This dissertation is a study of medieval theological interpretations of fear and their influence on the rhetorical and didactic discourses of two late-fourteenth century Middle English homiletic poems, Cleanness and Patience. In Chapter 1 I analyze the various medieval conceptualizations of dread (morally valueless timor naturalis, morally culpable timor libidinosus, and morally laudable timor gratuitus) as discussed by scholars such as Peter Lombard, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure and in works such as biblical exegesis and theological encyclopaedias. In the second chapter, I examine ways in which these formal, learned Latin interpretations of fear were disseminated to a wider, vernacular Middle English audience. I do so by discussing how medieval preaching theory and practice and vernacular didactic and devotional treatises actively employed rhetorical and exhortative discourses of fear in an effort to encourage their audiences to forsake sin and pursue virtue. In Chapters 3 and 4 I show how Cleanness and Patience incorporate and employ the various theological conceptualizations of dread discussed in Chapter I and the rhetorical and didactic discourses of fear analyzed in chapter 2. I examine fear's presence within the larger narrative, thematic, rhetorical, and didactic structures of each poem, discussing the poet's precise use of scholastic interpretations of fear in his representations of characters, his vivid descriptions of death and destruction, and the ways in which he both implicitly and explicitly confronts his audiences with a variety of fearful discourses. I argue that the poet utilizes fear to promote a specific rhetorical strategy, one based upon a well-developed understanding of dread which should inspire in his audience the desire to flee from sin and damnation and approach fear-inspired, reverent perfection. Cleanness and Patience illustrate the power of God and the threat of sin, exhorting their readers to embrace and learn from the senses of dread they utilize and promote. Both poems provide remarkable examples of how particular elements oflearned Latin thought were adopted and developed by Middle English vernacular traditions.

This article explores some of the recent protests in support of Black Lives Matter from a homiletical perspective. Specifically, the author argues that these protests reflect a non-traditional form of pneumatic or Spirit-inspired proclamation that can enrich the church’s preaching in a time of crisis. The article is arranged into three sections. First, a pneumatological framing of proclamation is proffered in order to interpret protest as a mode of Spirit-inspired preaching. Second, drawing on the author’s experience as a participant-observer in select protests in Southern California, three snapshots of proclamation at protests are offered. The article concludes by suggesting that the pneumatic proclamation of recent protests challenges the church in the United States to hold together three key dialectical tensions in its proclamation: lament and celebration, particularity and universality, and word and deed.

This qualitative research compared the practice of an expert preacher to co re concepts in homiletic theory (the art and craft of preaching), searching for discrepancies between what theory suggested and what the preacher practiced. It also sought to validate that the preacher practiced what homiletic theorists prescribed and to inform homiletic theory by describing strategies he employed unlike those espoused in homiletic theory. The research also revealed that the preacher had a personal homiletic philosophy where in everything in his preparation, message design, and deli very centered on relevancy. The preacher felt strongly tha t the message had to apply to his listeners in meaning li.rl ways. The preacher's strength centered not so much on how he prese nted, but what he prese nted. Hi s sermons were fill ed with what homilet ic theori st Sunu kjian call ed " time less truths." They made the preacher's sermons insightful, hopeful, and most of all, relevant to his listeners To discover whether the participant's practice was congruent with theory, I first identified seminal theories. They were class ified into the following modifi ed version or Broadus's ca tegories of ideal preaching: (a) co ntent. (b) arra ngement, (c) introduction, trans ition, and conclusion, (d) style, (e) illustra tions, and (f) the del ivery. I crea ted a rubric from the literature review as a standard from whi ch I compared the part icipant 's audio and video sermons. The rubric had six categories, 39 subcategories, and 58 characteristics of ideal preaching to which the preacher was compared. The anal ys is included frequency counts of certain words, phrases, illustrations, and the results of the Flesch's Reading Ease score. To find strategies employed by the participant but not represented in the literature, I also used an inductive method to analyze the integral parts and patterns of the sermons. The analysis revealed that the preacher's practice was congruent with theory yet the preacher had never read homiletic theory. Because the preacher was able to sidestep the need to study homiletics, it was concluded that for him preaching was an intuitive art/craft.

This qualitative research compared the practice of an expert preacher to core concepts in homiletic theory (the art and craft of preaching), searching for discrepancies between what theory suggested and what the preacher practiced. It also sought to validate that the preacher practiced what homiletic theorists prescribed and to inform homiletic theory by describing strategies he employed unlike those espoused in homiletic theory. To discover whether the participant's practice was congruent with theory, I first identified seminal theories. They were classified into the following modified version of Broadus's categories of ideal preaching: (a) content, (b) arrangement, (c) introduction, transition, and conclusion, (d) style (e) illustrations, and (f) the delivery. I created a rubric from the literature review as a standard from which I compared the participant's audio and video sermons. The rubric had six categories, 39 subcategories, and 58 characteristics of ideal preaching to which the preacher was compared. The analysis included frequency counts of certain words, phrases, illustrations, and the results of the Flesch's Reading Ease score. To find strategies employed by the participant but not represented in the literature, I also used an inductive method to analyze the integral parts and patterns of the sermons. The analysis revealed that the preacher's practice was congruent with theory yet the preacher had never read homiletic theory. Because the preacher was able to sidestep the need to study homiletics, it was concluded that for him preaching was an intuitive art/craft. The research also revealed that the preacher had personal homiletic philosophy wherein everything in his preparation, message design, and delivery centered on relevancy. The preacher felt strongly that the message had to apply to his listeners in meaningful ways. The preacher's strength centered not so much on how he presented, but what he presented. His sermons were filled with what homiletic theorist Sunukjian called "timeless truths." They made the preacher's sermons insightful, hopeful, and most of all, relevant to his listeners.

This dissertation will explore the relationship between human agency and divine agency by bringing the work of Albert Borgmann into conversation with the approaches to preaching found in the New Homiletic. It asks: on what authority is the practice of preaching built? The New Homiletic movement began as a criticism of traditional (logical/propositional) approaches to preaching that emphasised the authority of the preacher. Alternatively, the New Homiletic relies on narrative and dialogical modes of preaching to relocate authority within the experience of the listener. The New Homiletic has made progress by shifting authority from the preacher, but this shift does not go far enough. The question of authority must be framed by way of God’s authority as the primary authority of preaching. This dissertation will draw on the work of Albert Borgmann. Central to Borgmann’s work is the effect of technology on society which he calls the device paradigm. The device paradigm describes the cumulative effect of replacing things with devices. Devices sever the relationship between the means and ends of all things and encourage a life of consumption of commodities. An overemphasis on methodology in preaching risks commodifying preaching by separating the means of preaching from its ends. As an alternative, this dissertation presents preaching as a focal practice. Focal practices are Borgmann’s proposal to counter to the disengaging nature of devices. By putting significant things, focal things, at the forefront of one’s life a person can build their life around engagement. Preaching is a focal practice. The effective power of preaching is external to the practice of preaching, and it is God, as the focal thing, who gives it authority. Building on the principles of Polynesian navigation, the preacher will be presented as a navigator. The preacher cannot create the change they wish to see in their congregation. Instead, they work to orient the community to what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The aim of this study is to develop a homiletic theory for the upbuilding of the church in transition. This dissertation investigates the validity of the hypothesis that in order to build up the church in a transition, the theory and practice of preaching must achieve a dynamic relationship with a faithful and relevant ecclesiology. At the same time, the theory and practice of preaching in the Korean church, where these are linked with a dominant accommodated ecclesiology can not form a faithful and relevant ecclesiology. To test these two hypotheses, this study defines the methodology use in practical theology to develop a homiletic theory (Chapter 1). The research develops a homiletic theory from a hermeneutic-communicative perspective, which bears a dynamic relationship to a faithful and relevant ecclesiology. Firstly, this study identifies a faithful and relevant ecclesiology from a missional perspective. Secondly, Ricoeur’s model of collective narrative identity is articulated. From these two understandings, a homiletic theory as a hermeneutic-communicative act is developed. The homiletic theory for forming a faithful and relevant ecclesiology is composed through preaching as an act of translation, an act of exchange, and an act of forgiveness (Chapter 2). The next aspect of this study is an empirical study. It links the question of the connection of a contemporary homiletic theory of the Korean church with an ecclesiology. The object is to try to explain a preaching praxis that relates to ecclesiology. In this study it is found that the praxis of preaching is closely related to an accommodated ecclesiology (Chapter 3). This section develops a hermeneutical interaction between the results of the empirical research and those of the literature study. This chapter reflects the interplay of information from the empirical research and information from the literature study. It produces new or modified ideas for a relevant theory of practice that guide and direct preaching praxis. This is a regulative activity that aims to change the current praxis (Chapter 4). / Thesis (DPhil (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This project challenges the practice of preaching shamanistic prosperity-focused messages to Korean immigrant churches in the United States in order to construct a more liberative theological foundation for sermons and eventually offer an alternative form of immigrant preaching: “a psalmic-theological homiletic.” A shamanistic-prosperity gospel reinforces a mostly success-oriented way of life, owing to its heavy emphasis on God’s promises about individuals’ material rewards. Such a prosperity gospel syncretizes shamanistic beliefs with the American Dream in that it implicitly advises believers to “make it” in the capitalist economy and uphold the prevailing values created by the dominant group. Accordingly, the project not only examines the prosperity gospel and its problematic syncretism with the American Dream ideology, this project also offers a more appropriate immigrant theology for preaching by reclaiming the priorities of God’s future in our lives and confirming God’s active identification with Korean immigrant congregations in the depth of their predicament as immigrants. After offering a practical-theological construction, this project provides “a psalmic-theological homiletic,” critically adopting features from psalmic theology and its theological-rhetorical movement. My proposed homiletic relies on Claus Westermann who argued that the Psalms are honest public speeches about a realistic faith that can be practiced in the midst of suffering. Along with a critical reading of Westermann’s theoretical approach to the Psalms, my homiletic engages in dialogue with Eunjoo Mary Kim’s sermon. As a result, a psalmic-theological homiletic has a four-fold rhetorical movement inspired by and intended for Korean immigrant contexts: (a) lament, (b) retelling the biblical story, (c) confessional doxology, and (d) vow of obedience. This project gives its attention to the theological significance of these four rhetorical steps from the perspective of marginalized people. Its theological-rhetorical strategy intends to transform the immigrant congregation’s habitus of living in faith and to enhance their hope-filled life through communal anticipation of God’s coming future. The project concludes with homiletical-dialogical analyses of two Korean immigrant sermons. Examining their homiletical strengths and weaknesses, the analysis provides guidance for future Korean immigrant preaching to prompt a more faithful and transformative way of life for hearers.

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain to what extent D.T. Niles’ theory of preaching is Reformed and Biblical and can help in the dialogue between Western and Non-Western Christianity. The study achieves this aim by employing the qualitative case-study research to meet four objectives. First, it describes Niles’ theory of preaching as found in his trilogy of lectures on preaching, explicating especially the double calling of the preacher, the double content and the pneumatological character and nature of preaching, the three-fold purpose and double consequences of preaching. Second, it interprets Niles’ theory of preaching in the light of his own cultural background and in dialogue with the works of key Reformation figures including Erasmus, Zwingli, Luther, Calvin and Bullinger’s Second Helvetic Confession. Based on this examination, the study determines that Niles’ homiletical theory is in concert with the theology of preaching of the Magisterial Reformers as summarised in Bullinger’s classic statement: ‘The preaching of the word of God is the word of God’ . Third, this study evaluates critically Niles’ theory of preaching within the normative context of the preaching of Jesus in the Synagogue in Nazareth and the wider New Testament teaching on preaching and finds that Niles’ homiletical theory is in agreement with Scriptural norm. Fourth, having found Niles’ theory of preaching to be broadly in concert with the understanding of the Reformers and the Biblical teaching on the nature of preaching, this study undertakes the pragmatic task of developing a global theology of preaching that would promote dialogue between Western and Non-Western Christianity. This study was undertaken because of the dearth of theologies of preaching written from a Non-Western perspective and the lack of dialogue between Western and Non-Western homiletical theories. The result of the investigation is the conclusion that the preaching of the word of God is the word of God since preaching is a pneumatological event where God is present in the act of human preaching so long as the preacher himself is lawfully called and the content of his preaching is Christological and soteriological. / PhD, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain to what extent D.T. Niles’ theory of preaching is Reformed and Biblical and can help in the dialogue between Western and Non-Western Christianity. The study achieves this aim by employing the qualitative case-study research to meet four objectives. First, it describes Niles’ theory of preaching as found in his trilogy of lectures on preaching, explicating especially the double calling of the preacher, the double content and the pneumatological character and nature of preaching, the three-fold purpose and double consequences of preaching. Second, it interprets Niles’ theory of preaching in the light of his own cultural background and in dialogue with the works of key Reformation figures including Erasmus, Zwingli, Luther, Calvin and Bullinger’s Second Helvetic Confession. Based on this examination, the study determines that Niles’ homiletical theory is in concert with the theology of preaching of the Magisterial Reformers as summarised in Bullinger’s classic statement: ‘The preaching of the word of God is the word of God’ . Third, this study evaluates critically Niles’ theory of preaching within the normative context of the preaching of Jesus in the Synagogue in Nazareth and the wider New Testament teaching on preaching and finds that Niles’ homiletical theory is in agreement with Scriptural norm. Fourth, having found Niles’ theory of preaching to be broadly in concert with the understanding of the Reformers and the Biblical teaching on the nature of preaching, this study undertakes the pragmatic task of developing a global theology of preaching that would promote dialogue between Western and Non-Western Christianity. This study was undertaken because of the dearth of theologies of preaching written from a Non-Western perspective and the lack of dialogue between Western and Non-Western homiletical theories. The result of the investigation is the conclusion that the preaching of the word of God is the word of God since preaching is a pneumatological event where God is present in the act of human preaching so long as the preacher himself is lawfully called and the content of his preaching is Christological and soteriological. / PhD, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

<p>The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the complexity of the preaching event as communication from a theological point of view in order to increase the awareness of this complexity. I see theology of preaching as a way of reducing the complexity, to making the complexity visible.</p><p>I study the contemporary preaching theologies that Eberhard Jüngel, Mary Catherine Hilkert, W. Paul Jones and Rebecca S. Chopp construct. They reduce the complexity of the preaching event to understand it better, and by doing so they make the complexity visible.</p><p>In the introduction I discuss some factors that make the preaching event complex:- the complexity of human interactive communication in general; that preaching is thought to be an event in which God communicates and the ambigous use of signs for the purpose of communication. I give a brief background to this homiletical situation, by describing some patterns in the linguistic and postmodern turns.</p><p>The method of this study is a reduction of the complexity of the preaching theologies that I present. To do this I use the words situation (the human situation in the preaching situation), event (the salvatory event that the preaching event is thought to be a part of) and function ( the function of the sermon) and their interrelationship. The sermon is thought to get it´s function in the situation as a part of the event. I also discuss some consequenses of the specific theology of preaching and the view of the preacher; the church and liturgy; the Biblical texts; and the language, form and content of the sermon.</p><p>The main part of the study consists of the anlysis of the four reductions of complexity, and their different prespectives on preaching, where Jüngel uses the doctrine of justification by faith to give structure to thought, Hilkert uses sacramental and dialectic imagination, Jones uses a typology of five theological worlds and Chopp use the metaphor text/margin to give structure to thought.</p><p>I present the four theologies of preaching as a polyphonic voice, that makes us aware of the complexity of the preaching event. They constribute to the important theological conversation about preaching in our complex reality.</p>