Experiments with AI

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Recently I have experimented with AI. I attached my draft of Homiletics: A Very Short Introduction 2025. The AI generated an introduction, a brief outline, and a set of FAQs for me. Also, AI generated a podcast using my book as the content.

Was it perfect? No. Here are a few examples. The podcast misses how I use the metaphor of window for example. It uses a multi-colored stained glass window, an image I do not use. I am using windows in a room that you see through. Different windows give you different perspectives of the same room. And, it uses the butterfly as an example of my definition of concretization when the butterfly is my example of missing the point of concretization. Later, it will define concretization in a better way. Describing concretization twice is one example of redundancy that was poorly sequenced. The podcast uses a positive image of a bridge when I am critical of the metaphor of a bridge. The use of “episodic preaching” is a confusion of my critique of “episodic memory” in an appendix and my use of episodes as sequencing plots. Ironically, Aristotle says “episodics” are the worst in Poetics. The podcast also provided made-up examples and illustrations. As it is often said, the AI hallucinated. However, all in all, I was quite impressed.

AI Generated Summary

Homiletics: A Very Short Introduction Under Construction by Tim Sensing

The text provides a comprehensive guide to homiletics, exploring the art and practice of preaching. It investigates the calling and formation of preachers, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and the church community. The text examines key concepts such as exegesis, hermeneutics, and homiletics, stressing the need for contextual interpretation of scripture. It also presents various models and methods for sermon preparation, including focus statements, function statements, and core affirmations. Furthermore, it discusses narrative preaching, sermon structure, and the use of metaphors and images to connect with the congregation and make the theological claims of the text relevant for today.

Overall Theme: This document provides an introduction to homiletics, emphasizing preaching intentionally in the present tense, understanding the theological purpose of sermons, respecting the literary genre and rhetorical form of texts, and viewing Scripture as witness. It also touches upon reaching contemporary audiences in an episodic fashion.

Key Ideas and Concepts:

  • Preaching Intentionally & in the Present Tense:
    • The core idea is that preaching should be relevant and address the contemporary context of the audience. Sensing emphasizes moving from “what the text meant” to “what the text means.”
    • “Sermons in the present tense address the concerns of individuals, congregations, and the larger community.” The goal is to find correspondence between the “concerns of the text and the concerns of the people.”
    • Interpreting in the present tense begins with God’s revelation of Self in the Bible and what it means to call the Bible Scripture.
  • Theological Purpose of the Sermon:
    • A central question is, “What is the ‘what’ of preaching?” Sensing answers this with “theology,” which is a broad term encompassing various theological disciplines (Christology, Pneumatology, Ecclesiology, etc.) and forms (beatitude, lament, parable, etc.).
    • Each sermon should have a single, clear theological claim and a specific purpose for the audience. “One of the marks of good preaching is that it seeks to say one thing well.”
    • The purpose of a sermon is also found in its final end, “friendship with God,” and it’s primary proximate end, “the awakening of faith.”
  • Sermon Design & Structure:
    • Sensing suggests that sermons are “formed from end to beginning,” emphasizing the importance of knowing the destination or purpose before starting to preach. “Sermons are not propelled by powerful beginnings but are evoked by significant ends.”
    • He moves away from rigid outlines, preferring to think of a sermon as “an audible movement in time,” like a play or a story.
    • The document introduces a storyboarding template to aid in sermon preparation, focusing on Focus and Function.
    • Plots should have a single point of entry and point of view to avoid confusing the audience.
  • Scripture as Witness & the Role of the Preacher:
    • The text views Scripture as a witness, the “ongoing story of God witnessed throughout history by the people of God.” The preacher, as a witness, encounters God through the biblical text and testifies to the community.
    • Echoing The Second Helvetic Confession, Sensing contends that “the preached word of God is the Word of God.”
    • “Because God has raised Jesus from the dead, we believe and therefore confess Jesus is Lord!” is cited as a “core affirmation.” The preacher has beautiful feet when “one who beholds the living word of God who is Christ and swivels in the chair of the study or rise from your knees of prayer to your field of service to proclaim what is seen and heard.”
  • The Importance of Context & Culture:
    • Culture shapes the listener, serving as webs of significance through convictions, values, assumptions, biases, and formative symbols. The preacher should be aware of the cultural elements that affect the interpretation of scripture.
    • Contextualized preaching requires “greater faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ but also greater responsiveness to the unique issues, hopes, fears, and concerns of particular congregations in specific times and places.”
  • Metaphor & Language:
    • Language functions as both a performative and a referential speech act.
    • Metaphor is a powerful tool for communicating meaning, and transferring insights from one domain to another. It re-describes reality by interacting tenor and vehicle.
  • The Episodic Audience:
    • The document acknowledges a shift towards “episodic” thinking, where meta-narratives are less emphasized. This has implications for how sermons are structured and delivered. “Episodics have lost the capacity or the will to make meta-plots.”
    • Sensing notes that episodic thinking may be linked to the influence of media and a world that lives from scene to scene.
  • Theological Interpretation of Scripture:
    • Scripture should not be read as any other book, and the interpretation of Scripture has a different telos (purpose) in the church than in other communities. The end is friendship with God, and the building up of God’s people.
    • Good theological interpretation must be evangelical, edifying, and prophetic.
    • Text, context, and community are essential components of theological reading.

Quotes:

  • “Sermons are formed from end to beginning.”
  • “One of the marks of good preaching is that it seeks to say one thing well.”
  • “What you believe about God alters how you act towards others.”
  • “Episodics have lost the capacity or the will to make meta-plots.”
  • “This is my starting-point: no meaning can be determined out of context, but no context permits saturation.”
  • “The preacher, as witness, beholds, sees, experiences, observes, basks in, becomes aware, and perceives the Bible, and through its witness encounters God!”
  • “The triune God has bestowed this telos upon the Bible in sanctifying it for the church’s sake. In fact, there is no one telos of Holy Scripture, for it has a rich plurality of ends. Its final end is friendship with God: eternal participation in the infinite communion of love that is the perfect life of Father, Son, and Spirit.”

Implications:

  • This document provides a framework for creating sermons that are theologically sound, contextually relevant, and engaging for a contemporary audience.
  • It encourages preachers to be intentional about their purpose, to respect the text, and to consider the cultural and cognitive landscape of their listeners.
  • The emphasis on Scripture as witness and the preacher as a testifier calls for authenticity and a personal encounter with God.

FAQs

  1. What is the central aim of preaching, according to this text?

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.

  1. 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.

  1. How does the text 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. What are some practical tools the text 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.