Book Review: Homiletical Theology: Preaching as Doing Theology; Edited by David Schnasa Jacobsen
Homiletical Theology: Preaching as Doing Theology with a Foreword by David Buttrick, David Schnasa Jacobsen (editor)
Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2015. 186 pages/$21.29.
What is the relationship between theology and preaching? Is preaching itself theology? Or, following the familiar sequestration of theology proper (systematic, doctrinal/dogmatic, historical), biblical studies and practical theology that has become embedded in seminary curricula and departmental organizations, does preaching express what the other fields have uncovered in the biblical text?
This book is the first volume in “The Promise of Homiletical Theology” series as part of the Homiletical Theology section in the Academy of Homiletics. Boston University homiletics scholar, David Schnasa Jacobsen, collaborated with six other homileticians in describing the multivalent relationships of preaching, preaching preparation and theology. At its core, the volume asserts that every part of the preaching craft is engaged in theology and is itself theological by definition because the subject, object, and predicate of preaching is God.
Jacobsen provided an excellent overview of the homiletical literature on this subject, sharing, for instance, Charles Bartow’s description of the three degrees of homiletics: pedagogical (students), professional (reflective practitioners), and academic (professors/teachers). Preaching engages the theological and rhetorical dimensions of what is involved in proclamation. Preaching entails an ongoing relationship between Scripture, traditions, contextual location, and the preacher him-/her- self. It’s an attempt to account for “theologies of preaching, theologies of the gospel, theologies of word and sacrament, theology in preaching, and preaching itself as theological method” (55). What this means is that doing theology is not exclusively nor primarily the work of the academic specialists, nor even the weekly preacher; it also involves the gathered community, as together and individually, the people of God discover what God is up to.
Vanderbilt University homiletician John McClure discussed the essential role of liturgy and liturgical space in engaging preaching, preacher, sermon, and congregation with the divine-human, intersubjective communication that occurs when “Thus saith the Lord” is proclaimed. This involves the hoped-for role of worship leader/priest/preacher, prayer, Scripture, and sermon, and the choices that need to be made in how to communicate, what needs to be communicated, by whom, and towards what purpose. Considerations of liturgical elements provide nimble criteria for the shape of preaching in pluralistic contexts.
Duke University scholar Luke Power emphasized pneumatology and a constructive theology grounded in the vision and lessons of Acts 2 (Pentecost). Homiletical theology that is rooted in the Holy Spirit means that preaching is a gift from God – in its speaking and in its hearing. In this way, preaching cannot be managed, nor can the results be expected. A “pentecostalized” homiletical theology is open to diversity, while being specific and particular in its work and application as is the Holy Spirit who came to a named location at a certain time to a particular people.
Southern Methodist University scholar Alyce McKenzie advanced what she termed a “sapiential hermeneutic” with the preacher as “sage,” one who seeks wisdom in daily life, model a humble curiosity and a spirit of inquiry. This requires being an attentive listener and discerner of God’s work in Scripture, tradition, the congregation, the preacher’s self, and the contexts of the world. Such an approach enables preaching preparation and preaching itself to ask risky questions, raise doubts, and welcomes multiple sources to the conversation.
Michael Pasquarello III, who now teaches at Fuller Seminary, drew lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sermons and Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology as “Christ existing in community.” Homiletic theology is a “conversation” between the reading, hearing, proclaiming, believing, and living the presence of Christ in the community as that community is being formed to live out the Gospel vision in the world. Bonhoeffer’s preaching ministry, formed and shaped in the crucible during the Nazi regime, saw the constitutive nature and function of Gospel proclamation in developing the habitus of sacrificial life and living of the Church in the world.
Christian Theological Seminary homiletician Ronald Allen wrote of the multiple theological sources for sermons and preaching preparation. Preachers belong to particular theological traditions/”homes” (think: denominations) and identify with particular theological emphases (e.g. liberation theologies, evangelical, etc). With given Scriptural texts and preaching contexts, preachers decide areas to emphasize and de-emphasize, modifying presuppositions, improvising based on theologically reflecting on the sermon and the preaching moment. Even as Allen confesses that the term “homiletical theology” is not a definite term and indeterminate, it’s the indeterminacy that calls forth a posture of humility in both attempts to nail down what homiletical theology means, and humility in preaching preparation and the preaching event itself.
Presbyterian homiletician Teresa Stricklen Eisenlohr preferred the term “homiletic theology” as distinct from “homiletics” (the academic teaching of preaching) and “homiletical theology” (theology of preaching), similar to Bartow’s tripartite nomenclature. Homiletic theology is “a way of thinking theologically through the preparation of any given sermon” (160). Homiletic theology is guided by the Holy Spirit and shaped by multiple sources (Scripture, tradition, liturgical ritual and symbols, experience, the world, human stories). Eisenlohr provided a concrete example of how homiletic theological considerations are at play in a particular pastor’s life as Pastor Pauline considers her own education, tradition, pastoral care context, personal reflections, and prayer life – all this within a week as she prepares a sermon to preach the following Sunday.
This volume is an important contribution to theological discourse, as was Schmemann’s work on liturgical theology in the field of liturgical studies. Jacobsen and his contributing writers foreground for us the theological character of preaching, preaching’s preparation, the sermon itself, the role of the preacher, and the importance of the gathered assembly and the assembly’s contextual location. Because homiletical theology as an emerging field cannot be precisely defined in this nascent stage, its heuristic efficacy comes with that very ambiguity, and might I dare say, therein lies the efficacy of preaching itself. Preachers and teachers of preaching will agree with me when I say that we may do the exegesis, find the right words, and prepare to hours on end, but after we preach, and when we greet parishioners at the sanctuary doors as they exit to hopefully live out what we’ve just proclaimed from the pulpit, how often the word the parishioner leaves with was not the word we intended. Therein lies the power of the Holy Spirit in the craft of preaching, in Gospel living, in ministry, in homiletical theology. We can’t manage or control outcomes. It’s a lesson in life itself. Homiletical theology and this volume reminds us about life and our life in the Holy Spirit.
