Aristotle’s Poetics: Comparative Offerings to Homiletical Theory and Practice
Abstract
Aristotle’s mimetic understanding of plot as representational of reality invites preachers to examine how a sermon might also mediate the story of God with the everyday lives of congregants. Mimetic approaches to art emerging from antiquity provide critical insights for analyzing the poet’s work, but also constructive guidance for training, crafting, and producing new pieces. Subsequently, I have assigned Poetics the past three years asking students to reflect on the implications Aristotle’s work has for preaching. A fresh reading of Poetics enables students to discover narrative patterns that enhance their plotting of sermons. The essay looks at Poetics through the lens of homiletics asking, “What is its relevance to teaching the craft of preaching in contemporary times?”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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