Disruption, Initiation, and Staging: The Theological Challenge of Christian Preaching
Abstract
Is today’s Christian preaching really perceived as the living word of God (“viva vox evangelii”) or as boredom, irrelevance and the mere repetition of conventional formula well-known in and outside the Christian community? One hundred years ago Karl Barth and Eduard Thurneysen struggled to find new words for their sermons in order to come closer to what Luther once called the “nova sprach de resurrectione mortuorum.” A century later their question will be asked again against the background of new philosophical insights (“disruption”), liturgical observations (“initiation”), and aesthetic/hermeneutic reflections (“staging/presentation”). A theological description of preaching in the eschatological context of expectation, longing, and astonishment will be suggested.For articles: All articles published in Homiletic are the exclusive property of the Journal. All copyright rights to the article shall be owned by and be in the name of the Academy of Homiletics. The Academy of Homiletics in turn grants all authors the right to reprint their articles in any format that they choose, without the payment of royalties, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication with Homiletic. The Academy of Homiletics also permits articles to be copied for non-profit educational use provided proper credit is given to Homiletic. Authors may self-archive their articles in an institutional repository or other online location, provided proper credit is given to Homiletic.
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