This keynote address was delivered on August 6, 2018 at Societas Homiletica at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and explores the relationship between preaching and identity. The lecture introduces Pauli Murray, a local saint whose activism, writings, and ministry challenged the church and broader society. After a detailed introduction, I consider three principal influences on Pauli’s voice: Cornelia Smith Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, and James H. Cone. Cornelia Smith Fitzgerald, Pauli’s maternal grandmother, provided a lens for thinking about the ethical and spatial contexts in which sermons arise. Langston Hughes, a fêted poet and author, offered literary inspiration and a model for moving among different genres. James Cone, a path-breaking scholar, gave Pauli vital theological footing and a framework for linking preaching, identity, and activism. Overall, I argue that Pauli Murray makes a singular contribution to the study of African American preaching.

In the midst of the tense immigration debates taking place in the United States, the authors share insights from a number of sermons preached by first-generation Hispanic immigrants as part of a preaching peer-group. The preachers delivered these messages in a church that was providing protective sanctuary for an undocumented immigrant who was a member of the peer-group. The sermons were developed and delivered for an imaginary audience of either Hispanic immigrants or native-born Anglo-Americans and offer prophetic words of both comfort and judgment.

Julia Palmer, a little-known religious poet, composed two centuries-collections of one hundred poems intended to be sung as hymns-in the two years between 1671 and 1673. Palmer's manuscript is unique in that its author was perhaps the only self-taught Nonconformist woman to have composed centuries during the Restoration period. Although religion shaped the lives of most British citizens at the time, the public literary expression of spiritual experiences-particularly by middle-class women-was uncommon within conventional Puritanism. The poetry's hybrid of forms, proliferation of religious themes, and undertones of political subversion offer an important glimpse into the way Puritan women writers of the seventeenth century manipulated literary discourse to meet their needs. Palmer negotiates contemporary sociopolitical issues by using poetic forms and themes consistent with biblical, puritan, and social standards. Palmer's centuries fuse the seventeenth-century spiritual journal with the eighteenth-century hymn. Applying the personal introspection of the journal to public worship would not become customary until the eighteenth century. This thesis analyzes Palmer's poetry in light of other Restoration writing as well as religious, sociopolitical, and gendered contexts in order to position it as an early form of eighteenth-century Dissenting poetry.

В работе проводится сравнение текстов, сопровождающих обряд погребения, христианской и «народной» традиции в аспектах эмоционального восприятия смерти и образной реализации. Высокая степень экспликации эмоций в похоронных причитаниях, не столь ярко выявляемая в каноническом богослужении христианской словесности (панихида, лития), находит место в нарративных и гомилетических жанрах: проповедь, житие, учительное слово. В них появляется и более или менее очерченный образ смерти в эмотивном художественном пространстве. В диссертации дан многогранный анализ содержания и поэтики погребальной проповеди из наследия Симеона Полоцкого, Кирилла Транквиллиона-Ставровецкого и рукописного неопубликованного сборника «Статир». Приводятся полностью два текста проповедей сборника подготовленные к публикации в научном издании. / The paper compares the texts accompanying the funeral rites of Christian and "folk" tradition in the aspects of emotional perception of death and figurative realization. A high degree of emotional expression in the funeral lament, not so clearly revealed in the canonical worship of Christian literature (funeral service, litya), finds a place in the narrative and homiletic genres: sermon, hagiography, teaching word. A more or less delineated image of death in the emotional artistic space also appears in them. The thesis provides a multifaceted analysis of the content and poetics of funeral sermons from the heritage of Simeon Polotskij, Cyril Tranquillion-Stavrovetskij and the unpublished manuscript collection "Statir". We present in full two texts of the sermons of the collection prepared for publication in a scholarly edition.

Text in French / This thesis studies the relations between Christians and Muslim in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the light of the Sermon on the Mount. Both communities, each from its own side, claim to have received the divine message to proclaim to all humanity. In the eastern DRC, as elsewhere, the encounter between these two communities often causes tension and conflict, leading to violence. These facts were established by analyzing the general context in the East since the end of the 19th century until today. The war at the end of the 19th century, which saw anti-slavery groups pitted against Arabs and their Islamic allies, is seen as one of the main original causes of the conflict. The memories of that war revive the spirit of the crusades in the Middle Ages. This has affected the relationship between the two communities. Fear of the other drives the defence mechanism that produces violence. The strategy to restore peace is an irenic approach based on the identity of the disciples as peace builders, true descendants of Abraham, agents of surpassing justice, and participants in the new humanity. Concretely, the disciples of Jesus should work for a mission that has the following simultaneous features: making peace with a view to establishing the reign of God; practising Abrahamic hospitality by opening oneself even to one‟s enemies; building the home of justice that takes into account the values of Shari‟ah and Christian virtues to create a pluralistic world; taking upon itself the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The mission of peace is the main task. It is an attempt to restore broken relations and an effort at reconciliation. It establishes peace as equally important as other dimensions of mission, but it does not constitute the totality of mission. It is one dimension of the salvation of humanity and of the re-establishment of the reign of God on earth. Peace is about more than the cessation of hostilities or the absence of war; it refers to shalom, or total peace. This is the gospel of peace announced by Jesus Christ. / Cette thèse étudie les relations de chrétiens et musulmans à l‟Est de la RDC à la lumière du Sermon sur la montagne. Tous, chacun de son côté, se réclament avoir reçu le message divin pour annoncer à tous les hommes. A l‟Est de la RDC comme ailleurs, la rencontre de ces deux communautés occasionne souvent de tensions et conflits, source de violence. Ces faits ont été établis par l‟analyse du contexte général de l‟Est depuis la fin du XIXe siècle jusqu'à nos jours. La guerre qui a opposé vers la fin du XIXe siècle les troupes de la société anti-esclavagistes contre les arabes et leurs alliés islamisés, est perçue comme l‟une des principales causes lointaines du conflit. Ainsi, les souvenirs de cette guerre font raviver l‟esprit de la guerre des croisades du Moyen-âge. Ceci a affecté les relations de ces deux communautés. La peur de l‟autre pousse à développer le mécanisme de défense qui a instauré le règne de la violence. La stratégie pour restaurer la paix est celle d‟une approche irénique basée sur l‟identité des disciples comme des artisans de paix, des fils authentiques d‟Abraham, des agents de l‟excellente justice, et des participants à l‟humanité nouvelle. Concrètement, les disciples de Jésus doivent oeuvrer pour une mission à la fois shalomatique en vue d‟instaurer le règne de Dieu ; dans l‟esprit d‟hospitalité abrahamique en s‟ouvrant même à ses ennemis ; bâtissant la maison de justice qui prend en compte les valeurs de la Shari‟a et des vertus chrétiennes pour un monde pluraliste ; et assumant la promotion interculturelle par le dialogue interreligieux. La mission de paix est la tâche principale. Elle est un essai de restauration de relations brisées et un effort de réconciliation. Elle englobe aussi bien la paix que d‟autres dimensions. Mais, elle ne constitue pas tout le contenu de la mission. Elle est une composante du salut de l‟homme et du rétablissement du Royaume des Cieux au monde. Ainsi, la paix envisage plus que la cessation d‟hostilités ou absence de guerres. Ici, elle désigne le shalom ou la paix totale. C‟est l‟Evangile de paix annoncé par Jésus. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Text in French / This thesis studies the relations between Christians and Muslim in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the light of the Sermon on the Mount. Both communities, each from its own side, claim to have received the divine message to proclaim to all humanity. In the eastern DRC, as elsewhere, the encounter between these two communities often causes tension and conflict, leading to violence. These facts were established by analyzing the general context in the East since the end of the 19th century until today. The war at the end of the 19th century, which saw anti-slavery groups pitted against Arabs and their Islamic allies, is seen as one of the main original causes of the conflict. The memories of that war revive the spirit of the crusades in the Middle Ages. This has affected the relationship between the two communities. Fear of the other drives the defence mechanism that produces violence. The strategy to restore peace is an irenic approach based on the identity of the disciples as peace builders, true descendants of Abraham, agents of surpassing justice, and participants in the new humanity. Concretely, the disciples of Jesus should work for a mission that has the following simultaneous features: making peace with a view to establishing the reign of God; practising Abrahamic hospitality by opening oneself even to one‟s enemies; building the home of justice that takes into account the values of Shari‟ah and Christian virtues to create a pluralistic world; taking upon itself the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The mission of peace is the main task. It is an attempt to restore broken relations and an effort at reconciliation. It establishes peace as equally important as other dimensions of mission, but it does not constitute the totality of mission. It is one dimension of the salvation of humanity and of the re-establishment of the reign of God on earth. Peace is about more than the cessation of hostilities or the absence of war; it refers to shalom, or total peace. This is the gospel of peace announced by Jesus Christ. / Cette thèse étudie les relations de chrétiens et musulmans à l‟Est de la RDC à la lumière du Sermon sur la montagne. Tous, chacun de son côté, se réclament avoir reçu le message divin pour annoncer à tous les hommes. A l‟Est de la RDC comme ailleurs, la rencontre de ces deux communautés occasionne souvent de tensions et conflits, source de violence. Ces faits ont été établis par l‟analyse du contexte général de l‟Est depuis la fin du XIXe siècle jusqu'à nos jours. La guerre qui a opposé vers la fin du XIXe siècle les troupes de la société anti-esclavagistes contre les arabes et leurs alliés islamisés, est perçue comme l‟une des principales causes lointaines du conflit. Ainsi, les souvenirs de cette guerre font raviver l‟esprit de la guerre des croisades du Moyen-âge. Ceci a affecté les relations de ces deux communautés. La peur de l‟autre pousse à développer le mécanisme de défense qui a instauré le règne de la violence. La stratégie pour restaurer la paix est celle d‟une approche irénique basée sur l‟identité des disciples comme des artisans de paix, des fils authentiques d‟Abraham, des agents de l‟excellente justice, et des participants à l‟humanité nouvelle. Concrètement, les disciples de Jésus doivent oeuvrer pour une mission à la fois shalomatique en vue d‟instaurer le règne de Dieu ; dans l‟esprit d‟hospitalité abrahamique en s‟ouvrant même à ses ennemis ; bâtissant la maison de justice qui prend en compte les valeurs de la Shari‟a et des vertus chrétiennes pour un monde pluraliste ; et assumant la promotion interculturelle par le dialogue interreligieux. La mission de paix est la tâche principale. Elle est un essai de restauration de relations brisées et un effort de réconciliation. Elle englobe aussi bien la paix que d‟autres dimensions. Mais, elle ne constitue pas tout le contenu de la mission. Elle est une composante du salut de l‟homme et du rétablissement du Royaume des Cieux au monde. Ainsi, la paix envisage plus que la cessation d‟hostilités ou absence de guerres. Ici, elle désigne le shalom ou la paix totale. C‟est l‟Evangile de paix annoncé par Jésus. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

AFRIKAANS: Visuele kommunikasie vorm die basis van ’n prakties-teologiese literatuurstudie, waar ondersoek gedoen word na die invloed van die massamedia en die populêre kunste op die kommunikasie-arbeid van die hedendaagse prediking. Naas die geskrewe en gesproke taal word in die betrokke studie vir ’n nuwe definiëring van taal gepleit: die visuele taal as selfstandige taalkode binne die homiletiek. Visuele taal is meer as blote literêre metafore wat die menslike verbeelding aangryp; eerder is dit die verskuiwing na ’n genre waar beeld as visuele metafoor die gelykwaardige funksie van die woord verrig. Sonder om die woord enigsins na ’n sekondêre posisie uit te skuif, word ’n pleidooi gelewer vir ‘n harmonieuse wisselwerking waar woord en beeld komplementerend op mekaar inwerk. Hierdie visuele taalkode sal in die prediking as legitieme preekstyl naas die oratoriese preekstyl aangeleer moet word, in wat in hierdie studie as visuele prediking bekend sal staan. In visuele prediking, waar beeldende prediking met multi-sensoriese prediking gekombineer word, word die visuele beeld die primêre kommunikasie-eenheid. In die betrokke studie is daar twee fokusse: <ul> <li>’n Prakties-teologiese fundering van hierdie nuwe visuele taal en veral visuele prediking binne ’n visueel-gedrewe konteks. </li> <li>Opstel van prakties-teologiese riglyne vir die implementering van visuele prediking binne die hedendaagse erediens. <bt></li></ul> ENGLISH: Visual communication forms the basis of a practical-theological literature study, where the influence of the mass media and the popular arts on the communication toil of present-day preaching is investigated. Alongside of the written and spoken language, this study is a plea for the new defining of language: the visual language as an independent language code within homiletics. Visual language is more than only literary metaphors which grips the human imagination; rather it is the shift to a genre where image as a visual metaphor performs an equally similar task to the word. Without moving the word to a secondary position, an argument is made for a harmonious interplay where word and image can work complementary to each other. This visual language code should be learned as a legitimate style of preaching besides the oratorical preaching style, which will be known in this study as visual preaching. In visual preaching, where image preaching and multi-sensory preaching are combined, the visual image will become the primary communication unit. In this study there are two focuses: <ul> <li>A Practical-theological foundation of this new visual language and especially visual preaching within a visual-driven context. </li> <li>A composition of practical-theological guidelines for the implementing of visual preaching within the present-day church service. <br></li></ul> Regarding the first focus of the study, theological reflection surrounding the understanding of the second commandment with regards to image within the liturgy and especially homiletics, as well as the dualistic perspective of the church in the past is done, while a theology of incarnation, creation, ‘Imago Dei’ and the Word is established in order to create a solid basis for visual preaching. Combined herewith, there is also a look at the influence of the visual media and communication on the visual generation, namely Generation X, Y and Z, with specific focus on the postmodern context in which these three generations function. Following this, a new practical-theological perspective on the human imagination, human emotion, human creativity, the visual narrator, transcendence, participation, multi-sensory communication and visual presentation opens the way for effective visual preaching. Regarding the second focus of the study, five categories surrounding visual images can be distinguished: graphic images – pictures, statues, artistic designs and photos; optical images – mirror images and light projections; perceptual images – sensory data, theatre props, illustrative aids; imaginary images – dreams, memories, ideas and imagination; verbal images – metaphors, analogies and narratives. For the purpose of this study the focus is mainly on the first category: graphic and visual images, also including visual presentations as it pertains to the performing arts like drama, dance and mime, as well as the usage of visual illustrations. In conclusion, practical guidelines accompanied by concrete sermons within the three categories of visual preaching as it is suggested in this study, namely the visual image sermon, which concentrates on visual images on a flat surface or screen, the visual presentation sermon, which accomodates visual methaphores as it is presented by the visual arts and illustrations on a stage in the liturgical area, and the visual imagination sermon, which interacts with the human imagination by the use of visual methaphorical language, are submitted. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This doctoral thesis entails a research project to determine whether grass roots preachers in a southern Africa context can be instructed to prepare effective expository sermons. In order to make that determination it was necessary to first collect and analyze expository sermons from such preachers prior to any instruction. Then, on the basis of instruction in expository preaching in a seminar format, it was necessary to collect and analyze additional sermons from the same preachers. To that end we conducted two five-day seminars in Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively. The content of those seminars included two major elements. The first was a theology of preaching that is detailed in Chapter 1. Within a theology of preaching we have given treatment to various topics including the need for a theology of preaching, the Old Testament basis for preaching, the New Testament mandate for preaching, a definition and defense of expository preaching, and a discussion of the necessary qualities of effective expository preaching. The second element of the seminars involved a method of preaching detailed in Chapter 2. Within the method of preaching we have given treatment to various topics, including the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching, exegesis of the sermon text, and making the transition from the text to the completed sermon. Given the foundational material of Chapters 1 and 2, we developed the seminar materials found in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 includes the schedules by which the sermons were analyzed. Each sermon was subjected to the same schedule to determine its effectiveness as an expository sermon. Those results are then analyzed in Chapter 5 leading to the conclusion that grass roots preachers in a southern Africa context can indeed be instructed to preach effective expository sermons. / Practical Theologyy / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

Diploma thesis "Social-Ethical Aspects of the Jesus' Sermon on the Mount" reflects on chapters 5 - 7 of Mathew 's Gospel. It is based on the Greek translation of the Gospel and aims to express the supertemporal prehension of Jesus' ethical requirements by a man of any century, meaning by a man of our current days too. The paper verges on biblical studies and practical and spiritual theology. Diploma thesis focuses on relation between Jesus' requirements and ancient Hebrew ethical and social norms described in Torah and updated in Old Testament Prophets' scriptures. This paper shows their cohesion but emphasizes the Jesus original approach which reveals a deeper meaning of all Torah ethical norms and rules. Following the chapters of Sermon on the Mount , it is described how St. Matthew uses this intention . Social and ethical aspects of this text are highlighted and covered by many Old Testament citations which are related to the background of Jesus' Teachings. This paper also describes basic approaches to the Sermon on the Mount interpretation and shows the reader the direction. But no final conclusion of this topic can be made as we have been dealing with the secret.

The theme of the thesis, which you hold in your hands is particular situation of sermon on the occasion of December 26th with its specific topic about the first Christian martyr St. Stephen. The aim of this work is to explore, in discussion with experts and current Protestant preachers, the homiletic possibilities of how such specific situation should be addressed. Master thesis has four main parts. The first part investigates how available homiletic literature operates with the key terms: preaching, celebration and Stephen. New Testament biblical texts associated with Stephen are processed in this part as well. The second, more practical part, deals with particular sermons of contemporary Slovak and Czech ministers, and invites them into a conversation about a particular situation of both St. Stephen and the listener who is being addressed with these sermons. The third part of the thesis provides conclusion. The annex is important as well, for it provides a collection of sermons on this particular subject. Keywords Biblical text Listener Martyr Sermon Situation St. Stephen St. Stephen's Day Witness