The Divine Voice

Webb offers a carefully and creatively wrought phenomenology of sound, showing its relation to the proclamation of God's Word. His keen insights on the primordial nature of sound, speech, and hearing will force theologians to examine, once again, what it means to be a 'hearer of the Word.' Webb masterfully displays the intrinsic relationship between dynamic listening and speech--how intent hearing and confident proclamation are intimately conjoined. He has the rare gift of combining acute theological insight with a mellifluous, readable style. The nature of God's own Word here becomes clearer: vibrant and tensile, life-giving in tone and texture. Whether examining Jesus as the voice of the Father, the role of voice in innertrinitarian relations, or the relationship between voice and gender, Webb offers the kind of thought-provoking and highly creative reflections rarely found elsewhere. He has a creative and incisive theological mind.--Thomas Guarino, Seton Hall UniversityBeing appreciative of Webb's earlier work on hyperbolic language in theology and preaching, I welcomed The Divine Voice. How risky to toss a spoken word into a room of silent readers and expect it to be heard! I was reprimanded, instructed, and moved by the sound of this book. Were I still in the seminary classroom, The Divine Voice would be required reading before one word was said about how to preach.--Fred B. Craddock, The Craddock CenterThe Divine Voice is a book of academic theology worthy of the Psalmist who sang 'Day after day the word goes forth, night after night the story is told. Soundless the speech, voiceless the talk, yet the story is echoed throughout the world' (Ps 19:2-3). Stephen Webb is an 'acoustemological' theologian, for whom speech can be prayerful as silence, and silence as instructive as proclamation. When the sounds heard by faith reach Webb's ever-insightful and creative mind, only synthesia could result, and the result is a gift for us all.--Peter Ochs, University of Virginia