Luchetti, Lenny. Preaching with Empathy: Crafting Sermons in a Callous Culture. The Artistry of Preaching Series. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2018. ISBN: 9781501841729. Pages: xv+98

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Our world is turning increasingly apathetic. Our individualistic culture is making us more and more insensitive to the feelings and needs of others. In other words, we live in a world with high empathy deficit. Contrary to apathy, empathy is the ability to feel what others feel and know the viewpoint of others. Luchetti argues that in our callous culture, preachers need to be more empathetic in order to connect with the people in the pew and to connect them with God.

Luchetti begins with an exploration of the nature of God. He affirms that the very nature of the Holy Trinity is empathetic. The three persons in the Trinity are related empathetically. Moreover, the incarnation of the second person of Trinity is evidence that God is an empathetic God. Jesus is the supreme example of an empathetic person.

Having laid the theological foundation, he moves on to a historical survey. He points out to two examples of empathetic preaching—John Wesley and Martin Luther King Jr. He also examines the practices of these two models of empathic preachers.

Having convinced us of the need for empathic preaching in our culture of apathy, Luchetti concludes with some suggestions in two areas. How to cultivate empathy in preachers and how to bring empathy into our preaching.

Empathy is now a big catchword in the corporate world. Dozens of books are being written on how to cultivate empathy to improve customer relations, marketing, etc. However, there are no resources about the what, why and how of empathy in preaching. Luchetti has filled that lacuna through this title.