FAQs about Homiletics
Below are some FAQs from my Homiletics: A Very Short Introduction 2025
1. What is the central aim of preaching?
The central aim of preaching is to facilitate an encounter between God, the biblical text, and the community. Preaching should make concrete theological claims about God, bearing witness to the congregation in order to transform them into the image of Jesus. It’s about more than just conveying information; it’s about God acting through the sermon to shape and reshape the community of faith. The sermon also acts as a performative and referential speech act, affecting the hearer and spurring them to decision.
2. What does it mean to preach “intentionally” and “in the present tense”?
Preaching intentionally means that the preacher must discern a purpose for an individual sermon, as every text of Scripture contains more than one sermon, but a preacher should only preach one sermon each Sunday, focusing on one thing well. Preaching in the present tense means addressing the current concerns of individuals, the congregation, and the wider community, finding the correspondence between the “concerns of the text” and the “concerns of the people.” It involves interpreting “what the text meant” to reveal “what the text means,” moving from the world described by the Bible to the world it imagines.
3. How does Sensing suggest a sermon should be designed or “scripted”?
The text emphasizes that sermons should be “formed from end to beginning,” meaning the preacher should first identify the desired outcome or purpose before developing the sermon’s content. Scripting should respect the literary genre and rhetorical form of the text, allowing the text’s form to inspire the sermon’s design rather than imposing a predetermined structure. The sermon’s plot should have a single point of entry and maintain a consistent point of view.
4. What role does theology play in the process of preaching?
Theology is foundational to preaching. Theology is described as a big enough word that it carries the weight of “love” and “gospel”, encompassing various sub-disciplines like Christology, Pneumatology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology. It provides the “what” of preaching, the substance of the message. The preacher’s own theological commitments and presuppositions significantly influence their interpretation of Scripture and, consequently, the content and delivery of their sermons.
5. How does the concept of “witness” relate to preaching?
Preaching is presented as an act of witness. Scripture is a witness to God’s ongoing story throughout history. The preacher, as a witness, beholds, sees, experiences, observes, and perceives the biblical text, encountering God through it. Then, the preacher attests, gives out, says, makes others aware, and testifies to the community. Therefore, God, by means of the witness of the biblical text and the witness of the preacher, encounters the congregation. This witness isn’t simply about relaying information; it’s about sharing a lived encounter with God. The preacher declares what they behold, inviting the congregation to share in that experience.
6. What is meant by the “fusion of horizons” and how does it apply to preaching?
The “fusion of horizons,” drawing on Gadamer’s hermeneutics, describes the merging of the preacher’s understanding (their horizon) with the horizon of the biblical text. As the two circles merge, the two centers form an ellipse. The new center is the intersection of the major and minor axes. The ellipse is a new geometric shape. This fusion creates a new understanding, a new way of seeing and interpreting the text in light of the preacher’s context and experiences. It’s a dynamic process of interaction and interpretation that leads to a richer and more meaningful understanding. “Fusion” is but one metaphor used by Sensing to describe the hermeneutical process.
7. What are some practical tools Sensing offers for sermon preparation?
The text offers a storyboarding template to help organize sermon ideas, focusing on the title, focus, and function of the sermon. It also highlights the importance of plotlines (sequence or arrangement), indicating if the sermon is in the mode of immediacy or the mode of reflection, helping to follow the flow or movement of the episodes of the sermon from the beginning to the ending. Additionally, the text suggests using a modified form of Buttrick’s Moves and Structures as a flexible way to teach sermon design that respects textual form.