Category Archives: Homiletics

Preachers and their preaching – J.A. Broadus

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John Albert Broadus (1827-1895) was both a celebrated preacher and a teacher of preaching.  His Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons was for decades the most widely-used and influential manual on preaching.

Hershael York claims:

‘Nearly everything written on expository preaching is derivative of Broadus’s Treatise to some extent, often massively so.’

Broadus espoused, in the face of incipient modernism and liberalism, theological orthodoxy allied to a firm belief in the infallibility of the Bible.

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Notes, or no notes?

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For many years I was tightly bound to rather full notes in my preaching.  However, I came to se that this is to walk with crutches, and that it would be better to do without them.

Jeffrey Arthurs discusses the pros and cons of preaching from notes.

He quotes Fred Cradock:-

Every method pays a price for its advantages. Those who prefer the freedom and relationships available to the preacher without notes will not usually rate as high on careful phrasing and wealth of content.

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Stand-up preaching

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What can the preacher learn from the stand-up comic and other expert communicators?

Not a lot, it might be supposed.  The preacher shouldn’t go all-out for laughs: his message is far too serious.  He shouldn’t preach time again the same message, honing it until every word is in the right place, and the delivery timed to perfection.  He shouldn’t try to create any kind of unnatural persona, but rather be in the pulpit the same person that he is at home, at work, and amongst his friends.…

How did Jesus secure attention?

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How did Jesus secure the attention of his hearers?

  • By asking for it.  “Hear…”; “Look…”
  • By announcing his coming by sending messengers in advance.
  • By utilising posture.  Adopting the posture of a Rabbi, he would sit to teach.
  • By using concrete, pictorial, imaginative language.
  • By using the familiar to explain the unfamiliar.
  • By making one point in several different ways: The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.
  • By giving teaching which was different from what his hearers were used to (from the scribes).
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Troeger: the use of imagination in preaching

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Some notes from this interview with Thomas Troeger:

The imaginative process can be likened to the art of sailing a boat.  Two realities are at work: the wind (over which you don’t have any control), and your own senses, with which you can survey the situation and set your sails accordingly.

Three kinds of imagination: conventional, empathetic, and visionary.

Conventional imagination is that which is inherited and shared.  Hymns such as ‘Silent Night’ at Christmas and ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today’ at Easter form part of the way we imagine the faith.…

Preachers and their preaching – Fred Craddock

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Fred Craddock (1928-2015) was was pastor, preacher, and teacher of homiletics.  He wrote influential books, including As One Without Authority (1971) and Preaching (1985).  I have recently been working my way through this latter book, and also listening to some online discussion with, and sermons by, Craddock.

Michael Jeffress has written a paper entitled, ‘Fred B. Craddock’s Contribution to Preaching: The Revolution of the Inductive Method’, in which he helpfully summaries the key themes of Craddock preaching method.…

How to begin a sermon

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I’m afraid that many of our hearers would respond to the title of this post by pleading, “Please don’t!”

To be sure, if preachers are brave (or foolhardy) enough to think that they have something worthwhile to say, then they are going to have to work hard during the first 30 seconds of the message if they hope to take any of their hearers with them.

As usual, Bryan Chapell offers sound advice.

Purposes of introductions

To arouse interest in the message.  …

On and on

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As far as I can remember, I have only ever been criticised once for preaching too short a sermon.  And that was the occasion, many years ago, when I actually forgot one third of my message (I had foolishly tried to memorise the whole lot, and I’ve never repeated that particular form of idiocy).

It’s generally a silent tussle between the preacher and his congregation.  He wants them to have more, whereas they would quite happy with a little less.…

How to read a story

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No, this isn’t advice for parents reading The Chronicles of Narnia to their children at bedtime.

It is, rather, a set of tips to help the preacher get inside a piece of biblical narrative in order to find out how it is put together and how it works as a story.  This is the preliminary work that a preacher needs to do in order to preach from the story in question.  It is specific to narratives: letters, poems, proverbs, and parables required other approaches.…

Delivery – 20 questions

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Peter Mead has posted a checklist of 20 questions (well, 88, actually, but they boil down to 20) about a preacher’s delivery.

I summarise:-

  1. What do your tone and manner communicate to your hearers?
  2. Does your speech flow smoothly?
  3. How is your eye contact?
  4. Are your notes working for you, or against you?
  5. Does your preaching furniture get in the way?
  6. What are your feet doing while you preach?
  7. Do your gestures complement what you are saying?
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