Journal articles on the topic 'Preaching – Biblical teaching'

Recent attention to the context of biblical texts and to their literary dimension has been fruitful for preachers. But on the eve of a new millennium, biblical studies and homiletics must reclaim their identities as theological disciplines. As sacred scripture, the Bible's chief role is to serve as resource for the church's teaching, doctrine, and preaching.

AbstractThere is a clear disjunction between the paradigms and theories in contemporary theological and biblical research and the theories and paradigms underlying the church's conventional liturgy and preaching. There is greater tension between theological science and traditional Christian faith than between 'science' and 'religion'. The science-faith conflict thus goes deeper than the science-religion debate. But while the science-religion debate gets a lot of attention, there seems to be no attempt by the church universal to integrate theological science in its exegesis, preaching and teaching. The books of Marcus J Borg, John Shelby Spong and others have brought the results of theological research to the attention of church members. This article contains my attempt to relate my understanding of scientific research in the natural and social sciences, theology and biblical sciences to my Christian faith. Using John Shelby Spong's concept of 'Christians in exile' and Stephen Patterson's proposal of an 'existential Christology', the possibility of being a Christian without a Christ is suggested.

Feminism’s contribution to homiletics so far has arguably been restricted to exploring gender difference in preaching. In 2014, however, Jennifer Copeland identified a need not merely to ‘include women “in the company of preachers” but to craft a new register for the preaching event’. This article considers what that new register might be and how it might be taught in the academy. It defines preaching as ‘the art of engaging the people of God in their shared narrative by creatively and hospitably inviting them into an exploration of biblical text, by means of which, corporately and individually, they might encounter the divine’ and proposes that in both the Church and the Academy, women’s voices are suppressed by a rationalist hegemony. For the stories of women to be heard, a new homiletic is needed, in which would-be preachers first encounter themselves, then the Bible as themselves and finally their congregation in communality. Findings of researchers in practical preaching discover that women preachers are being influenced by feminist methodology, while the teaching of preaching is not. In order to achieve a hospitable preaching space, it is proposed that the Church and the Academy work together towards a new homiletic.

N. F. S. Grundtvigs “Studier til en bibelsk Rimkrønike” (1828) set i lyset af hans samtidige kristeligt pædagogiske tanker[N. F. S. Grundtvig’s “Studies for a Biblical Rhymed Chronicle” (1828) viewed in the light of his contemporaneous Christian-pedagogical thinking]By Else RiisagerGrundtvig was engaged in communicating biblical and ecclesiasticalhistorical material in the form of hymns and songs which primarily appealed to children, young people and layfolk for practically the whole of his productive life. “Studies for a Biblical Rhymed Chronicle” from 1828 (Theologisk Maanedsskrift XIII, 145-181), which contains material from protohistory, is Grundtvig’s first attempt at a systematic publication of biblical-historical poetry. In the preface he expresses his aspiration to write biblical rhymed chronicles for children for use in schools. In his collected edition of the genre, Sang-Værk til Den Danske Kirke-Skole (1870; GSV II), the poetry from “Studies” is included as numbers 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8. The present article examines Grundtvig’s Christian-pedagogical thinking as regards the target audience at the time of publication and compares this thinking with his practice in “Studies” through a detailed analysis of Kain pløied rask i Vaar (GSV II, 6) and a more thematic presentation of the other poems.Examination of the prefaces of Grundtvig’s contemporary pedagogical publications reveals that the main purpose of the poems is Christological preaching based on the Apostles’ Creed. In practice the poems in “Studies” are Christian preaching, but not specifically Christological preaching. There is, however, nothing in the poems that speaks against a Christological context and there are numerous traits that address a Lutheran universe. Where the Christological preaching relating to the rendering of the Old Testament material is only implied, this is out of respect for the informative purpose.With regard to the genre of the poems, around 1828 Grundtvig’s preferred idea was to create biblical history in verse within the Christian pedagogical area, with genre-related traits from the medieval text, Den danske Rimkrønike. Verse is easier to read, learn and remember than prose; and by writing narratives about persons and events in verse, Grundtvig aspires to communicate the biblical material easily, vividly and animatedly. The intention of the poems is that they should be used as material for Christian teaching of Christian children at home and in connection with confirmation training. In practice, GSV II 6 and 7 are addressed to children and their parents and teachers, while GSV II 1, 2 and 8 have young persons as their primary intended recipients.Grundtvig was dissatisfied with the poems in “Studies” - not because of any deviation from his original intentions but rather because, in the event, the pedagogical intentions are not achieved. GSV II 1,2, and 8 are long and difficult to understand for the target audience. The poems are in all probability not lively enough to persuade children to listen to them, or – as Grundtvig himself phrases it - to persuade even himself that they are worth memorising.At this stage the genre of the individual items is neither hymn nor song, but rhymed biblical chronicle. “Studies for a Biblical Rhymed Chronicle” is a first attempt to start compiling a textbook in versified biblical history for Christian children, young persons and parents

Resumo: Este ensaio exegético lida com o texto do Salmo 146 em sua manifestação literária: gênero, estrutura, estilo, retórica e semântica, bem como o contexto, tanto literário quanto sócio-histórico. O alvo desta aproximação é ser um caminho para a compreensão do texto bíblico, a qual deve ser tomada a serviço da pregação e do ensino das Sagradas Escrituras. Palavras-chave: Exegese. Literatura Bíblica. Salmo 146. Abstract: This exegetical essay deals with the text of the Psalm 146 in its literary manifestation: genre, structure, style, rhetoric and semantics, as well as the context both literary and socio-historical. The target of this approach is to be a path to understanding the biblical text and it should be taken for the task of preaching and teaching the Holy Scriptures. Keywords: Exegesis. Biblical Literature. Psalm 146.

In the preface to the third edition of The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages Beryl Smalley pointed out the dilemma posed by the apparently simple solution contained in the mature teaching of Thomas Aquinas, whereby the literal sense of biblical interpretation was all that the sacred writer intended. Her question as to what should be included under ‘all’ preoccupied many medieval students of Scripture.

Alfred Loisy’s L’Évangile et l’Église (1902), followed by his even more controversial Autour d’un petit livre (1903), brought into the open tensions that had been festering within the Catholic biblical movement over the preceding years. “Progressives” such as Lagrange and his close ally Pierre Batiffol had, on one hand, to defend in principle a legitimate use of criticism, and on the other to distinguish that use from the corrosive effects of its employ by Loisy. Divergent approaches to the use of criticism and its relation to theology surfaced in their respective approaches to the kingdom of God in the preaching and teaching of Jesus, and the Church that developed out of his ministry. Given the centrality of ecclesiology at Vatican II, the question of that relationship resurfaced, albeit on a different footing and possibilities for resolution.

The Protestant Reformation was a movement based on Scripture and its leaders believed that it was important for all clergy and laity to know and understand the word of God. In 1522 Luther published his translation of the New Testament into German and, although it was not the first translation available, it made an enormous impact, selling in large numbers despite being a relatively expensive book for ordinary readers. In recent years the impression of laypeople readily accepting the Reformation as a result of individual reading of the Bible and evangelical preaching has been challenged, but there is evidence that gradually ordinary people did become aware of Protestant beliefs and the biblical basis for those teachings. Familiarity with the Bible has been shown to have been spread in a variety of ways, including attendance at regular worship, the production of children’s Bibles and the publication of extracts from Scripture, including the Psalms and Gospels. Another medium was the mastersingers, guilds of artisans found in several south German cities, who wrote and performed their own verses (Meisterlieder) that followed strict musical and poetic rules. This paper will consider how they used their literary traditions to popularize evangelical teaching and to spread knowledge and awareness of the Bible in ways that were readily comprehensible to ordinary people. The focus is on the work of the Nuremberg shoemaker and poet Hans Sachs, who achieved national fame, both for his works of the early 1520s in support of religious reform and for his creativity as a playwright and mastersinger. It will show too how changing perceptions of the role of the individual in Christian society in the Reformation period were embedded within the messages found in Sachs’s poems.

ABSTRACTTraditionally puritanism has been treated as a religious phenomenon that only impinged on the world of that ‘secular’ politics to a limited extent and mainly in relation to church reform. Such an approach, however, is to employ a misleadingly narrow definition which ignores the existence of a much more all-embracing puritan political vision traceable from the mid-sixteenth century. First clearly articulated by some of the Marian exiles, this way of thinking interpreted the Bible as a manifesto against tyranny whether in church or state. Under the successive regimes of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I, puritans can be found who continued to judge the actions of government by the same biblical criterion, which also helps to explain among other things their prominence in opposing unparliamentary taxation. Puritan ideology itself was transmitted down the generations partly via a complex of family alliances, underpinned by teaching and preaching, and this in turn provided a basis for political organization. Moreover, the undiminished radical potential of puritanism is evident from responses to the assassination of Buckingham in 1628. Given these antecedents the subsequent resort to Civil War appears less surprising than historians often claim.

AbstractStudy of Barth's doctrine of angels has languished, and the time is ripe for a thorough reassessment. While any full account will centre on the magisterial theology of angels in the Church Dogmatics, much can be gained from a close, contextually informed reading of the earlier treatment of angels in the Göttingen dogmatics lectures. These lectures are shaped by a twofold procedural commitment: Barth's presentation is ordered, on one hand, to a recognisably modern conception of the logical content of Christian preaching; and it conforms, on the other hand, to a doctrinal sequence recommended by the dogmatic textbooks of the classical Reformed tradition. A tension between these two aspects becomes visible in Barth's handling of the doctrine of angels – a tract of teaching by which he is visibly unsettled. Barth accordingly attends with particular care to two fundamental modern objections to the doctrine – namely that it involves a superfluous reduplication of anthropological themes and that it has no independent doctrinal standing. The first objection exploits the observation that the doctrine of angels traditionally stands in close proximity to the doctrine of the human creature; the second follows from the claim that Christian preaching, and the dogmatic theology which serves it, attends strictly to the relationship between God and humanity, realised and revealed in the gospel. Barth's attempts to respond to these criticisms, and so to draw out the necessity and the proper dogmatic status of the doctrine of angels, are traced in detail. Angels and demons, conceived as real spiritual forces, are ineluctable features of the situation within which human moral agency is exercised. And angels are ingredients in, though not central to, the scriptural depiction of the relationship between God and humanity. Barth's elaboration of the positive features of Protestant scholastic angelology is summarised, and the motivating impulses and constructive potential of his theology of angels are briefly noted: Barth's exposition may be read as a complex exercise in theological self-differentiation; a recommendation of a distinctive style of biblical reasoning; and a creative contribution to the revitalisation of a culture of Christian witness.

Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, in his teaching paid special attention to such notions as Church and Homeland. He focused on the value of the event, which was the Baptism of Poland in 966. Masovia was one of the stops on which the Nation’s faith was awakened, as well as the awareness of free and responsible man, creating history based on law and morality of the Decalogue. Primate was visiting Płock many times, during different occasions. He was preaching a word, which like the biblical grain was supposed to fall on the soil of human hearts and bring fruit. Historical and cultural role of Masovia, as a borough constituting an integral part of Polish state since its beginning and its contribution to culturalreligious development of Poland, was particularly emphasised during two Primate’s speeches: during millennial solemnities in 1966 and during the jubilee of a diocese in 1975. Primate Stefan Wyszyński, while talking about Masovia, emphasised its high position in building the State and the Church. Invoking figures, important for Masovia (bishops, priests, princes), he always pointed to the values, which they represented, and which were timeless. What Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński said in Płock Masovia and about Masovia was fully reflected in the words of the Saint John Paul II uttered on 7 VI 1991 during his stay in Płock – “Płock has profoundly rooted in the history of Poland and the Church” – emphasising the role of this city, the capital of historical Masovia, in the millennial history of our Homeland.

In the nineteenth century Britainunderwent a period of immense religious doubt and spiritual instability, prompted in part by German biblical criticism, the development of advanced geological and evolutionary ideas forwarded by men such as Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, and the crisis in faith demonstrated by many high profile Church members, particularly John Henry Newman's conversion to Catholicism in 1845. In tracing the development of this religious disbelief, historian Owen Chadwick comments that “mid-Victorian England asked itself the question, for the first time in popular understanding, is Christian faith true?” (Victorian Church: Part I1). Noting the impact of the 1859 publication of Darwin'sOrigin of Speciesand the multi-authored collectionEssays and Reviewsin 1860, Chadwick further posits that “part of the traditional teaching of the Christian churches was being proved, little by little, to be untrue” (Victorian Church: Part I88). As the theological debate over the truth of the Bible intensified so did the question of how to reach, preach, and convert the urbanized and empowered working and middle classes. Indicative of this debate was the immense popularity of the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, who was commonly referred to as the “Prince of Preachers.” Spurgeon exploded onto the religious scene in the mid-1850s and his theatrical and expressive form of oratory polarized mid-Victorian society as to the proper, most effective mode of preaching. In print culture, the emergence of the religious periodicalGood Words, with its unique fusion of spiritual and secular material contributed by authors from an array of denominations, demonstrated a concurrent re-evaluation within the religious press of the evolving methods of disseminating religious discourse. The 1864 serialization of Ellen Wood'sOswald CrayinGood Wordsemphasizes the magazine's interest in combining and synthesizing religious and popular material as a means of revitalizing interest in religious sentiment. In 1860 Wood's novelEast Lynnewas critically categorized as one of the first sensation novels of the 1860s, a decade in which “sensational” became the modifier of the age. Wood, alongside Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was subsequently referred to as one of the original creators of sensation fiction, a genre frequently denigrated as scandalous and immoral.Oswald Cray, however, sits snugly among the sermons, parables, and social mission essays that fill the pages ofGood Words.

Grundtvig and Liturgical ExegesisBy Christian ThodbergLiturgical exegesis is defined as the way in which the Church re-actualised the words and deeds of Jesus in the service of worship in trying to answer the need of the congregation for being simultaneous with the biblical events. In the Western Church this liturgical exegesis received an emphatic exposition in connection with the old series of pericopes in the roman mass and in most of protestant churches as well.Many modem preachers do not like the old lectionary because it is crammed with the stories of Jesus’ miracles which - as they say - have no relevance to churchgoers of today. Grundtvig, however, always met those stories with pleasure, because in his opinion, they dealt with Jesus’ strong deeds in the worship today in baptism and communion. And essentially the biblical readings are worked out on the Sundays before and after the old baptismal terms, either at Easter time, or on the sixth of January, or at Whitsun. Thus baptism is defined in three ways by the three old baptismal terms: on January sixth as a birth with Christ, at Easter as death and resurrection with Christ and at Pentecost as the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit.The Western system of gospel readings in general survived the Reformation, but in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the account of Christ’s acts of power came under critical scrutiny. They were understood as magical elements, which obscured the character of the bible as the teaching of Christianity. Parallel with this, in the context of the liturgy, the renunciation and the naming of the Devil and the word Hell was removed from the Apostles’ Creed in the baptismal rite and the Annunciation, the Resurrection and the Ascension were understood as images.As an old-fashioned believer, Grundtvig protested against all this. Christianity depended on Christ’s works of power. But despite his faith that the bible was literally God’s word, his problem was this: When and how did God’s word and Christ’s deeds of power touch him personally? Theologically, the question about the presence of God was a problem for Grundtvig throughout his life. In simple terms: Where does God speak to mel Grundtvig’s problem was solved by his famous »unparalleled discovery«, which became the hermeneutic key to his sermons. The thesis of liturgical history scholarship is that liturgical exegesis has its place already in the New Testament, and that the secondary epistles of St. Paul in connection (Ephesians, Colossians) can be rehabilitated, since they give us the key to the understanding of Jesus’ miracles in relations to baptism. In the end it points to Grundtvig’s persistent attempt to find the place where God speaks to him, where he intuitively rediscovers the early church’s understanding of the connection between Jesus’ works of power and baptism, and which thus becomes a contemporary challenge to New Testament scholarship and preaching today.

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar fundamentos da ação pastoral, com vistas a compreender que a ação pastoral e a pregação são interdependentes, cuja relevância está intimamente ligada no envolvimento diário com aqueles que estão no “raio de alcance” pastoral. Inicialmente, com o intuito de compreender o ambiente social em questão, utiliza-se o método de etnografia da pesquisa social. Em seguida utiliza-se caminhos propostos pela Teologia Prática identificando princípios bíblicos para a pregação na ação pastoral com vistas a alcançar o objetivo de cuidar do ser humano conforme os ensinos do Evangelho de Jesus. Busca-se alinhar neste texto a teoria com a prática do pesquisador no pastoreio de uma igreja Pentecostal. Assim, as perspectivas aqui registradas não visam a ser exaustivas ou normativas, mas fazem parte de um recorte no exercício pastoral nessa comunidade de fé.The purpose of this article is to analyse the basis of pastoral action in order to understand that both pastoral action and preaching are mutually dependent. The relevance of pastoral action is related to the daily engagement with those who are within the pastoral scope. Firstly, an ethnographic method of social research is used to properly understand the social environment at issue. Secondly, the paths proposed by Practical Theology were followed. They identify biblical principles for preaching in order to reach the goal of caring for the human being according to the teachings of Jesus. An alignment of the theory with the practice of the researcher as shepherding a Pentecostal church is attempted. Thus, the perspectives showed are not intended to be exhaustive or normative but they are taken from an example of the pastoral practice in that faith community.

Put a Christian Religion Education precisely and right on target as the teachings of Jesus for the sake of faith progress. The principle is build on Biblical and historical fact that Jesus is the coaches are taught good news and therefore his disciples called Him Teacher (John 3:2; Mat. 7:29). Understanding of the Christian Religion Education deeply as taught by Lord Jesus at least bring advantage, which are; growth of faith for individual, build a willingnes to be more initiative, proactive, and innovative in taught of Christianity optimaly, and also bring impact for many people to grow in faith. However, in many class discussion, seminars, and observation both directly and indirectly contain of opinions explain that the role of Christian Religion Education is not yet appropriate to the target and churchess do not equal in applying Christian Religion Education enterestingly and being maximum. Therefore, very important to understand the role of Christian Religion Education which contain of important staples, in from of special values, purposes, history, philosophy, basic biblical theological in order to implement Christian Religion Education in more advance and right on target. Christianity education can be said diferent from education in general since Christian Education was programmed or planned by GOD Himself and bequeathed to those who has been chosen individualy or in community to forward Jesus taught, testify, taugth and preaching the good news from age to age. Called that education Christianity different from education in general are Christianity education can be understood as religious education, spiritual education or education of the faith. To equip believers with knowledge and truth trough the holy spirit works.

The implementation of God's mission in the context of cultural diversity in Indonesia is important to study considering that the church has the responsibility to carry out the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus to the nations. The culturally diverse situation of Indonesian society poses a formidable challenge for evangelists because they cannot apply one specific method that can be applied to the entire community. Some churches still apply the mission model inherited by Zending. The Colonial Model is considered less effective due to the growing culture of Indonesian society. Therefore, flexible mission implementation principles are needed, according to the context of society in Indonesia without compromising the biblical meaning of the gospel. This article was compiled by examining the facts of the cultural life of the Indonesian people who are diverse in culture and examining the word of God which contains teachings on the principle of preaching the gospel to all nations. The research process in this article is carried out by conducting library research on the condition of cultural diversity in Indonesia and examining relevant biblical records in carrying out missions in Indonesia. The result is a mission implementation model that takes into account the cultural context, a christocentric mission without losing the Indonesian values of the local community.Pelaksanaan misi Allah dalam konteks keragaman budaya di Indonesia penting dipelajari mengingat gereja memiliki tanggungjawab menjalankan Amanat Agung Tuhan Yesus kepada bangsa-bangsa. Keadaan masyarakat Indonesia yang beragam budaya, merupakan tantangan yang berat bagi para pemberita injil karena mereka tidak dapat menerapkan satu metode khusus yang dapat dipakai kepada seluruh masyarakat. Beberapa gereja masih menerapkan model misi yang diwariskan oleh Zending. Model Kolonial tersebut dinilai kurang efektif dengan adanya budaya masyarakat Indonesia yang telah berkembang. Oleh karena itu diperlukan prinsip-prinsip pelaksanaan misi yang luwes, sesuai dengan konteks masyarakat di Indonesia tanpa mengurangi makna injil yang alkitabiah. Artikel ini disusun dengan meneliti fakta kehidupan budaya masyarakat Indonesia yang beragam budaya dan meneliti firman Allah yang memuat ajaran tentang prinsip pemberitaan injil bagi segala bangsa. Proses penelitian dalam artikel ini dilakuakan dengan melakukan penelitian kepustakaan tentang kondisi keragaman budaya di Indonesia serta meneliti catatan alkitab yang relevan dalam pelaksanaan misi di Indonessia. Hasilnya adalah model pelaksanaan misi dengan memperhatikan konteks budaya, misi yang kristosentris tanpa menghilangkan nilai-nilai keIndonesiaan masyarakat lokal.

Grundtvig’s Experience in a Wood in 1811 and his subsequent sermons on the miraculous draught of fishes.By Christian Thodberg.It is common knowledge that in connection with the revival of his Christianity Grundtvig suffered a breakdown in December 1810, after which he returned with his friend, F. C. Sibbern, to his home village and his parents in Udby, South Zealand. However, in May 1811, after a stay in Copenhagen, he was again on his way to Udby to become curate for his aging father when he had an equally important experience in the wood outside Udby which has hitherto passed apparently unheeded. He describes it in a contemporary poem to Sibbern himself.In an attack of despondency, brought on by the sight of Udby church and his childhood home and by the thought of his forthcoming ministry, he knelt down in the wood and read I Cor. 15: 55-58. Grundtvig had been ordained in Copenhagen on May 29th, but in the wood two days later he experienced a special call to the priesthood. The nature of this experience is clearly visible in his sermon for the 5th Sunday after Trinity on the miraculous draught of fishes (Luke 5: 1-11), given 22 years later on July 7th 1833. In the sermon Grundtvig relates the experience and adds that the Lord Himself had spoken to him on that occasion and had called him with the words used to Simon Peter: “Let down the net. From henceforth thou shalt catch men!”A closer analysis of Grundtvig’s sermons from 1811 until his death in 1872 shows that over the years it is on the 5th Sunday after Trinity that he reflects on the Lord’s special call to him, and thus on his life’s special destiny. He uses Peter’s catch as his starting-point, both because of Jesus’ words to Peter and because the frightened and kneeling Peter in the gospel story undoubtedly reminds Grundtvig of his situation and literal position in the wood on Friday May 31st 1811.In his sermon for the 5th Sunday after Trinity 1811 the call motif does not appear; on the other hand he does use the biblical themes of Ezek. 47: 8-10 and Amos 8: 11, which are repeated in the later sermons on the miraculous draught. The unfinished sermon of 1812 is of a quite different order, but the very long sermon in 1818 is such a penetrating analysis of the preacher’s situation that it reveals Grundtvig’s extremely personal relationship to the account of Peter’s call. The same tension can be felt in the three drafts for the sermon of 1821; the last draft is continued in the major prose-poem sermon of 1822. The theme is “listening to God’s Word”, and the sermon is divided into five images: the first depicts the days of the ancient covenant, when the Jews refused to listen and ended up under the curse of slavery; the second is John the Baptist’s sermon; the third is Jesus’ teachings and works, while the fourth is the Church’s enthusiastic reflection on this central vision. The fifth image is basically Grundtvig’s own prophecy for the near future and for himself; for it is he himself who through his coming activity in Copenhagen, Denmark’s Jerusalem, will be the crucial link in the renewal of the salvation story. So self-conscious a sermon could not but have its source in a personal revelation, that is, the experience om May 31st 1811. The first sermon in Copenhagen in 1823 already includes the biblical themes mentioned above and describes the coming Christian revival. In the highly-charged sermon of 1824 Grundtvig clearly recalls the beginning of his ministry in 1811 and confesses that he has never preached better! This particular sermon of 1824 affords grounds for an analysis of the two central poems from that year: The Land o f the Living and N ew Year’s Morn, which were most probably written in June and July 1824 respectively. The Land o f the Living contains three sequences: 1) the childhood dream, 2) the vain dream of the adult worldling, and 3) the childhood dream recovered. The same three themes are also to be found in the poem to Sibbern, and the experience in the wood in 1811 offers a plausible explanation of the break between stanzas 1-6 and 7-13, i.e. between the description of the vain dream of the adult worldling and the childhood dream recovered. In fact it is compelling to regard stanzas 7-8 as a retelling in poetic form of the experience in the wood. The same experience would also seem to have left a significant trace in N ew Year’s Morn, in stanza 54 where there are similarities as regards both content and language between the Sibbern poem of 1811 and the retelling of the experience in the wood in the sermon of 1824.Among the reworked sermons in The Sunday Book we find in Vol. II (1828) a memoir of 1811 in a sermon on the miraculous draught of fishes, but the personal experience is emphasised by the stress, under the inspiration of Irenaeus, on the human as a prerequisite for the Christian. The gospel of the day must be particularly comforting to people torn between fear and hope – like Grundtvig in 1811. Jesus’ calling of Peter is again recalled in 1832 as the basic premise for Grundtvig’s own ministry. The sermon of 1833 - the cornerstone of this survey - has already been mentioned. In 1834 Jesus’ words to Peter are underlined with a minor gloss: fisher of living men, from which Grundtvig argues for his new view of the Church: the capacious Church. People must not be forced into Christianity, and they must be allowed to choose the priest they wish to attach themselves to. In 1835 Grundtvig recalls his ordination in 1811. In 1836 the human aspect of the sermon is emphasised, as it is in The Sunday Book.In 1837 Grundtvig uses the call of Peter to consider the justification of lay preaching - presumably because he himself received a direct call in 1811. In 1838 the Irenaeus inspiration culminates. The dangerous life of a fisherman is a precise image of the rightness of Grundtvig’s well-known thesis: First a Man, then a Christian. In 1839 the experience in the wood is retold, this time in even more detail than in 1833; while in 1840 Grundtvig demonstratively sets his two great “revelations” up against one another: the experience in the wood in 1811 and the “unparalleled discovery” of baptism and the eucharist in 1825. From now on it is clear to him that the later “revelation’ is the greater, a belief he finally confirms in his sermon of 1842. Irenaeus continues to inspire him in the sermons of 1841 and 1844, underlining yet again Grundtvig’s personal relationship to the account of the miraculous draught. In the remainder of Grundtvig’s preaching life the, experience of 1811 is less strongly recalled on the 5th Sunday after Trinity, though it does happen both in 1856 and in 1861.The survey shows that the experience has been of central significance to the revival of Grundtvig’s faith, and that right into the 1840s it is an important starting-point for his understanding of himself as a Christian. The sermon on the 5th Sunday after Trinity on the miraculous draught of fishes thus becomes an interesting guideline to an appreciation of Grundtvig’s personal and theological development.

The role of knowledge of God in the encounter with God in preaching In an era of modernism and postmodernism homiletics is confronted with the problem of reference to God in preaching. According to current epistemologies we cannot have any knowledge of God that can be defended as true knowledge in the forum of academic discourse. In reformed theological theory, according to Calvin, knowledge of God, knowledge of ourselves in the eyes of God, as well as of salvation in Christ is a sine qua non for an encounter with God in preaching in the context of the worship service. This article proceeds from the theological stance that we can find this knowledge only in Scripture through the work of the Spirit. Recent empirical research in Reformed Churches in the Netherlands has shown that church members attend the services expecting to have an encounter with God. The sermon in this expected encounter is still very important for them. A homiletical theory that works with these presuppositions (knowledge of God) has a further problem. There is a growing Biblical illiteracy in Western societies – also in South Africa. As an answer to this problem the author proposes that the teaching sermon along the lines of Calvin’s position on preaching should get more attention in our day.

The loss of lament in the modern church has had serious consequences, including a lack of compassion for pain-bearers, the failure to challenge injustice, and essentially the loss of the church’s mission: bringing hope into pain. This article suggests five ways to restore lament to the life of a church, to facilitate a healthy, caring community. First, “hard texts” must be included in the preaching and teaching calendar; second, the church must learn to stand with pain-bearers in corporate lament; third, worship songs must include opportunity for sustained lament; fourth, biblical laments should be read regularly and used by individuals to compose their own laments; and fifth, lament rituals (for regular and special situations) must be built into the rhythm of church life. If such practices can be restored, those who carry pain will once again receive the gift of hope and communal bonds will be strengthened.

The loss of lament in the modern church has had serious consequences, including a lack of compassion for pain-bearers, the failure to challenge injustice, and essentially the loss of the church’s mission: bringing hope into pain. This article suggests five ways to restore lament to the life of a church, to facilitate a healthy, caring community. First, “hard texts” must be included in the preaching and teaching calendar; second, the church must learn to stand with pain-bearers in corporate lament; third, worship songs must include opportunity for sustained lament; fourth, biblical laments should be read regularly and used by individuals to compose their own laments; and fifth, lament rituals (for regular and special situations) must be built into the rhythm of church life. If such practices can be restored, those who carry pain will once again receive the gift of hope and communal bonds will be strengthened.

AbstractThis study presents a rhetorical analysis of Shadreck Wame, a popular Malawian revival preacher. After an overview of the “rhetorical setting” in which these vernacular sermons were preached in the 1990s, ten “oral-rhetorical techniques” that characterize Wame’s preaching style are identified, based on a corpus of nearly 50 of his Chewa-language sermons that I recorded from radio broadcasts in the 1990s. These features are then illustrated in selections from a specific sermon that Evangelist Wame preached in 1997 in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. In particular, his situationally-influenced “re-tellings,” or paraphrases, of a familiar biblical text, Christ’s Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20:9-18), are identified and elaborated upon in footnotes. I conclude this description of a popular preacher’s dynamic, contextualized homiletical style with a number of applications to contemporary communicators in Africa. Both the content and the methodology of this analysis may be significant for comparative purposes when teaching sermonic technique in different, especially non-Western, sociocultural settings.

To care for the environment as part of a Christian believer’s Christian stewardship duty is biblically founded. The Church is consequently well-positioned to make a significant contribution in addressing the environmental crisis by developing, preaching and practising a holistic spirituality that promotes a custodial ethic towards the natural world. The research report discusses how seminary students, lecturers and practicing ministers in the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa perceive and practise this custodial ethic as environmental stewardship. There is consensus amongst respondents that Christian stewardship and environmental stewardship are biblically mandated and should be addressed and practised in the Church. However, the findings provided evidence that the realisation of environmental stewardship is tentative, both within the ministry and within seminary programmes. It is concluded that the teaching and practice of environmental stewardship is generally neglected in the Church. Areas for improvement in the ministry and seminary training curricula to support environmental stewardship are suggested.