Abordagem sobre o contexto histórico, motivação, objetivos, conteúdo e a relevância do trabalho acadêmico, científico e literário de Jilton Moraes de Castro1, no campo religioso da América Latina. O ponto de partida é uma visão histórica dos anos sessenta e setenta, tempo de carência de literatura na área da homilética, quando as cobranças dos alunos para que as anotações das pesquisas apresentadas em sala de aulas fossem transformadas em livro. Descreve como a partir do surgimento do seu primeiro livro, a primeira trilogia em homilética do Brasil foi publicada. Relata, também, a origem de mais cinco livros voltados para a ciência da pregação, formando um total de oito volumes nesta área da teologia prática e da pregação cristã, em particular. Menciona a publicação do livro Homilética: da pesquisa ao púlpito em espanhol.Oferece uma rápida visão de dez novos títulos em preparo, alguns dos quais contando com a contribuição de outros homiletas do Brasil e da América Latina.Menciona a utilidade dos livros escritos por Jilton Moraes de Castro não só no Brasil, mas na América Latina e nos Estados Unidos; e finaliza buscando responder algumas questões pertinentes ao assunto, como: por que e para que pregamos? Qual o lugar da pregação na atualidade? Como pregar a esta geração digital? De que modo a cristocentricidade deve estar presente na pregação cristã? O que caracteriza a pregação protestante no Brasil? A teologia e a prática da pregação no Brasil e na América Latina precisam ser questionadas. / The present text constitutes an overview of the historical context, motivation, objectives, content and relevance of the academic, scientific and literary production of Jilton Moraes de Castro as it concerns the religious field in Latin America. The starting point is a historical view of the sixties and seventies, a time of shortage of literature in the field of Homiletics. As a seminary faculty, the lack of adequate textbook in the classroom coupled with the demands of the students led to the production of the needed textbook. Next, it describes how, after the onset of the first book a trilogy of Homiletics followed. Thirdly, it recounts the origin of five books geared toward the science of preaching, yielding a total of eight volumes in this area of practical theology and Christian preaching, in particular. In the fourth place, it points out to the publication of Homiletics: from research to the pulpit, in Spanish. Fifth, the text provides a glimpse of ten new titles in the pipeline, some of which with input from other researchers on the subject from Brazil and Latin America. Next to last, it mentions the usefulness of the literature published by Jilton Moraes de Castro reaching his birth country, Latin America and the United States of America. Finally, the text concludes with an attempt to answer some questions relevant to the subject: why and what we preach? What is the place of preaching today? As preach this digital generation? How to cristocentricidade must be present in Christian preaching? What characterizes the protestant preaching in Brazil? The theology and practice of preaching in Brazil and Latin America need to be questioned.

Preaching is a daring undertaking. Whether through music, sermons, reading scripture, or personal conversation, speaking of God is an interpretive act. One never quite knows how what one plays, says, writes, or depicts is received. The distance between minds is vast. And given that every set of eyes may read the same words differently and each set of ears hear each interpretive utterance differently, hoping to communicate meaningfully with those watching and listening is nothing short of audacious. Among these challenges, one of the most delicate is preaching on Judaism and Jews. Yet Christians cannot avoid it. Judaism and Christianity are one another’s nemeses. Some biblical texts lend themselves to anti-Jewish attitudes and stereotypes that may be unrecognized so deep is Christian contempt for Jews and Judaism. This paper offers suggestions for avoiding anti-Jewish preaching. To do that effectively it will be necessary to awaken a sensibility to the concern that pervades and penetrates Christian thought. That requires slogging through some “unprettiness.” The paper first illustrates anti-Jewish preaching by interrogating a popular text, Luke’s story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It then briefly considers Christian hymns and sacred choral music and then focuses on four sermons: The Letter to the Hebrews, Melito of Sardis’s On Passover, Augustine’s sermon 122 on John 1:48-51, and a recent sermon on Galatians 3:23-29. It concludes with suggestions for preachers, musicians and congregations and includes guidelines for preaching on Jews and Judaism and a bibliography for further study.

In this paper, the question of whether Christian preaching is implicated in the growing movement of populism is posed. The paper has identified three critical issues that call for investigation in homiletical hermeneutics. The first issue addresses the problem of biblical interpretation for homiletic practice. The second issue has to do with the impact of social media that often distorts the truth. Alarming dependence on the smart phone suggests that the task of the preacher in this rapidly changing visual and high tech culture is to deliver sermons that are critically aware of visual culture rather than literary culture. Finally, the paper calls for an approach to preaching that seeks to reveal missing, hidden and distorted truth as a way to speak against the demonic power of the profit-driven capitalism and the epidemic of gender-based violence against women and sexual minorities.