Faith is nurtured when the preacher assists the hearer to envision God’s kingdom, to see with the mind’s eye the redemption and salvation wrought through the paschal mystery, to feel being grasped by absolute and unconditional Love. A living faith fires the imagination, and this includes the invitation to imagine alternatives to the world as we know it, alternatives more in line with God’s gracious creative intent. 

Richard Lischer, James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Duke Divinity School, contributed to this collection of essays that seeks to connect preaching and Catholic social teaching by fertilizing the imaginations of preachers with visions of the reign of God. It provides practical and accessible ways to integrate the seven themes of Catholic social teaching into homilies so that the members of your assembly will be constantly challenged and inspired to devote their lives to charity and justice, thus building the kingdom of God in the here and now.

Lischer's essay is titled "To See the Kingdom: the Preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr." and is based on his presentation at a preaching conference held at Notre Dame University in 2025.

Professor Lischer has taught and lectured widely in the areas of practical theology, ministry, religious autobiography and preaching. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has pastoral experience in rural and suburban settings. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 1979 and taught homiletics and ministry.