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.

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