Category Archives: rhetorical strategy

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Can you tell the difference between sheep and goats? Does it matter on Sundays?

I trust you experienced a rewarding Easter celebration with your faith-family. I know Michele and I did.

You may recall earlier posts containing excerpts from Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century. It’s amazing how current Edwards’s approach is even though his 18th century context and style of ministry is so different from ours.

One lasting effect of Edwards’s thinking and writing is his well-known, “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.” I first read it as part of my required reading in the mid- to late 80’s when I studied the church in America at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Marsden writes, “Edwards spent almost his whole life wrestling with the question of how to tell the difference between authentic Christian experience and its imitations: self-delusion and hypocrisy” (p. 104). He describes Edwards’s understanding of “affections” as,

“the sort of love for a person that brings joy unspeakable. True affections for Edwards include the joy and delight–at the heart of his theology–of experiencing the beauty of perfect love” (p. 106).

Okay, let me stop and say that my ministry for over 30 years has been in the context of two, Bible Church kind of churches. I half-jokingly say to our folks, “We’re a Bible Church which means we don’t feel anything.” It’s true; we don’t feel much and rarely do we let it show on our faces on a given Sunday morning. So, this makes it difficult to know if my listeners are experiencing authentic Christianity.

Edwards asked how we know the sheep from the goats.

He begins with indicators that don’t prove anything:

“high emotional experiences, preoccupation with religious things, readiness to quote Scripture, great self-confidence in one’s own spirituality, and other traits that can be found among hypocrites as well as among some genuine Christians” (p. 107).

As you can see, counterfeit Christianity exists. But Scriptures often provide ample opportunity for us to challenge the kind of faith our listeners have. One way is to continually ask if their faith-journey includes a dose of “joy and delight” and the “beauty of [God’s] perfect love.”

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we address both sheep and goats each Sunday.

Randal

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From Cicero to Augustine to our Preaching

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Cicero influenced Augustine who, in turn, has influenced all of us!

The last few weeks I’ve been sharing key thoughts from Augustine’s, On Christian Doctrine (translated by Robertson). Because of my emphasis through the years of the intersection of homiletics and hermeneutics, I have read very little on ancient rhetoric. However, Augustine has given me a glimpse of it in this book and another that I began last week (Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, by Paul R. Kolbet [not Stephen Colbert!].

You might be interested in the following quote from Augustine citing Cicero in the context of your own teaching and preaching work:

“Therefore a certain eloquent man said, and said truly, that he who is eloquent should speak in such a way that he teaches, delights, and moves. Then he added, ‘To teach is a necessity, to please is a sweetness, to persuade is a victory.'” (p. 136).

You and I are not interested in eloquence for eloquence’s sake.

However, we are interested in teaching. I had the privilege this morning again to teach the sacred Scriptures. It was my responsibility to interpret a section in Matthew’s Gospel in such a way that it functioned for my faith-family. We give biblical information and instruction.

We might not think about the second one, “delights.” Maybe because we’re not into entertaining. But what if I changed the angle with a quote from my mentor, Haddon Robinson: “It’s a sin to bore people with the Word of God.” So, if you struggle with the thought of delighting your listeners, you probably don’t struggle with trying to avoid boring your congregants with the Bible.

Finally, the third element, persuasion, is one that I expected to hear, even with my limited reading of ancient rhetoric. And this is one that you and I are extremely interested in. All our efforts to teach serve the goal of persuading our congregants to respond properly to sacred Scripture. Preachers talk about application or persuading listeners to apply their lives to the Bible.

N.B. You may recall from earlier posts that authorized persuasion is organically connected to theological exegesis. This requires skill to identify meaning of a passage that includes what God intends for that passage to do to listeners.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we begin preparing for victory in our next preaching/teaching assignment.

Randal

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Assisting our “Silent Learners”: Augustine on Preaching

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Some of Our Listeners may Be Silent, but They Are Thinking.

I wrote recently that I finally read Augustine’s classic little paperback, On Christian Doctrine (translated by Robertson). Augustine provides a look at one challenge of the traditional, monologue sermon. He instructs his students,

“In a conversation anyone may ask questions. But where all are silent that one may be heard and all are intent upon him, it is neither customary nor proper that anyone inquire about what he does not understand. For this reason the teacher should be especially careful to assist the silent learner. [emphasis added]” (p. 134)

You can see that, in Augustine’s day, preachers didn’t engage in dialogue with their listeners. In his era, all were “silent that one may be heard and all are intent upon him.” Probably your preaching resembles that too. You preach and your parishioners listen without asking questions about what they don’t understand.

Here are some things to think about as you develop this week’s sermon(s) that will help you “to assist the silent learner”:

  1. As you study your preaching portion, make a list of all the questions you have of this text.
  2. Try to anticipate the kinds of questions that someone who has not studied as much as you might ask of that text.
  3. Try also to anticipate the disagreements they may have with you as you preach. One homiletician called these push-backs, contrapuntals (I knew you’d like that word!).
  4. During the sermon, ask your listeners questions in such a way that they know you expect them to answer. Even if you don’t expect them or necessarily want them to answer, still ask a question sincerely to help them think with you. I say that because, through the years, I’ve seen more than one preaching ask their congregants a question in such a way they knew he really didn’t expect an answer.

Our typical monologue-method on Sunday mornings presents some real problems for communicating biblical truth. Through the years I’ve found a conversational style to be more effective than the one-way method. Most of my listeners are used to monologue sermons, but appreciate the conversation.

If you find that you fit into Augustine’s mode of preaching, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you carefully assist your silent learners.

Randal

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Confusion or Clarity? A Brief Word From Augustine

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Augustine was very sure he was being clear! I am not always so sure!! You?

Last week I finished reading Augustine’s classic little paperback, On Christian Doctrine (translated by Robertson). I had seen it quoted so many times through the years and figured it was about time.

Early on in the book, Augustine baldly stated:

“I am not to blame because they do not understand.” (p. 3)

If I remember correctly, Augustine took a job teaching rhetoric in order to pay the bills. So, he was well-trained in communication. Evidently, he knew how to be crystal clear when he taught Scripture. And he was confident in his abilities.

His statement reminded me of the importance of being clear. It’s more important that being interesting or clever. As much as I value preaching with accuracy, what is accuracy without clarity?

Augustine got me thinking about what enhances clarity. Here are some things to consider as you prepare to preach this week:

  1. Exchange your informational sermons titles (I am assuming your titles provide statements) for transformational titles (ones that hint at application or response even before the sermon begins).
  2. Similar to #1 is to clearly state the primary worship responses to your Text. As I have written before, you might complete this sentence: “We worship this morning by_____________.” This is another way of talking about sermon application. When you insert this sentence into the opening minutes of your sermon introduction, your listeners are clear about how to worship during the sermon.
  3. Whether you use formal outline points or not, make sure to create clear transitions from thought-block to thought-block. Everyone should hear how the parts fit together so the sermon doesn’t fragment in their minds.
  4. I find it’s easy not to be clear with defining key terms. I am trying to make sure my sermon manuscript has one robust sentence for any word that requires careful evaluation. The lexicons are still my favorite source for concise definitions in context.
  5. I need to practice this more: follow up a lengthy quote, with something like, “Now, what D. A. Carson is saying is, ___________________.” That gives listeners two opportunities to hear the content.
  6. Finally, be clear about the Gospel, how Christ-crucified makes it possible for us to put the Scripture into practice (the worship response in #2 above).

Maybe, after all that, I can say with Augustine, “I am not to blame because they do not understand.” And may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21), because of our sermon clarity.

Randal

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The Attitudes that Affect the Way We Respond to God’s Word

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Things that get in the way of applying life to the Bible

In my last post I began summarizing some of the things I’m learning from Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light. In the book he highlights a number of ways in which Jonathan Edwards is relevant for our day. Much of Edwards’s enduring value stems from the similarities between our listeners and those in the eighteenth century.

Here are some excerpts that help us know what is in the air we breathe:

“the autonomous individual is the fundamental unity of society” (p. 33). Which explains why it is very difficult to get a local church to think about community or to even think that the church is important enough to commit to.

“the God within” (p. 33). Virtually everyone in our society has been trained to think that listening to their own voice or following their own heart is the way to success. Each weekend you and I give them another word, a Word from God that is outside of themselves.

“the privatization of meaning” (p. 33). This is a spinoff from the one above. People in our day are ditching parents or a close knit group of neighbors or spiritual community and opting to discover their own meaning. Again, on Sundays we confront them with God’s Word and His meaning, but it’s not easy because deep down they believe they are the final authority on meaning.

That’s only three of them, but they are big ones that we face. What’s fascinating is to read how all this started with someone like Benjamin Franklin (remember, he and Edwards are contemporaries). Marsden points out one huge difference between their society and ours: they believed that there was some kind of transcendent basis for their values; our society does not.

This kind of analysis reminds me that when I am preaching, listeners are hearing God’s Word in the context of their cultural values. These attitudes always affect the way people interact with God’s revelation. As you head into this Christmas week and prepare to teach and preach on Christmas Eve, keep this in mind. See if your Scripture speaks directly to these attitudes and may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Learning About How Meaning Is Made For Biblical Preaching

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Discover how meaning is made before asking what the meaning is.

Last week I had the privilege of teaching the Ph.D. course BIB909, Old Testament Hermeneutics and Theology, for LBC|Capital Seminary & Graduate School. One of the concepts we discussed during residency days in Greenbelt, MD was how meaning is made in a pericope.

It is not a familiar topic, especially when worded that way. It comes from the world of literary studies.

In my own practice I always discover how meaning is made in my selected preaching portion before attempting to discover what the meaning is. This allows me to allow the biblical author to show me what he means to say.

In many cases this means beginning with the passage’s structure. In a narrative, for instance, trace the storyline of the text (setting, rising action, climax, and conclusion). This is how theology is communicated. This is how meaning is made. This shows the interrelationship between the many ideas in a narrative. This helps you know what idea is prominent and which are subordinate.

In other cases, such as didactic texts, you are tracing the flow of thought or argument of a paragraph. This provides the logical relationship between sentences and paragraphs. This is how theology is communicated. This is how meaning is made. Again, this shows the interrelationship between the many ideas in the argument. This helps you know what idea is prominent and which are subordinate.

In both case above, you will have to investigate further. You will have to ask how various elements in your preaching portion mean something to your readers. Here’s an example from Matthew 10:1-15, my text for this coming Sunday, Lord willing.

In a text like this, Jesus’s instructions to the Twelve somehow instruct us in how to make disciples.

That’s it.

You’ll have to decide how much of the details transfer to our day, but as far as how meaning is made, you’ve got it. There’s authority, specific instructions on what to do, including how to handle rejection and what that means for those who do that.

It’s your turn. If you’re preaching Sunday and if you didn’t do this already, take a moment and analyze how meaning is made in your preaching portion. And may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through your Spirit-guided efforts! (Ephesians 3:21)

Randal