DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar is designed to bring students into conversation with the homiletical literature of the recent past. It will examine the homiletical turns taken in the late twentieth century and the first decade of the new century, with attention to homiletical theology, theory, form, history, and practice. Masters students may be admitted with permission of instructor.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: While preaching has been a central part of the proclamation of the faith from the beginning of the church, the theological and homiletical approaches to preaching have always been in flux. This course will familiarize students with the most recent trends in homiletics and enable them to put them into practice in the pulpit and to join in the conversation that is known as the New Homiletic.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The course seeks the following goals for each student: Cognitive: theoretical knowledge relating to preaching and its historical and recent trends; Affective: deepened appreciation for the vast and varied approaches to homiletics, especially within the past thirty years; Skills: capacity to craft and deliver a sermon that is scripturally, theologically, and contextually responsible and that demonstrates an awareness of the forms and practices that have become commonplace in the New Homiletic.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet weekly for a three-hour period. Within the seminar, students will read and discuss key books, lead in the discussion of one text book (or reading topic), write a book review, and write a seminar research paper.

REQUIRED READING:

Buttrick, David. Homiletic. Fortress, 1987. 450 pages, ISBN: 9780800620967, $29.00.

Campbell, Charles. Preaching Jesus. Eerdmans, 1997. 250 pages, ISBN: 9780802849830, $27.00.

Childers, Jana, ed. Purposes of Preaching. Chalice Press, 2004. 150 pages, ISBN: 9780827229976, $17.59.

Craddock, Fred. As One Without Authority. Chalice Press, 2001. 150 pages, ISBN: 9780827200265, $18.00.

Davis, H. Grady. Design for Preaching. Fortress, 1958. 250 pages, ISBN: 9780800636340, $20.00.

Florence, Anna Carter. Preaching as Testimony. WJK, 2007. 150 pages, ISBN: 9780664223908, $22.46.

Hogan, Lucy Hind. Graceful Speech. WJK, 2006. 200 pages, ISBN: 9780644228774, $22.45.

Kim, Eunjoo Mary. Women Preaching. The Pilgrim Press, 2004. 200 pages, ISBN: 0829815279, $25.00.

Lischer, Richard. The End of Words. Eerdmans, 2005. 150 pages, ISBN: 9780802862808, $12.00.

Long, Thomas. Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible. Fortress, 1989. 130 pages, ISBN: 9780800623135, $18.00.

Lose, David. Confessing Jesus. Eerdmans, 2003. 250 pages, ISBN: 9780802849830, $27.00.

Lowry, Eugene. The Homiletical Plot. WJK, 1980. 100 pages, ISBN: 0664222641, $13.57.

________. The Sermon: Dancing the Edge of Mystery. Abingdon, 1997. 150 pages, ISBN: 068701543X, $19.00.

McClure, John. The Roundtable Pulpit. Abingdon, 1995. 100 pages, ISBN: 0687011426, $18.00.

Mitchell, Henry. Black Preaching. Abingdon, 1990. 130 pages, ISBN: 0687036143, $18.00.

Rose, Lucy Atkinson. Sharing the Word: Preaching in the Roundtable Church. WJK, 1997. 150 pages, ISBN: 0664256589, $19.95.

Steimle, Edmund, Morris Niedenthal, and Charles Rice, Preaching the Story. Fortress, 1980. 200 pages, ISBN: 0800605381, $24.00.

Troeger, Tom. Imagining a Sermon. Abingdon, 1990. 100 pages, ISBN: 0687186943, $17.00.

Wilson, Paul Scott. The Four Pages of the Sermon. Abingdon, 1999. 250 pages, ISBN: 0687023955, $27.00.

Doctoral students will (1) read and discuss approximately 3000 pages from the required reading list; (2) prepare and lead the discussion of one text book (or one reading topic) based on approximately 300 pages of reading; (3) select a recent book on homiletics (not on the reading list), write a book review of it, and present the review to the class; (4) write a seminar paper (approximately 8000 words).

Masters level students will (1) read approximately 2000 pages from the reading list; (2) prepare and lead discussion on one text book or reading topic; (3) write a seminar paper of approximately 4000 words.