Celebrate the release of Rev. Dr. Shauna Hannan's new co-authored book, Scripting a Sermon: Using the Wisdom of Filmmaking for Impactful Preaching with refreshments in the Doug Adams Gallery!
Scripting a Sermon approaches common challenges for crafting sermons looking toward the essential components of filmmaking to help preachers create more potent sermons.
In this third volume in the "Preaching and…" series, Shauna Hannan and Gael Chandler combine their expertise to focus on the convergences between the crafts of homiletics and filmmaking. Looking to enliven the preached word, this book draws attention to the ways in which the sermon is set up to captivate the audience. For example, sermon openings, which are frequently disconnected from the sermon’s overall point or needlessly long, are explored through the techniques of filmmakers who use opening shots to introduce the narrative. Readers will be enlightened to how filmmakers use these openings to set the tone of the film, involve the audience in the characters’ story, and establish expectations for what the audience will encounter throughout the film. Hannan and Chandler give detailed and practical advice on specific aspects of this and other processes that preachers could use to craft far more effective sermons. Other chapters cover building scenes and characters, being a good editor of your work, and crafting effective sermon endings. Equipped with the wisdom of the best filmmakers, skilled preachers will gain greater insight into powerful methods for captivating hearers and impacting our world.
The Rev. Dr. Shauna Hannan (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is Professor of Homiletics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Core Doctoral Faculty for the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. She is co-author (with filmmaker, Gael Chandler) of Scripting a Sermon: Using the Wisdom of Filmmaking for Impactful Preaching (WJKP, 2024), author of The Peoples' Sermon: Preaching as a Ministry of the Whole Congregation (Fortress, 2021) and co-editor of Eco-Lutheranism: Lutheran Perspectives on Ecology. Her other published work can be found in theological journals such as Word & World, Dialog, Journal of Lutheran Ethics, and The Christian Century. Hannan, a well-regarded presenter, workshop leader, and preacher, is especially interested in equipping the next generation of lay preachers.
Gael Chandler spent three decades in LA editing comedies, dramas, documentaries, and corporate videos. She was nominated two years in a row for a Cable ACE award for Best Editing of a Comedy Series. She also taught classes on editing history, theory, and practice to CSULB, CSULA, AFI, and UCLA students and lectured at her local media center in northern California. Chandler has authored four books on film editing: Editing for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration (2021), Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video (2004 & 2012) and Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know (2009) published by Michael Wiese Productions, and Chronicles of Old San Francisco: Discovering the City by the Bay, a history book with self-guided tours published by Museyon in 2014. She co-authored Scripting a Sermon: Using the Wisdom of Filmmaking for Impactful Preaching with Shauna Hannan. Chandler has created websites and blogged on editing and SF as well as written short stories, screenplays, plays, and co-founded Picture Your Book, a book trailer company.
The Doug Adams Gallery is the primary exhibition space for the Center for the Arts & Religion at the Graduate Theological Union.