New Trends and Developments in Preaching: Insights from South Africa
Explore the evolving landscape of preaching, with a focus on South Africa, as experts analyze current trends, challenges, and the role of biblical interpretation, congregation involvement, and evolving sermon forms in shaping contemporary preaching practices. Delve into the dynamic nature of preaching within theological and communication contexts, aimed at transforming homiletic knowledge and practices.
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New Trends and Developments in Preaching Especially in South Africa GOD BLESS AFRICA WORSHIP IN A TIME LIKE THIS SEMINAR TRACK 5 (PREACHING) SESSION 4 MARTIN LAUBSCHER UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE 17 MARCH 2015
Contents (structure) 1. Introduction 2. Contemporary Reflections on Trends, Developments and Expectations 3. Crisis in Preaching? 4. Prophetic Preaching? 5. Reflection on the Above 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography
1. Introduction Motivation Genealogy of our knowledge especially in South Africa? Transforming Theological Knowledge also in Homiletics? Preliminary, provisional and subjective interpretation Preliminary: All the literature? Provisional: work in progress Subjective: a contribution with limits
2. Contemporary Reflections on Trends, Developments and Expectations Thomas Long John S McClure Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm David J Lose Paul Scott Wilson Gerrit F Immink s Stephen I. Wright Geoffrey Stevenson In short:
Thomas Long Bible? Primacy of the Bible: Redaction criticism Increased recognition of the social and political contexts of the biblical documents Recent and growing interest in literary-critical approaches to the Bible Thus: with and beyond historical-critical reading; also see Long in Wilson 2008:17-24 Congregation? High view of the congregation > co-creators of the sermon & the Turn to the Listener Thus: Not only for the church, but with them and by them. Preacher and the Sermon? Imagine that the biblical text for next Sunday s sermon is not a piece of literature but a deep and mysterious cave. (15) Sermon Form: story-like Thus: From the Herald to the Adventurer/Explorer and Witness [Thus]: Preaching is not just getting older; in at least a few ways, it s getting better!
John S McClure Introductory: A Case Study Self-Reflection Congregational Theology Public Theology Theology of Communication Developing and Implementing Theologically Appropriate Skills and Practices Practical Theology and the Homiletics Curriculum Practical theological questions for doing homiletics Preaching as part of bigger Theology of Communication Self-reflection From knowing about preaching towards becoming wise and skilled practitioners of theological communication
Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm First, how might theology be more intentionally related to homiletics? (29) Second, The turn to the listener must not be narrowly constructed as meeting the private interests and idiosyncratic needs of the individual congregants. (30) Thirdly: With and beyond historical critical approaches social models based on historical reconstruction contribute to a backward looking perspective on Scripture. (31) Fourth, why homiletics has not more fully explored the impact of communications media on written and oral discourse. Lastly, the importance of intertextuality and collaborative homiletics a myriad of voices in Scripture and context. (31) Rediscover God s confidence in our ability to engage one another. Particular prophetic theology/preaching
David J Lose The problem with preaching should not be fixed, but embraced! (2- 6) what confronts us is not a problem but a mystery. (5) We can either continue adapting and refining established techniques or be willing to call into question our fundamental practices by leaning into and listening carefully to the world in front of us. (6) Postmodernism the rediscovery of a vibrant faith that rests not on objective data but on confessions, truth claims, and shared experiences of the Christian community. (7) Trinitarian Renaissance: Turn to relationality & otherness (alterity) E.g. The shift from truth as proof to truth as confession .(21) Secularism The loss of transcendence: Where do we find hope? Materialistic Theology: Reclaiming our ordinary lives as arenas in which Pluralism The loss of Christian identity, both individual and communal naming the distinctiveness of Christian identity. The gift of particularity
Paul Scott Wilson Preaching needs to be artistic, creative, authentic, apologetic, and contextual, to find ways to speak to a culture whose basic values have changed, and to find ways to speak to a culture whose basic values have changed, and to find fresh ways to speak of God. (xi) This is a book about how to be more imaginative in preaching. (xii) Many people may feel that postmodernism is a problem. Another perspective, one taken here, is that modernism is the problem. (xiv) Thus: Theopoetic preaching: Embrace today and speak creatively to changed context Appreciation for new understandings in terms of how language works Bible can help preachers to recover the poetry of faith So that we can speak of God in poetic ways. In sum: encourage imagination for prophetic and poetic speech. (xvi) On: Beauty and Unity: Preaching as Poetry in an Age of Math The Beauty of Faith Goodness as Relationship: Preaching as an Act of Goodness not being (that) relative Truth and Transformation: Preaching Truth as Event and Worship
Gerrit F Immink Preaching as performance: an interaction of speaking and hearing. 1. The Act of Participation - Theological and Anthropological Perspectives (Gr zinger) - What Do Worshippers Say? (Pleizier) - Local Theology (Tisdale) - Typology of Connections (Campbell) 2. The Scripture in the Performance - Homiletical Exegesis (Theological Exegesis & Liturgical Character) - Preparing the Sermon - The Bible Text as Liturgical Script - The Bible as a Historical and Literary Document - The Homiletical Reconstruction (From skopus to open texts) 3. The Rhetorical Form of the Sermon - Proclamation - Comforting, Encouraging, Exhorting, Teaching - The Sermon as Address - Sermon Models - Building a Sermon - Touching the Sacred
Good overview: Especially its Theological and Liturgical Sensitivity: God is the first hearer of the sermon. (187) Something happens when the Scriptures are read in the liturgy. (188) However: Polarizing instead complementing different readings of the text? E.g. open texts the possession of theology/homiletics? (197) Or: The minister going beyond scholarly exegesis? (194-5). And: It seems like Rose and others are convinced that the content of our faith cannot be propositional. (219). New concepts? Teaching as Transformation? Interruption? Disruption? Liturgy yes, but with an edge? Theology yes, but in the centre (as centre)?
Stephen I Wright Staging Rick Osmer s Practical Theology: An Introduction (2008) for Homiletics / Preaching. What is going on? The Historical Phenomenon of Preaching & Contemporary Functions of Preaching Why is this happening? Language, Medium and Rhetoric & Insights for Sociology and Psychology What ought to happen? The Biblical Grounding of Preaching Continuing the Story: Preaching in the Ongoing Purposes of God Ethical Guidance for Preaching Patterns and Practices for Preaching How can we make it happen? Task for the Church Task for the Preacher Thus: Unique contribution Lots of emphasis on the third process
Geoffrey Stevenson: Paul Johns Preaching on the News God speaks through the news The news not just databank of illustrations and evidence (101) Why not? Why? E.g. Thinking theologically: The news media do not simply report what is. (103) And: God s Word embedded in the world each text a picture frame for the other (105) Not equivalent, but in differing and complementary ways (106) A Theology of institutional power Critical engagement with Popular culture Contextual theology of Dislocation The primary intention in news preaching generally is not to explain either the Gospel text or the news text but to affirm the gospel in the context of the news text, as a transformation, which enables hearers to look at experienced events differently, and therefore be empowered to live differently in the world of events. (109)
In Short: Long s words in the beginning yes, but Lose s words something fundamental missing Wilson s new beautiful approach Immink s unsurprising theological emphasis John s proposal Crisis? Digging deeper
3. Crisis in Preaching? Brueggemann Paul Scott Wilson RSA: Cilliers, M ller, de Wet In short:
Brueggemann Latest work (2014): Grief, Reality, Hope Three Urgent prophetic tasks The Work Militant (2010): Foreword (Willimon): Thank you for your help in the current preaching emergency. (2010:v); and: He knows that our homiletical crisis is due to theological factors rather than rhetorical ones. (vi). The preacher is tempted to moralism, to relevance, to entertainment, to conformity, to trivialization, to moral passion about the preacher s pet project or the congregation s needy circumstances. In service of such temptations, we have developed settled rhetorical strategies, most notably sermon introductions and illustrations that are designed, for the most part, narcotize the congregation and assure them that nothing odd will happen in this hour of utterance. (4)
Paul Scott Wilson That the New Homiletic consensus does not generally extend to theological matters, for example, the need for the sermon to focus on God and the gospel. Because God and the gospel for the most part were not a deliberate focus, many sermons that the New Homiletic produced seemed to fall somewhere short of good news. (Wilson, 2008:78). The New Homiletic began in part as a theological movement, yet arguably some of its theological vision has been lost. (NIB, 399) The values of the NH will remain important, but whether it can offer anything new or assist the theological purposes of preaching is now questioned. (401)
RSA: Cilliers: One the one hand, preaching has become more tentative than before, no longer emanating from a stable and fixed truth . On the other hand, preachers tend to be very pragmatic in their approach, desperately trying not to rock the (sinking) boat too much. Preaching has to an extent taken on the mode of maintenance, rather than being an expression of innovative theology. (2010:71) The hermeneutical movement of the apartheid era into the potential of the people s pietistic reserves now takes on different forms: no longer to rectify the state of society according to certain nationalistic ideals, but simply to escape from all responsibilities regarding the new South African society. (2010:72) M ller: As in the 70 s I think that both of us believe that the church has once again reached a critical point with regard to the preaching event. It once more has become urgent to reflect on the essence of the preaching event as the fountainhead of the church s ministry. [Italics original]. De Wet: See his recent Research Project Prophetic Preaching
In short: Sense of crisis and emergency Theological Homiletics? One main development (response?) is the renewed focus on prophetic preaching Especially in RSA Thus: A Prophetic word on Prophetic Preaching?
4. Prophetic Preaching? Hennie Pieterse Fritz de Wet Johan Cilliers Allan Boesak
Hennie Pieterse Coming from Preaching in a context of poverty Strengths: Faith (preaching and liturgy) not private or spiritualized affair (4). Emphasis on poverty as a form of injustice (5) Not only prophetic content (focus), but also the style, tone, manner, rhetoric (5) Embedded within the liturgy (prayers and hymns) and especially the Liturgy after the Liturgy (5) Prophetic ecclesiology Weaknesses: Liturgy Sacraments? Poor as object vs. Poor as Gift? Explicit Theology Convictions: Who is Christ? and Where is Christ? Prophetic ecclesiology as the margin of the community?
Fritz de Wet NRF Research Project: Prophetic Preaching Numerous articles on prophetic preaching the past years Characteristics: Questioning the status quo Corruption Strengths: Voicing (breaking the silence) Framing and Reframing (Cilliers) [re-describing and imagining the world] Pastoral and Prophetic as complementary Weaknesses: Voicing vs. Listening Speaking on whose behalf? Questioning the status quo, but with protest or resistance? Jesus, but whose Jesus? Which Jesus? Differently put: Credibility of addressing this issue? The challenge of prophetic preaching for this denomination of this church? Prophetic preaching without asking how to theologize in a time like this? Absence of intra-, inter- and multi-disciplinary approach towards prophetic preaching? (Contextual analysis) Prophetic preaching more than just social justice? Self-critique?
Johan Cilliers Characteristics: Textured style and tone: logos & ethos & pathos or: resisting the powers ethically, aesthetically, comically (or lamenting) 4 Voices Living voice Critique on pietistic, other-worldly trend Strengths: Different modes of prophetic preaching Living voice not as static, fixed, repeatable, predictable, but historical and contextual Prophetic preaching linked to cultural settings (Ottoni-Wilhelm) Prophetic preaching and Imagination: Eschatological & Sacramental Theology New Concepts: Disruption Weaknesses: Voice of congregation vs. voice of the world? Moving from protest to resistance? Voice vs. Listening?
Allan Boesak Characteristics: Theology at the Edge Double edged theology at the edge (struggle and church struggle) At the edge is on the edge with an edge More difficult: From struggle to struggles Challenges and risk Critique on Mandela and 1994 transition Strengths: Edge: No generic or universal God and Christ, but very specific and concrete Rootedness and locality Differentiate between protest and resistance thus not (just) to speak on their behalf, but to listen and let them speak Weaknesses: Edge in terms of pulpit and liturgy? Pulpit and liturgy as the edge? Addressing symptoms, fruits and consequences vs. identifying the roots, causes, fundamental ways in which we think and theologize? Prophetic voice as participation? Voice as practice? Prophetic preaching as remembering what we previously did?
Reflections on the Above? Sarah Travis, Decolonizing Preaching The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space (2014) Characteristics: A desire to recognize and interrupt colonizing discourses and to uncover colonial/imperial assumptions that guide daily life. (4) All of us exist in a time and place in which colonialism echoes and reverberates we are preaching in the midst of empire. (4-5) The task of decolonizing the mind is as essential to the colonizer as it is to the colonized. (6) Hallmarks of Colonizing Discourse: Domination + Separation + Homogeneity + Fixedness An unintended yet infinitely valuable side effect of empire has been hybridity. (29) Coming to terms with the plural self addressing the issue of identity (42) reimagining home in a new way that is dependent not on the maintenance of boundaries or the security of power but on self-giving love and openness to an unknown future. (43) This liminal space between cultures opens up the possibility of cultural hybridity that entertains difference without an assumed or imposed hierarchy. (84) In short: Important and new concepts to work with, like: Disruption; Hybridity; Representation; Tricontinent; Empire; Ambivalence; Third Space; mimicry; power; naming (instead of blaming); decentering perspectives; counter-testimony; New perspective on reading Biblical text and context omnipresence of empire Ethics in preaching e.g. the issue of representation Openness and self-critique
Conclusion: Transforming Homiletical Knowledge? Both? Developments Crisis? Theological nature How do we theologize in a like this? Prophetic preaching Prophetic preaching needing a prophetic word? A time of important changes The absence and presence of postcolonial theory?
7. Bibliography: Boesak, A.A. 2014. A hope unprepared to accept things as they are : Engaging John de Gruchy s challenges for Theology at the Edge . NGTT 55, 1055-1074. Brueggemann, W. 2010. The Word Militant. Preaching a Decentering Word. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Cilliers, J. 2008. The Clown before the Powers. A South African Response to Charles Campbell s Comic Vision of Preaching. Homiletic 33:2 (10 pages), http://dx.doi.org/10.15695/hmltc.v33i2.3290 Cilliers, J.H. 2010. Preaching between Assimilation and Separation: Perspectives on Church and State in South African Society. In: Morgens Lindhardt & Henning Thomsen (Eds), Preaching Does it make a Difference? Frederiksberg: Aros Forlag, pp67-75. Cilliers, J. 2013. Prophetic Preaching in South Africa: Exploring some spaces of tension. NGTT 54, 5-19. De Wet, F.W., 2014a, The DNA of prophetic speech , HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 70(2), Art. #2052, 8 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ hts.v70i2.2052 De Wet, F.W., 2014b, The role of prophetic action in public theology the implications for addressing corruption in a context of sustainable development , In die Skriflig 48(1), Art. #1718, 8 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ ids.v48i1.1718 Immink, G.F. 2014. The Touch of the Sacred. The practice, theology, and tradition of Christian Worship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Johns, P. 2010. Preaching on the News. In: Geoffrey Stevenson (Ed.), The Future of Preaching, 101-114. London: SCM Press. Junker, T.B. 2014. Prophetic Liturgy. Toward a Transforming Christian Praxis. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, p.60-95. Long, T.G. 2005. The distance we have travelled: Changing trends in preaching. In: David Day, Jeff Astley & Leslie J Francis (eds), A Reader on Preaching. Making Connections, 11-16. Aldershot: Ashgate. Lose, D.J. 2013. Preaching at the Crossroads. How the World and our Preaching is Changing. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. McClure, J.S. 2012. Homiletics. In: Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore (red), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, First Edition, 279-288. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. M ller, B.A. 2011. A Homiletic credo A firm belief in the preaching event. In: Len Hansen, Nico Koopman & Robert Vosloo (Eds.), Living Theology. Essays presented to Dirk J. Smit on his sixtieth birthday. Wellington: Bible Media, pp337-348. Ottoni-Wilhelm, D. 2009. New Hermeneutic, New Homiletic, and New Directions: an U.S. North American Perspective. Pieterse, H.J.C., 2013, Prophetic preaching in the contemporary context of South Africa , In Die Skriflig/ In Luce Verbi 47(1), Art. #114, 6 pages. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.4102/ids.v47i1.114 Travis, S. 2014. Decolonizing Preaching. The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space. Eugene: Cascade Books. Tubbs Tisdale, L. & De Wet, F.W., 2014, Contemporary prophetic preaching theory in the United States of America and South Africa: A comparative study through the lens of shared Reformation roots , HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 70(2), Art. #1337, 8 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ hts.v70i2.1337 Wilson, P.S. 2008. Setting Words on Fire. Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Nashville: Abingdon Press Wilson, P.S. (Ed.) 2008. The New Interpreter s Hankbook of Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Wilson, P.S. 2014. Preaching as Poetry. Beauty, Goodness, and Truth in Every Sermon. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Wright, S.I. 2010. Alive to the Word. A Practical Theology of Preaching for the Whole Church. London: SCM Press.
