Spring 2014/Pasadena
PR529
Moore
PR529: PREACHING AS STORIED COMMUNITY FORMATION (4 Units). Joy J. Moore.
DESCRIPTION: This four-unit course is designed to deepen the theological insights of preaching students and to sharpen creative skills in the task of an oral performance of scriptural interpretation for community formation. Special attention will be given to experiences of marginalization and the importance of memory to develop strategies for communicating the Christian faith in our media-immersed pluralistic culture. The course uses the African American pulpit as an exemplar of storied community formation addressing politically and socially charged issues.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Having successfully completed this course, students will have demonstrated the ability to: (1) Articulate how narrative interpretation and story-telling are foundational for community formation; (2) Identify the needs of a community in the preparation process as a pastoral dimension of preaching; and (3) prepare and present theologically coherent sermons that engender a sense of the biblical narrative for our experienced world.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet twice weekly for two-hour sessions. Students will prepare and deliver sermons for feedback, discussion, and self-evaluation. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning. They will also be responsible for reading material, creative writing, evaluation assignments, and a final sermon project in which students prepare and deliver a sermon addressing a politically or socially charged issue. Class time will include guests and video presentations.
REQUIRED READING: 1500 total number of pages required
Coleman, Will, Tribal Talk: Black Theology, Hermeneutics, and African/American Ways of “Telling the Story”. Penn State University, 1999. ISBN: 978-0271019451, Pub. Price $28.00 [224 pp.].
de Zengotita, Thomas, Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It. Bloomsbury Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-1596910324, Pub Price $12.00 [304 pp.].
Gottschall, Jonathan, The Storytelling Animal. Mariner Books, 2013. ISBN: 978-0544002340, Pub. Price $14.95 [199 pp].
Hauerwas, Stanley and L. Gregory Jones, eds., Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Wipf and Stock, 1997. ISBN: 978-1579100650, Pub Price $28.92 [376 pp.] [selected readings].
Massey, James E. Stewards of the Story: The Task of Preaching. Westminster John Knox, 2006. ISBN: 978-0664229818, Pub. Price $16.95 [105 pp.].
Simmons, Martha, Frank A. Thomas, and Gardner C. Taylor. Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present. New York: W W Norton Company, 2010. ISBN: 978-0393058314, Pub. Price $45.00 [960 pp.] [selected readings].
RECOMMENDED READING:
Fry-Brown, Teresa L. God Don’t Like Ugly: African American Women Handing on Spiritual Values. Abingdon, 2000. ISBN: 978-0687087990, Pub. Price $23.00 [211 pp.].
Storey, Peter. With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship. Abingdon, 2002. ISBN: 978-0687052530, Pub. Price, $20.00 [180 pp.]
Thomas, Frank A., American Dream 2.0. Abingdon, 2012. ISBN: 978-1426753909, Pub. Price $16.00 [214 pp.].
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Participation in class discussions and peer evaluations (15%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1,2, & 3]
Original Minute Story presented orally (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]
Prepare (including homiletical journal) and deliver two 10-12 minute sermons on an assigned biblical text relevant to a particular community (15% each). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2 & 3]
Final project: produce and present for in-class critique and evaluation a 15-17-minute sermon with a focused politically or socially charged component (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]
Blog Journal on Assigned Reading - Students will make two (2) online “journal” entries each week related to course readings and respond to at least one (1) entry of a classmate each week. A single entry should be 250-300 words. Additional responses may be any length. (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 & 2]
PREREQUISITES: PR500.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Preaching and Communication (MIN2).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.