Phenomenology and Homiletics

The latter part of the twentieth century, since the 1960s, has seen a renaissance of interest in preaching. 1 Although Carrell notes “preaching research is barely in its infancy,” 2 this attention to preaching is found in both the Protestant and Catholic traditions. Since Vatican II the Catholic homily has been reappraised, and in the Protestant tradition, from Barth to Beeke, preaching continues to be of interest. 3 The need remains for a constantly new explanation, however. “How,” and not “what,” one should preach or prepare to preach is a leading tenet and concern in this study. Although these two aspects are related in preaching, the enduring content as it appears in Scripture (“what”), this revelation or revealed Word, must be recognizable in secular language. This priority of communicability is underscored by the language of Scripture itself—a divine revelation in human words, contemporary and yet comprehending a past world. This sharply contrasts with early modern translations of Scripture, still in use, which contribute to the use of archaic language in preaching. 4 In the Reformed tradition, this archaic use of language is, furthermore, shaped by Protestant scholasticism and the Enlightenment, Cartesianism in particular, resulting in predictable modes and methods of speech. Here, the sad irony is that those who adhere to and advocate classical Reformed and Puritan preaching make themselves incomprehensible in the world of the twentieth-first century, whether they realize it or not. The preacher’s use of a dictionary is insufficient for bridging the gap between the world of the text and the world of the modern hearer. Dictionaries may offer context for antiquated words and explain idiomatic expressions or abnormal usages of words, but even in this they can often create an obstacle for the modern preacher and hearer. 5 Trained clergy too often deploy in the pulpit the professional language of theology and ritual to define and describe the most profound words of Scripture, which are often regarded as unbelievable nonsense by one who has never heard the Word. Salvation events are reduced to mere conceptual or propositional abstractions. 6 Preaching becomes a combination of descriptive historical report, theological interpretation, and moral application (taken together, Erkennen )—not an experiential reality or lived-experience ( Entäußerung or Erfahrung ). This objectivation and abstraction of the Word, furthermore, is shaped and strengthened by a community’s acceptance of these inherited forms of speech.