Contemplative Phenomenology and Homiletics

One who preaches hands over “the fruits of contemplation” to others. 1 This chapter, then, builds on the preceding chapters and aims to offer a constructive proposal on whether phenomenology is relevant for and can be applied fruitfully to the process of the preparation of a sermon or homily. It will be proposed that classic or Husserlian-Heideggerian phenomenology may have limitations but that contemplative phenomenology holds promise for homiletics. With Scripture as its source, contemplative phenomenology offers a perspective on the sermon or homily as a sharing of experiential knowledge—a knowing beyond all knowing or “unknowing”: a contemplation which is “beyond philosophy, beyond speculative theology.” 2 The sermon is the fruit or result of a contemplative encounter with God in Christ through the Word, a practice in which one recognizes the manifesting of God as a transformative experience, which challenges the limits of language, and yet is called to be “handed over” ( contemplata aliis tradere ) to the hearing of others.