American Preaching Research Articles

The Soul of Black Preaching

This article explores the richness of African American preaching. It contends that preaching is central in African American worship and interweaves aspects of African traditional religion. It reviews certain theological and rhetorical characteristics of Black preaching, such as poetic storytelling, call and response, rhythm, and musical sound. This article further contends that the soul of Black preaching is both an art and a discipline. It is also a historical, life-giving, and empowering entity, reflecting a rich tapestry of culture, communication, inspiration, faith, and empowerment within the African American religious tradition.

Matthew D. Kim and Daniel L.Wong. 2020. Finding Our Voice: A Vision for Asian North American Preaching

Matthew D. Kim and Daniel L.Wong. 2020. <i>Finding Our Voice: A Vision for Asian North American Preaching</i>

Third Cohort Begins Unique Ph.D. Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric

Third Cohort Begins Unique Ph.D. Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric

Croft Sr, Wayne E.. The Motif of Hope in African American Preaching during Slavery and the Post–Civil War Era: There’s a Bright Side Somewhere. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. xvi+158 pp. $90.00 (cloth).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsCroft Sr, Wayne E.. The Motif of Hope in African American Preaching during Slavery and the Post–Civil War Era: There’s a Bright Side Somewhere. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. xvi+158 pp. $90.00 (cloth).Kit ShieldsKit ShieldsChicago, Illinois. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 101, Number 1January 2021 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/711497 Views: 35Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Matthew D. Kim and Daniel L. Wong, Finding Our Voice: A Vision for Asian North American Preaching

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Rhythmic Flesh: How the Regulation of Bodily Rhythm Contributes to Spirituality in the Jesus Prayer, Medieval Dance, and African American Preaching

AbstractRecent scholarship on the concept of flesh in Christianity points to the body’s susceptibility to change and influence from material phenomena as well as from social and discursive forces. But what are the processes by which such forces shape the body? This article argues, by analyzing three Christian practices from distinctive contexts—the Hesychast Jesus Prayer, medieval liturgical dance, and African American preaching—that rhythm is a key to understanding these processes. Each practice forms a body capable of connecting with spiritual forces by leveraging the body’s material rhythms and their symbolic associations through a process called entrainment in relation to a particular social context. The analysis of each practice, therefore, contributes to our understanding of how material and nonmaterial factors work together in the process of religious formation by uncovering the ways in which rhythm connects both dimensions.

Wayne E. Croft, Sr., The Motif of Hope in African American Preaching during Slavery and the Post-Civil War Era: There’s a Bright Side Somewhere

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A Year of Grace: Volume 1, Collected Sermons of Advent Through Pentecost and A Year of Grace: Volume 2, Collected Sermons Covering the Season of Pentecost/Trinity by Bo Giertz

Reviewed by: A Year of Grace: Volume 1, Collected Sermons of Advent Through Pentecost and A Year of Grace: Volume 2, Collected Sermons Covering the Season of Pentecost/Trinity by Bo Giertz Mark Mattes A Year of Grace: Volume 1, Collected Sermons of Advent Through Pentecost and A Year of Grace: Volume 2, Collected Sermons Covering the Season of Pentecost/Trinity. By Bo Giertz. Translated by Bror Erickson. Irvine: 1517 Publishing, 2019–20. 240 pp and 212 pp. In these two volumes, the late Bo Giertz (1905–1998), a Swedish bishop best known for authoring The Hammer of God, offers sermons for the entire church year. These sermons, preached over several decades and in different settings, were assembled into two volumes and published in Sweden in 2006. In contrast to North American preaching, which often employs gimmicks to draw listeners into the sermon, Giertz's sermons are simple, direct, and not manipulative; he is confident that the word is able to capture and hold its audience. Giertz offers no jokes, cutesy stories, or personal anecdotes to win hearers over, but instead presents the scriptural texts in as straightforward a manner as possible. He draws out where the text intersects with his modern Swedish audience. Hailing from an atheist family, he is well aware of the rise of Swedish secularism but he is never defensive about the faith. Instead, he repeatedly portrays Christ as able to save and make a difference in life. Theologically, these sermons are steeped in traditional Lutheran theology. Giertz's sermons, unlike so much North American preaching, is unapologetically didactic. He wants the listener to know the faith from the inside out. Volume 1 presents sermons from Advent through Pentecost. Throughout, Giertz displays sensitivity to his listeners. For those insecure about their relation with God he promises that Christ "who won you at such a cost … cannot lose you so easily. Therefore He comes back [to you] with a peculiar obstinacy" (46). For those suffering wrongs, he acknowledges that many lives seem like an unfinished fragment. Many wrongs will be unavenged. The evil sit intact, and the righteous suffer. All this remains a double mystery as long as we only consider what is on this side of the grave. It is a mess of injustice. But God is just. He sorts out the mess. He creates a new creation … (91) [End Page 245] Giertz has a powerful ability to express in words the various feelings, from elation to depression, that all Christians have. His sermons are powerful because they are so confident of the truth of faith. Giertz's pastoral sensitivity continues in the second volume, offering sermons throughout the Pentecost or Trinity Season. Giertz ever points to Jesus Christ as the Savior. "For the gospel is this: the unworthy can come. Not at some point in the future but now. And they come. They don't aim for some undetermined point in the future when it might be more suitable" (17). "For His sake, you may be a child of God. Each and every one who believes in Him is righteous. He who allows all his lost causes to depend on Jesus, his faith is counted to Him as righteousness" (30). Giertz finds numerous occasions to chide his fellow Swedes. Challenging heterodoxy and hypocrisy in the state church he asks, "Is the Church of Sweden today an apostolic church?. … Is it so that it is Jesus who is believed to be right?" (38–9). Nor, for Giertz, should Feminist theology endorse the practice of naming God as "mother," which amounts to a "false teaching" (57). Likewise, we should question pervasive universalism: "And in the democratic folk church such as we now have quite recently received, can such ideas miss making their mark in the life of the church … [that] all go to heaven and become angels?" (113). And, criticizing Scandinavian materialism, Giertz asks, "what shall we Swedes then say as some of the world's richest people?" (127). Finally, for the bishop, the gospel cannot be reduced to social activism but instead "we need repentance and life in Christ" (161). At his best, Giertz's pastoral heart comes through. He calls out the human attempt to...

Pauli Murray: In &amp; Out of the Pulpit

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.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH A PROMISE: RECENT AMERICAN PREACHING ON “HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER”

AbstractChristian sermons characteristically result from the interaction of a biblical text and the social and cultural contexts in which the sermon is created and into which it is spoken. In this regard, biblical texts are understood not as containers of unchanging truth but as fields of meaning capable of yielding different insights in each new context, and sermons constitute oral performances of these insights. As a test case, American Christian sermons based upon the so-called fifth commandment (“Honor your father and your mother …”) were examined from two time periods: 1960–1980 and 2000–present. In the earlier period, a time of anxiety about changing norms of social authority, the sermons typically presented the fifth commandment as addressed to young children, calling them to obey their parents. In the later period, a time when the large baby boomer generation is increasingly assuming care for aging parents, the sermons typically presented the fifth commandment as addressed not to youth but rather to adults charged with the responsibility to care for the elderly. While understanding the fifth commandment as addressed to adult children is probably closer to the original meaning of the text, both audiences for the commandment (adult children and youthful children) are within the field of meaning of the text and, indeed, both understandings find expression elsewhere in scripture.

Fire This Time: James Baldwin, Futurity, and a Call and Response

This article explores the relationship of Afrofuturism and the liberation and transformative form of African American preaching, as well as the intersections of religious styling and performance, particularly “call and response.” I explore that, as the concept of Afrofuturism continues to take shape, it expands to encompass African religiosity, mythology and cosmology, including also African religious thought, myths and rituals. Even more so, it in turn inspires religious language, discourse and stylings of African and African American peoples through the African American sermon and preacher. As such, this article explores scholar James H. Harris's liberation and transformative theology with the work of James Baldwin and his essay, “Letter to My Nephew.” In addition, I establish Baldwin as a futuristic prophet calling for radical change, liberation and the transformation of Black life from the margins of oppression, and into the center of power and enlightenment.

Der Homiletische Entwurf von Gerhard Aho (1923–1987): Studie zur Rekonstruktion eines Nordamerikanischen Lutherischen Predigtkonzepts by Daniel J. Schmidt

Reviewed by: Der Homiletische Entwurf von Gerhard Aho (1923–1987): Studie zur Rekonstruktion eines Nordamerikanischen Lutherischen Predigtkonzepts by Daniel J. Schmidt Thomas Jacobson Der Homiletische Entwurf von Gerhard Aho (1923–1987): Studie zur Rekonstruktion eines Nordamerikanischen Lutherischen Predigtkonzepts. By Daniel J. Schmidt. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2014. 394pp. Based on his doctoral dissertation at an institution of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, a German church in fellowship [End Page 485] with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Schmidt’s title translates as The Homiletical Proposal of Gerhard Aho (1923–1987): Study for the Reconstruction of a North American Lutheran Preaching Concept. Some information about the author’s experiences establishes the interest of this German scholar in North American preaching. After Schmidt’s ordination in Germany in 1991, he served as a missionary in Congo and Botswana, where he preached in French and the local languages. While attending a preaching seminar in South Africa, he reflected on how theology is communicated in these different cultures. How useful is it to talk about “sin” when the word for such in the local language describes something different than what is meant by Lutheran theology? How does one preach effectively when listeners come from a variety of Christian traditions or none at all? How does one speak meaningfully to communities ravaged by AIDS? This “crisis” of cross-cultural communication led him to reflect on his time as an exchange student at Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The different educational approach that he experienced there left a deep impression on him. In seeking to address the question of cross-cultural preaching, he was drawn once again to the teaching of his former homiletics professor at Fort Wayne, Gerhard Aho. Schmidt justifies the use of the word “reconstruction” in reference to Aho’s work, noting that Aho’s career was devoted mostly to teaching, resulting in a paucity of published writings. Schmidt argues that Aho’s teaching is an example of how to communicate theology not only cross-culturally, but also in the midst of shifting cultural trends. In the first section, Schmidt provides a brief overview of Aho’s life, noting his Finnish background as a part of the National Evangelical Lutheran Church, which merged into the Missouri Synod in 1963. This Finnish revival tradition was rooted in the theology of Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg and focused on the power of the proclaimed Word of God. The second section discusses the complex homiletical situation in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, touching on issues such as the influence of European theology and rhetorical style, the struggle to maintain a law and gospel focus in Lutheran preaching given the popularity of liberal and moralistic theology, and especially the emergence of a “new homiletic” in response to the changed situation of the second [End Page 486] half of the twentieth century. The last major section discusses Aho’s concept of preaching, which responds to the changed situation with a call for a more relational preaching style, geared toward listeners in their context while maintaining a Lutheran confessional focus on the external Word. Schmidt’s German is relatively basic, but it still requires a strong reading knowledge, all the while being peppered with English language quotations from Aho and others. He also assumes knowledge of twentieth century German theology, making this book useful for advanced students in homiletics. Yet he highlights many issues, such as sermon preparation, homiletical style, and the role of personality in preaching, that are relevant to any preacher. The book’s general usefulness, however, might lie in the way it prods North American Lutherans to seek out and be shaped by expressions of the faith in other parts of the world. Finally, though understandably outside the scope of Schmidt’s work, one longs for greater discussion of how he understands Hedberg’s Finnish revival tradition to contrast to other Finnish pietistic revival movements of the time. Thomas Jacobson Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc

Word and Worship: Let Talents and Tongues Employ: The Gift of Black African American Preaching

Word and Worship: Let Talents and Tongues Employ: The Gift of Black African American Preaching

I Believe I’ll Testify: The Art of African American Preaching by Cleophus J. LaRue

I Believe I’ll Testify: The Art of African American Preaching by Cleophus J. LaRue

The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching

The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching

Exegesis and Theologies of Revelation: Biblical Preaching from Text to Sermon in an Age of Methodological Pluralism

The methodological focus of homiletic theories that move from text to sermon has sometimes occluded theological commitments that lurk behind those methods. Rather than viewing contemporary homiletic theory as lacking theological concern, this essay follows Susan Bond's insight in Contemporary African American Preaching to expose theological commitments behind methodological choices. The article uses in particular M. H. Abram's typology of literary theories in The Mirror and the Lamp to identify implicit hermeneutical orientations behind both critical approaches to texts (Biblical methods) and what homileticians aim to do in sermons (homiletic theory). The article then construes for preachers Abram's fourfold typology of literary theories as the world behind the text, the mind of the text, the world of the text, and the audience in front of the text and connects them to four of Avery Dulles' "models of revelation": revelation as history, inner-experience, dialectical presence, and new awareness. In the process, Jacobsen opens the possibility of thinking about the relationship of homiletic theory to theology in more fruitful and dynamic ways.

Kenyatta R. Gilbert, The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching

Kenyatta R. Gilbert, The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching

Making the Unseen Seen: Pedagogy and Aesthetics in African American Prophetic Preaching

This essay investigates the idea of African American prophetic preaching as a derivative of the message and agenda of the Hebrew prophet. The essay demonstrates how critical consideration of the relationships between basic criteria of biblical prophetic speech, pedagogy (communal praxis), and cultural aesthetics (artistic beauty and power of Black oral expression), reveals a composite picture of the nature and function of African American prophetic preaching, and makes evident the need for a roadmap to rehabilitate the prophetic voice in America's Black pulpits. The fundamental premise is that African American preaching can become more communally constructive and consequential for our times when the African American preacher reclaims in spoken Word the voice of the prophet that speaks justice, divine intentionality and hope.

Word about Recent Book: III. Ministerial Studies: Contemporary African American Preaching: Diversity in Theory and Style, Preaching in Black and White: What We Can Learn from Each other

Word about Recent Book: III. Ministerial Studies: Contemporary African American Preaching: Diversity in Theory and Style, Preaching in Black and White: What We Can Learn from Each other

Audience Response to Religious Fear Appeals

This study investigated the effects of religious beliefs, social conservatism, self acceptance, sex of the listener, and level offear appeal on an audience's subjective evaluation of and information retention from a religious speech or sermon. Subjects were 114 college students who listened either to a high or a low fear arousing message on the topics of crime, standards of morality, and racism. Correlations were found between each of the independent variables and between each of the independent and dependent variables. Two 2 x 2 factorial analyses of variance were performed to determine the effects of sex and level offear appeal on subjective evaluation and information retention. It was found that a religious message using high fear appeals is evaluated more favorably than one using low fear levels. The stronger the listener's religious beliefs, the more likely this is. Highly religious subjects also were more socially conservative. Somewhat unexpectedly, women listeners retained more information from a high fear message than from a low fear one. Techniques of fear arousal have an ancient history, dating to pre-Aristotelian Greek treatises on persuasion. They have also been a staple in American preaching, appearing first in the revivalistic Great Awakening of the mid-eighteenth century (Quimby and Billigmeier, 1959:217). One finds them today in the sermons of such widely known and diverse preachers as Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Jimmy Swaggart. These techniques associate threatening or painful consequences with an action which a speaker wishes his listeners to avoid or stop. In advertising, they might involve the association of tooth decay with poor dental hygiene. In preaching, the threat of eternal damnation might be linked with rejecting the Christian message. The effectiveness of fear arousal techniques in preaching, however, is largely unknown. In spite of extensive research by scholars in psychology and communication on the effects of fear arousing communication generally, there has been no study of audience response to religious fear appeals. Certainly not all contemporary religious speakers incorporate fear appeals into their sermons. There seem to be two basic approaches to the presentation of the Christian message. One emphasizes love and abundant living, while the other stresses fear and the threat of God's wrath. Fear arousing sermons appear to occur most frequently in rather well defined religious groups, those which are conservative in dogma, low in socioeconomic status, and often southern by region (Demerath, 1965:115-116). Indeed, such groups may even prefer preachers who employ high fear arousal techniques (Durham, 1972). Given this coincidence, it would seem reasonable to ask what the relationships are between some basic demographic variables and reactions to a fear arousing sermon in a group which