Let me begin by considering four scriptural confrontations that might construe preaching as truth speaking to power. In these classic texts, the “hero,” the one with whom we side in the narrative, is the preacher, the one who has been authorized by call to utter truth that lies outside the horizon of those addressed. His preaching aims to assure by an alternative and to jar by exposé. It compels and impels action in a new direction. It is hard work—and no wonder. The primal