These books are perhaps as significant in terms of their ideas as are Adams' books on counselling. As the title suggests, in Audience Adaptation in the Sermons and Speeches of Paul , Adams examines how Paul tailors his sermons and speeches to his audience. This is a topic best avoided by those whose minds are comfortably cemented in static categories. Unlike some theological conservatives, Paul does not assume his audiences are a monolithic bunch cut from the same fabric. Audiences do not possess the same interests.
People come from different backgrounds, hold diverse world views, and speak different languages.
After examining each of these speech events, Adams summarizes the principles which appear to undergird Paul's practice of audience adaptation and makes some contemporary applications. At this point the book is particularly insightful, and it is also at this point that some conservatives might get uncomfortable and charge Adams with relativism. However, anyone who is familiar with Adams' writings, lectures and sermons will know that there is no reason to doubt his orthodoxy. Here again, he is, in my view, only being faithful to Scripture. Adams asserts that the Christian preacher must be able to recast the gospel in a way which is meaningful to the audience and yet does not involve compromise.