ABSTRACT
Most would agree that preaching is at the center of Protestant churchly life. Likewise, most would agree that something is not quite right about the preaching that goes on in the churches. A few ministers have the reputation of being 'good preachers'. The Christian movement has always existed in relation to a collection of sacred writings, the Hebrew Scriptures in the time of its formation, and the two testament canon from the second century to the present. The sense of being subject to the collection was reaffirmed in the Reformation. The bridge paradigm reflects both a way of thinking about preaching and a way of thinking about the Bible. As a way of thinking about preaching, the bridge paradigm is clearly a departure from the primitive Christian preaching as people find it described on the pages of the New Testament.
