The art of preaching is called homiletics, and it is mostly bad art. I've heard so many bad sermons in my life that at times I wish the sermon was abolished. When the terrible sermons are finally over, I remember that the proclamation of the church (even in its worst form), is still one of the threefold forms of the Word of God (as Karl Barth said). The art of preaching is not judged by the performance of the speaker (and maybe this is why Paul described preaching as foolishness c.f. 1 Cor 1:21 KJV). An excellent example is the conversation of the famous baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, when he wandered into a church during a blizzard when he was 15 years old, and was subjected to a terrible sermon by a "Primitive Methodist" who shouted one verse over-and-over: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:22 KJV).
Is there any solution to the constant torture of the Sunday sermon? I don't have an answer to this homiletical question. One suggestion is to study the preaching of the Apostles, and imitate them. Charles Harold Dodd wrote a famous short 100 page book called Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments, that is an excellent analysis of the preaching of the Apostles. It's a short dense book that is difficult to summarize. In the book, C. H. Dodd studies the early apostolic preaching and discovered that all the New Testament sermons typically include the same six or seven points. The greatest utility of C. H. Dodd's study of apostolic preaching (known as kerygma) is that it provides us an example that we may use to compare and contrast our modern sermons with the way in which the first Christians preached. I'd wager, that the art of preaching is worst where preachers do not imitate the apostles.
C. H. Dodd provides many outlines of Apostolic preaching in the book, and I will share two of them as an example. The first example is an outline of Paul's preaching:
It is true that the kerygma as we have recovered it from the Pauline epistles is fragmentary. No complete statement of it is, in the nature of the case, available. But we may restore it in outline somewhat after this fashion:
- The prophecies are fulfilled, and the new Age is inaugurated by the coming of Christ.
- He was born of the seed of David.
- He died according to the Scriptures, to deliver us out of the present evil age.
- He was buried.
- He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures.
- He is exalted at the right hand of God, as Son of God and Lord of quick and dead.
- He will come again as Judge and Saviour of men. [1]
The second example is of the Apostles' preaching based on Acts 2:
We have seen that the apostolic Preaching according to Acts ii included an appeal to the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the Church as evidence that the age of fulfilment had dawned, and that Jesus Christ was its Lord.
- "This is that which was spoken by the prophet. . . .
- I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. . . .
- He being exalted at the right hand of God,
- and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father,
- has poured out that which you see and hear";
- and it includes also an assurance that those who join the Christian community "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." [2]
C. H. Dodd also provides analysis of John, and much more. I highly recommend reading this book. In conclusion, I'll share a famous poem about C. H. Dodd that any reader will appreciate after encountering C. H. Dodd's unique bravado in his writings:
I think it extremely odd
That a little professor named Dodd
Should spell, if you please,
his name with three D's
When one is sufficient for God. [3]
Sources:
1. Charles Harold Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments: with an Appendix on Eschatology and History, Harper & Row, 1964.
2. Ibid.
3. Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters. Ed. Donald K. McKim. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998. 481. Print.
4. Header background: By John Pettie - Bonhams auctions, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44945383
Related: Apostolic, Apostolic Preaching, Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments, C.H. Dodd, Charles Harold Dodd, Karl Barth, kerygma, poem, Preaching
February 7th, 2022 - 13:46
I saw the picture of you exercising with the written works of Barth.
I had an insight as a theology student when I was shelf browsing in my college’s theological library.
I saw the collected works of Barth shelved in a different binding from yours, but similarly demanding considerable space. I looked at the Bible I was carrying with me and realized it took only a small fraction of that space. I then remembered a mentor who said that you can recognize a great spiritual leader because they can deliver the same message in current language, but needing fewer words.
Barth may be brilliant. He is clearly very meaningful for you, as he is for one of my professors, but does the rubber meet the road for the garden variety Christian?
A thort little limerick thith
A warning that thurely will mitth
Beware in the dark
Of a dog that can’t bark,
or the barth of a dog with a lithp.
Many thanks for presenting Dodd’s work on the Kerygma. Very helpful for what I am working on at the moment. His summaries are considerably shorter than the N.T.
The preaching of Jesus is even simpler: The Kingdom of God is present. We need to be present to it.
The evangelical question posed to me by a street missionary was not, ‘when were you born again?’ but it was similar: ‘Are you saved?’
My answer: ‘Salvation is not an event but a process.’ Cf. Paul’s metaphor of running the race.
My main complaint of academic theology is that it does not ask the question which my undergraduate professors taught me to ask: ‘What are the unspoken assumptions behind this point of view?’
So for me, one of the biggest questions is ‘What are the hidden assumptions of Systematic Theology?’
Is one perhaps that if we choose to affirm the theologically correct beliefs about Jesus we are saved?
If so, isn’t that Pelagianism?
In studying historic examples of Christian healing, I of course ran into the viewpoint of cessationism. This is the idea that the healing ministry of the early church was useful for promulgating the doctrine, and that now the doctrine is established healing is no longer necessary. Those with real experience of healing [not the money grubbing posturers] are often forced to develop their own methods of preaching it [in Dodd’s sense, to those who are unaware of it]. This is because orthodox theological education ignores it. Because those who have experienced healing don’t necessarily play the academic game, their work comes up short from the viewpoint of ThD’s and heresy hunters.
One of the major problems we face is the reversal of means and ends. Every organization falls into the error of worshiping its means, and slowly drifting away from its real mission. [See the Harvard Business Review article from about 50 years ago, “Marketing Myopia;”]
My Barth professor told his postgraduate student assistants that a student who mentioned prayer of the heart was therefore a Pelagian. This accusation from a man who had worked hard studying theology for years before becoming a full professor.
On examining the truth of the hidden assumptions, it was found that the student was not in an evangelical college for nothing, and did not believe the Roman Catholic theology about saying the Rosary to gain God’s approval. In fact, the student firmly believed that Salvation is a gift.
It can’t be earned. But one can learn how to unwrap it. Some try to unwrap it through intellectual prowess, others through sentimentality or emotionalism.
But the Kingdom cannot be besieged. One must instead learn to allow it.
And this is the real healing, not of miscellaneous ailments (which may also happen), but the re-establishment of a deep relationship with God, a communion, which may return us to the natural state of a little child, but with the strength of an adult.
The utter simplicity is in Remembering God, “This do in Remembrance of Me.” This is what the Jews were asked to do in celebrating Pesach. Their Passover litany of things for Jews to be thankful for is inspiring.
It is also present in the basic formula of the Jewish practice of one hundred blessings or thanksgivings:
Baruch ata, Adonai, Melech ha-Olam [followed by mentioning the thing one is blessing God for.]
This is the basic formula for each of the wine and bread in the Eucharist”
“Blessed are you, oh Lord, who brings forth bread from the earth.”
And why do we need to bless God? Does God need our blessing?
Because blessing is a two-way gate. It is a gate that when opened to let something out, also allows something to get in. It allows us to receive the gift we can not demand or earn.
“Do this in Remembrance of Me.”
“I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
This, and the ethical teachings of Jesus are all about relationship, and relationship is all about participating in each other’s lives.
Many blessings for your continuing work.