulpit brims with subversive power, holy wisdom, and academic sophistication. Homiletician-hagiographer Donyelle C. McCray’s fascinating analysis of the preaching legacy of
medieval England’s famed mystic, Julian of Norwich, will stoke the sacred imaginations of theological scholars and working clergy. Contesting centuries old homiletics doctrine, McCray
convincingly argues why the sermon’s context need not require a pulpit, formal liturgy, Christian assembly, and without doubt, a male preacher. Instead what is most constitutive of preaching
and requisite for preachers is having the spiritual courage to proclaim the extravagant witness of the gospel in embodied speech as did Norwich and a chorus of other contemporary lay
preachers who have followed in her wake.

-- Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Howard University School of Divinity
This book is positively groundbreaking: groundbreaking historically in its persuasive portrayal of Julian of Norwich as preacher, and groundbreaking homiletically in the questions it raises about what makes for preaching today, and where we might encounter it. A beautifully written and highly provocative work of first-rate homiletical scholarship. -- Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, Clement Muehl professor of homiletics emerita, Yale Divinity School
In this groundbreaking work, Donyelle C. McCray presents Julian of Norwich as a preacher who bravely and creatively navigated the church’s institutional structures that sought to silence women and the laity. McCray makes the contemporary implications clear: Julian’s daring use of voice and body offers inspiration and guidance for all who seek to resist oppressive pulpits or preach from the periphery today. The Censored Pulpit is a bold book that challenges us to rethink the history of preaching, the genre of the sermon, and the contours of homiletics. -- Charles L. Campbell, Duke Divinity School
This volume is a great addition to the study of Julian of Norwich through a homiletical lens. Based on her profound research on spirituality in relation to medieval anchorite life and Julian’s life and her literature, McCray contributes to the field of homiletics with abundant theological and homiletical insights. She presents Julian, not merely as a preacher to the church, but also herself as “a living sermon,” one that provides a fresh, new understanding of preaching. The last chapter on “a mystical homiletic” is the jewel of the book that must be a required reading for preachers and homileticians. -- Eunjoo Mary Kim, Vanderbilt Divinity Sc