1 EMP 3307HS PREACHING IN MINISTRY EMMANUEL COLLEGE, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Thursdays 11-1, 2019 Professor: Dr. Andrew Stirling, andrewstirling@temc.ca Please seek consultation as needed in person, by email or by phone- 437-388-8937 (week day or evening). COURSE DESCRIPTION This course offers a survey of preaching in its various dimensions. It offers opportunities to examine various perspectives on preaching and communicating the Word in a fastchanging world. Preaching will be discussed in its postmodern contexts, allowing students to think through a theology of preaching and preaching practices and to go into depth in areas of their own interest. Readings consist of recent articles by leading scholars on a wide range of preaching topics: biblical interpretation, preaching biblical genres, ethics and social justice, rhetoric, poetics (art), special occasions, social locations, sermon forms and functions, church year, the preacher, and theology in and of preaching. The course will follow a seminar and workshop format, covering a range of opportunities and challenges facing preachers in the future. Students will have opportunities to preach in class. Prerequisite: a basic course in Homiletics. The University guidelines apply concerning plagiarism, see: The University of Toronto s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, in Appendix A of the Emmanuel Student Handbook 2009-2010 or Appendix III of the current TST BD Handbook. Accommodations: Students with diverse learning styles are welcome in this course. If you have a disability/health consideration that may require accommodations, please feel free to approach me and /or the Accessibility Office as soon as possible. It takes time to put disability related accommodations in place. The sooner you meet with a Disability Counsellor at Accessibility Services, the quicker s/he can assist you to achieving your learning goals in this course. COURSE OUTCOMES: Students successfully completing this course will be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes: (a) in respect of general academic skills Students will be able to utilize various sermon forms. They will be to identify a wide range of issues and resources for help with regard to preaching and its contexts. (b) in respect of the understanding of the content of one or more theological disciplines Students will be better able to integrate the various theological disciplines in relation to preaching. (c) in respect of personal and spiritual formation Students will find their spirituality deepened through greater awareness of the role and action of God in religious discourse. (d) in respect of ministerial and public leadership
2 Students will develop skills with preaching and will learn how their own interests can be applied to preaching. They will grow in offering positive, caring, and frank response to peers. EMP3335 COURSE REQUIREMENTS Students are required to attend all classes (grades will be affected by absence of more than one week), do the readings, participate in class discussions, and for the first half of the course, participate in a small group. The small group will consist ideally of four people and will be a place where students discuss the class readings, as well as prepare for and practice their first sermons. Small group participation is optional for the second half of term. Students are to make one 2-minute presentation on practical things to do from the readings for an assigned day, write two sermons, one book report and a journal. For the 1-2 minute (max.) presentations, divide the total readings for the day amongst those presenting on the day, so that each reading is covered (i.e. you may end up presenting only one or two articles). If you have not previously preached at a funeral or wedding, one of your sermons should be for one of these occasions. Weekly sermons normally will be based on the reading topics for that week, using a biblical text from the up coming Sunday. The journal is to reflect what you have learned from specific articles in the textbook (i.e. name the articles), class discussions, and evaluations of class sermons. Due dates: One sermon before Reading Week; the second one by March 21 (unless you are preaching Mar 27 or April 3). One book review on a book of your choice (or Wilson, Four Pages of the Sermon, if you have not read it), due by Feb 14. Sermons are to be composed with class readings in mind. The journal is to be handed in twice: before Reading Week (Feb 14) and the 2 nd last class (March 28). Required Textbook: Wilson, Childers, LaRue, Rottman, eds., The New Interpreter s Handbook on Preaching. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2008. (ordered at Crux) Evaluation: 33.3% sermon 1; 33.3% sermon 2; 33.3% journal and class participation Jan 10 COURSE OUTLINE Introduction: What do we know about preaching? Show a mini sermon: <http://www.youtube.com/embed/wgneugwvxqu?rel=0> If you were to write a mini sermon on what you believe, at the heart of your faith, what would it be? Jan 17 The Bible and its Future Read: African American (page 3), Allegory (5), Exegesis (17), Four Senses (28), Hermeneutics (31), Resurrection (106), plus articles on three genres that you have not often preached (65-113).
3 Jan 24 Do Sermon Forms Matter? Read: Funeral (385) and Wedding (426) plus at least 5 other articles from the Sermon Section (369). Part of Hour 2: Class preaching Jan 31 Class Preaching: Funerals and Weddings Feb 7 Are There Key Doctrines for Preaching? Read: 5 articles from the Theology Section (433ff) that you consider central for preaching (read these both appreciatively and critically recognizing that they may be written from traditions other than your own). Feb 14 Class Preaching: Preaching Doctrines (including funeral and wedding sermons) B.D. Students: Journals & book review are due. Feb 21 READING WEEK Feb 28 Faith or Ethics? Social Justice and Diversity in Preaching Read: Five articles of your choice from the Ethics Section (115ff) plus the following from Literary Criticism (141ff): Introduction, Cultural Hermeneutics, Deconstruction, and Postcolonial Criticism A.D. students: essays are due. Mar 7 Class Preaching: Social Justice/Moral Preaching Mar 14 Preachers as Theological Interpreters of Art/s and Culture Read in the Poetics Section (173ff) Introduction, Arts, Metaphor, Fusion, Video Clips, plus 4 articles of your choice from the Preacher Section (213ff). Mar 21 Class Preaching: Preaching Using Art Mar 28 The Future of Preaching ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE Read from the Social Location Section (253), Exegesis of the Self, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Preaching to Children, Preaching to Youth, plus from the Experience Section (291), Emerging Church Preaching, Internet Preaching Forums, Radio, Technology, Television, and Youth Ministry. Class Preaching Hour 2. April 4 Class Preaching: Preaching to Specific Age Groups (re: sermon feedback, email to the preachers and to the instructor your responses to the sermons by midnight April 4).
4 BIBLIOGRAPHY This is a sampling of recent related literature that may help you to prepare your sermons on specific forms. Further literature is referenced in the textbook articles: Aden, LeRoy and Robert G. Hughes. Preaching God s Compassion: Comforting Those Who Suffer. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. Allen, Ronald J. Patterns of Preaching: A Sermon Sampler. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1998.. Allen, Ronald. The Teaching Sermon. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995. Wholly Scripture: Preaching Biblical Themes. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004. and Gilbert L. Bartholomew. Preaching Verse by Verse. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999. Allen, Wesley O. Preaching Resurrection. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2000. Barnes, M. Craig. The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009. Best Funeral Meditations. Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishers, 1998. Best Wedding Sermons. Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishers, 2001. Bisagno, John R. Principle Preaching: How to Create and Deliver Purpose Driven Sermons for Life Applications. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2002. Carl, William J., III. Preaching Christian Doctrine. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1994. Clader, Linda L., Voicing the Vision: Imagination and Prophetic Preaching. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 2003. Collins, Raymond F., Preaching the Epistles. New York/ Mahweh, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1996. Cox, James. Preaching: A Comprehensive Approach to the Design and Delivery of Sermons San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1985. Childers, Jana, ed. Birthing the Sermon: Women Preachers on the Creative Process. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001. Fred Craddock, As One Without Authority. Revised and with New Sermons. Third Edition. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001 (1979). Elliott, Mark Barger. Creative Styles of Preaching. Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. Erickson, Millard J. and James L. Heflin. Old Wine in New Wineskins: Doctrinal Preaching in a Changing World. Baker Books, 1997. Eslinger, Richard L. A New Hearing: Living Options in Homiletic Method. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987.. The Web of Preaching: New Options in Homiletic Method. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002. Farris, Stephen. Grace: A Preaching Commentary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003.. Preaching That Matters: The Bible and Our Lives. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. Florence, Anna Carter. Preaching as Testimony. Louisville: Westminster John Knox,
2007. Gross, Nancy Lamers. If You Cannot Preach Like Paul Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. Hedahl, Susan. Preaching the Wedding Sermon. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999. Hilkert, Mary Catherine, Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1997. Holbert, John. The Ten Commandments: A Preaching Commentary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002.. Preaching Job. St Louis: Chalice Press, 1999. Hughes, Robert. A Trumpet in Darkness: Preaching to Mourners. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985. and Robert Kyser. Preaching Doctrine for the Twenty-First Century. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997. Jacobsen, David & Robert Kelly. Kairos Preaching: Speaking Gospel to the Situation. Fortress, 2009. Jeter, Joseph R., Jr., Crisis Preaching: Personal and Public, 1998.. Preaching Judges. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2003. Jones, Larry Paul and Jerry L. Sumney. Preaching Apocalyptic Texts. St. Louis: Chalice, 1999. Killinger, John. Fundamentals of Preaching. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985. LaRue, Cleophus J., ed., Power in the Pulpit: How America s Most Effective Black Preachers Prepare Their Sermons. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. Long, Thomas G. Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989. Lose, David J. Preaching at the Crossroads: How the World and Our Preaching Is Changing. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2013. Mansell, John S. The Funeral: A Pastor s Guide. Nashville: Abingdon, 1998. McKenzie, Alyce M. Preaching Proverbs: Wisdom for the Pulpit. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.. Preaching Biblical Wisdom in a Self-Help Society. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2002. Mitchell, Henry.Celebration and Experience in Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon, 1990. Noren, Carol. In Times of Crisis and Sorrow. San Francisco and Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Ourisman, David. From Gospel to Sermon. St. Louis, Chalice Press, 2000. Robinson, Haddon W. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001. Stookey, Laurence Hull. Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church. Abingdon, 1996. Theissen, Gerd. The Sign Language of Faith: Opportunities for Preaching Today, trans. John Bowden, SCM Press Ltd., 1995 [German edition, 1994]. Thomas Troeger, Wonder Reborn: Creating Sermons on Hymns, Music and Poetry. Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press, 2010. Troeger, Thomas H. and H. Edward Everding, So That All Might Know: Preaching that Engages the Whole Congregation. Abingdon Press, 2008. Wardlaw, Don M. ed. Preaching Biblically: Creating Sermons in the Shape of Scripture. 5
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983. Webb, Joseph M. Comedy and Preaching. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1998.. Old Texts, New Sermons: The Quiet Revolution in Biblical Preaching. Chalice Press, 1999. Willimon, William H. Willimon and Richard Lischer, eds., Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995. Preaching Without Notes. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001. Wilson, Paul Scott. The Practice of Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.. Preaching and Homiletical Theory. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004.. Setting Words on Fire. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008., ed. Abingdon Theological Companion to the Lectionary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2012-14. 6