DESCRIPTION:

Developing authentic and effective strategies of communicating the faith within our mass-mediated and pluralistic culture is central to the ministry of the church. This course is designed to assist students in their ongoing process of assessing how and in what ways the gospel may be communicated appropriately in a television age and in a context of racial, ethnic, and religious diversity.

Efficacy in ministry is heavily dependent upon the capacity of ministers in the church to responsibly address and adapt themselves to the various communicative challenges emerging from contemporary culture. This course is aimed at encouraging students to cultivate approaches to communication which are faithful to the gospel and contextually congruent.

The course will meet once a week for two hours of lecture, discussion, and oral presentations. Time outside of class will be devoted to research and speech preparation. Video tape will be used to record in-class performance.

Each student will do whatever reading and research is necessary to complete the basic oral assignments.

Each student will be expected to prepare and deliver two homilies, 10-15 minutes in length, during the quarter (written outlines are to be submitted with all presentations). There will be, in addition, a graded in-class assignment in rhetorical criticism during the eighth week of quarter.

It is expected that every member of the class will take great care to speak in language which is sensitive to the racial, ethnic, gender, and denominational diversity of the classroom context. (See Non-Discriminatory Language Statement for guidance in these matters).

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Meets M. Div. core requirement in Preaching and Communication (MIN 2).

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