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This essay arises from the conviction that preaching is "standing between two worlds," an articulation with the ancient text and the modern listeners (Stott Between Two Worlds). The preacher is the bridge as the truth of the Word flows through his/her personality. The bridge building metaphor leads to an inescapable fact, the subject of this essay, that preaching involves self-disclosure. The speaker and the message are inseparable. As Carrol C. Arnold states, in oral rhetoric the speaker "stand[s] with his symbolic acts" (200). We cannot hide literally or figuratively in the pulpit, and we should not try to because God has ordained that his truth be communicated through human agents. His treasure is in earthen vessels. Paul knew this and was glad to share with the Thessalonians not only the gospel but also his life (1 Thess. 2:8).
We use the term "self-disclosure" to mean verbal or non verbal revelation of the speaker’s feelings, values, and/or personal experiences (see DeVito 139; Stewart 245; Trenholm & Jensen 136; George 34-35). In Why Am I Afaid to Tell You Who I Am? John Powell lists various levels of disclosure: (in George 15)
Level – Content of disclosure – Example
1 Cliche conversation "Nice weather, huh?"
2 Factual conversation "I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me." (2 Cor. 2:12)
3 Revealing personal judgments "Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God." (2 Cor. 2:16)
4 Revealing feelings "I had no peace of mind because I did not find my brother Titus there." (2 Cor. 2:13) "I wrote to you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears." (2 Cor. 2:4)
In this essay, we use the term "self-disclosure" to mean levels 3 and 4, while recognizing that level 2 may also fall under our definition.
While this essay is not primarily an explication of the advantages of self-disclosure in preaching, a brief summary of those advantages is in order. When used well, self-disclosure illustrates the point under consideration. It holds listeners’ attention. It demonstrates the relevance of the Word and is a tool the preacher can use to disciple the listeners by modeling values such as humility. It tends to increase the cohesiveness and satisfaction of church members (Palmberg 213) and builds an atmosphere of trust between pastor and people (George 59). In general, it makes koinonia more likely (Palmberg 213).
Most preachers have experienced at least a few of these advantages. Most preachers know that self-disclosure "works." This essay explores why it works. Why do listeners sit up and take notice when the preacher reveals a feeling or an incident from his/her childhood? How does adherence to values grow when preachers talk enthusiastically about their values? Why does loyalty to the church’s vision increase when the preacher reveals his/her passion for that vision? Our answer is that preaching that uses self-disclosure is incarnational; it helps preachers stand between two worlds by embodying the message. This thesis is explained from two perspectives-theology and rhetoric. A final section of the essay suggests ways to implement self-disclosure in our preaching.
Theological Perspectives on Self-Disclosure
"Therefore, wishing to help men, he [the Word] naturally dwells with men as man, taking to himself a body like other men. And from things of sense, that is by the works of his body, [he teaches them] so that they who were unwilling to know him from his universal providence and guidance may through the works of his body recognize the Word of God and through him come to the knowledge of the Father ." Athanasius, De incarnatione
The preacher who uses self-disclosure in order to reveal truth about God is in a sense recreating the very process by which God has revealed truth about himself. In fact, it seems that the method and the content are inseperable. In other words, with regard to the nature of truth and how it is communicated, we agree with Marshall McLuhan’s axiom, "The medium is the message."
There are only two things that bear the title "Word of God": Jesus Christ and the Scripture. The culmination of God’s self-disclosure to mankind is the Word of God in each of these expressions. Our contention is that just as God has communicated himself to us, so should we communicate God to others. If we change the medium, we change the message. We are to "witness"-share personal experiences, values, and feelings that reveal Jesus Christ.
God has revealed himself in the Son and in the written Word. Furthermore, he has chosen to continue to reveal himself through the foolishness of preaching. Since God has ordained that knowledge of himself be mediated through human personality, self-disclosure in preaching is unavoidable, appropriate, and valuable. Of course, the self-disclosure must be a tool to reveal God, not a means of promoting the messenger. Suggestions are offered at the end of this essay to help the preacher avoid self-promotion. The point here is simply that God uses "self-disclosure" and has ordained that we do also.
The Incarnation
The quotation from Athanasius highlights several key ideas that are worthy of consideration. First, Athanasius recognized that God [the Word] desired to help men understand who he was. To do so, God "took to himself a body like other men." Truth in its most extraordinary and crystallized form, was incarnated. The implication for preaching is that truth that is incarnational in essence should remain so in proclamation. As Clyde Fant states, "When the Word would make its fullness known it took on flesh and dwelt among us; and to make itself known now, the Word must keep on becoming flesh among us" (46). In other words, what God did to reveal himself to mankind, the preacher should do to reveal God’s truth to mankind. God identified with humanity through the Incarnation. In communication jargon, God intersected with our "frame of reference."
Athanasius also recognizes God’s self-disclosure through general revelation; however, he argues that this revelation must be augmented by God’s ultimate self-disclosure: the Incarnation. He states: by the very works of his body, Jesus teaches men about the Father "so that they who were unwilling to know him from his universal providence and guidance may through the works of his body recognize the Word of God and through him come to the knowledge of the Father." It is in the person and work of Jesus Christ that mankind receives an understanding of God that would otherwise be too wonderful and obscure for them to apprehend. For example, the abstract statement "God is love" can be seen and experienced in the incarnation-a crown of thorns, a beating, and a cross. Just so, preachers should let audiences see and experience the truth of God by embodying the message.
The self-disclosure of Jesus intentionally focused on one thing: the glory of God the Father. It is the grand miracle of God becoming man in order to redeem man that is the thrust of Jesus’ self-disclosure. He preached what he was to the glory of God. The preacher should do the same. As one who has been redeemed and who is now has God living inside of him/her, the preacher should reveal God through himself/herself.
The Written Word
The Scripture speaks of itself as God’s self-disclosure, not merely man’s religious ideas (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Psalm 33:4-6). It might be said that the Scripture fulfills in print what Jesus fulfilled in flesh: disclosing the truth about God to mankind. It is no accident that both Jesus and Scripture are called the "Word of God" (John 1:1; Psalm 119). Orthodox bibliology also claims that the Scripture, like Jesus, is fully divine and fully human. In other words, the only two places we find the convergence of the divine and the human in such a profound sense are the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the holy Scriptures.
The Scripture is not a detached series of abstract propositions but the dramatic and personal account of God’s revelation to humans and our response to that revelation. The form of the message matches the content. The Scripture is, in a very real sense, "incarnational" because it communicates God’s truth in forms that are emotive, imaginative and immediate. The Scripture has "presence." The biblical writers found forms of communication that mirrored the message they had received. Through forms such as story, poetry, personal letters, and prayers they proclaimed God’s truth as those who had experienced it. The biblical writers realized that God’s truth was personal and dynamic, not distant and abstract. Preachers should communicate God’s Word in the same manner it has been communicated to them: "incarnationally." To that end, when preachers use self-disclosure, they reflect God’s self-revelation in the Scripture and in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God works in and through men in order to save men.
The Preacher as Witness
The personal testimony of the apostles is the fertile ground out of which the Gospels sprang (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8, 26:16; 2 Pet. 1:16). Although the primary focus of the term "witness" is that of a firsthand, eyewitness encounter with Jesus, John Stott rightly asserts that the concept of witness is still valid today even for those who have not literally heard, seen, and handled the Word of Life. The concept of "witness" can be broadened to include a subjective and mystical experience of Christ. In other words, we are still witnesses today. Stott argues:
"In our preaching, we do not just expound words which have been committed to our stewardship. Nor do we only proclaim as heralds a mighty deed of redemption which has been done. But, in addition, we expound these words and proclaim this deed as witnesses, as those who have come to a vital experience of this Word and Deed of God. We have heard His still, small voice through His Word. We have seen His redeeming Deed as having been done for us, and we have entered by faith into the immeasurable benefits of it. Our task is not to lecture about Jesus with philosophical detachment. We have become personally involved with Him." (Portrait 74)
Stott claims that the preacher must preach from the context of a "personal experience of Jesus Christ Himself. This is the first and indispensable mark of the Christian witness. He cannot speak from hearsay. He would not be a witness if he did" (Portrait 71).
Personal experience should not stand on its own as the sole pillar of truth for proclamation. However, it is one legitimate source of authority when it is grounded in the witness of God to Himself. The Triune God is the chief witness to Himself and our witness should flow from and reflect that ultimate reality. The Father testifies to the Son (John 5:37). The Son testifies to the Father (John 5:43). This testimony comes through the Spirit (John 16:13-14) and through the Scripture (John 5:39). For the preacher to use personal experience effectively, he must imitate this model and witness to Christ, not about himself (Portrait 67).
Rhetorical Perspectives on Self-Disclosure
Having laid the groundwork for self-disclosure in preaching, the answer to the question, "why does it work?" is more apparent. The answer is inherent in the theology of self-disclosure; namely, that God’s communication is incarnational, and humans, created in the image of God, communicate best when they include themselves in a presentation of ideas, values, or images. This is an ontological answer to the question, and a rhetorical perspective fleshes it out.
Identification
Kenneth Burke’s theory of "identification" is simple but has profound implications for those who would stand between two worlds. He explains the theory this way:
"A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B even when their interests are not joined, if he assumes that they are, or is persuaded that they are. . . . In being identified with B, A is "substantially one" with a person other than himself. At the same time he remains unique, an individual locus of motives. Thus he is joined and separate, at once a distinct substance and consubstantial with another." (20-21)
In practice, the theory of identification looks like this: A preacher expounds a truth from the Word, but it remains merely an abstract principle. Then the preacher discloses how this truth has impacted him/her, or how such and such a personal experience demonstrates the relevance of the principle, or how the expositor himself/herself has wrestled to live out the precept. The listeners are likely to see themselves in the personal disclosure. The preacher voices their feelings, values, and experiences. They identify with the preacher and the same impact the truth had on the preacher is likely to occur with the listener. A is not B, but when B identifies with A, response to the proposition is not far behind.
Closely related to Burke’s theory of identification is Lee and Gura’s discussion of "empathy." Lee and Gura’s field is oral interpretation, but the principles are applicable to homiletics: When a performer imagines and feels the literature, then the audience will too. The listeners adopt the performer’s stance toward the text (128). In the same way, identification and empathy created through self-disclosure can help preachers stand between their text and the congregation. As one preacher said, "The people come to watch me burn and then they catch fire." Aristotle’s well known theory of "ethos" provides a second and complimentary rhetorical perspective on self-disclosure in preaching.
Ethos
Aristotle states, "We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided" (Rhetoric 1356a). The qualities of Aristotle’s "good men" have been described with terms such as:
* Competence-the speaker is knowledgeable or experienced.
* Trustworthiness-the speaker demonstrates sincerity.
* Dynamism-the speaker demonstrates poise and conviction.
* Warmth-the speaker likes the audience.
* Similarity-the speaker identifies with the audience. (Cook 55; Lucas 326)
Self-disclosure increases ethos by heightening each of these qualities (Trenholm & Jensen 136; Stewart & Logan 259). For example, you must trust listeners to make yourself vulnerable to them. A display of trust honors listeners and prompts them to trust in return. The reciprocal nature of self-disclosure is well attested in communication studies and everyday experience. DeVito calls it the "spiral effect" as one self-disclosure begets another, usually deeper, one (140). Conversely, "lack ofpersonal disclosure is often associated with relational problems and breakup" (Stewart & Logan 246).
Besides building trust, self-disclosure also heightens ethos by drawing attention to similarities between listener and preacher. This strategy may be particularly crucial for the modern preacher since Americans value personalness over office as a source of ethos (Markquart 159). As Griffin states, "Intimacy is possible only when there is parity of power" (177). Self-disclosure that highlights "similarity" is a tool for preachers who would act on Robinson’s insight: Listeners "want the speaker to understand their pain and the difficulty they have in doing what’s right without letting them off the hook" ("Preaching To Everyone" 101). Nash states simply that "we are attracted to people who are like us" (87).
Along with attraction and trust comes influence. Even when we differ with a speaker, if he/she is attractive and trustworthy, we may change our minds when "cognitive dissonance" sets in. For an unbeliever, it might look like this: The unbeliever has a friend who is a Christian. They share many similarities, but faith in Jesus is not one of them. This creates dissonance in the unbeliever because he values you but not your faith. The dissonance can be resolved in one of three ways: He can (1) devalue you, (2) pretend that you are not a Christian, or (3) change his ideas about faith in Jesus (Nash 91). In this way, self-disclosure may be integral to witnessing. Those who reveal their feelings and values may be persecuted (scenario 1), or they may win souls (scenario 3). In either case, self-disclosure influences the listener to change.
A final rhetorical perspective on self-disclosure and preaching arises out of narrative theory. Good stories, including stories about oneself, can help preachers stand between two worlds.
Story
Little that is new can be offered on the rhetorical power of stories. This bone has been chewed thoroughly. Briefly, we may be reminded that although stories may not appear to argue, appearances are deceptive. They argue! Stories serve the propositions the preacher advances and model his/her values. They do so by enchanting listeners.
This "enchantment" occurs because narratives use concrete details of people, places, and actions. Details hold attention. Craddock reminds us that "primary attention is given to the specific rather than the general" (163; see also Markquart 160). In terms of self-disclosure, when the preacher tells his/her own story, the specific details "awaken within listeners dormant experiences and feelings" (Hart 133). It may seem counter-intuitive that personal experience could lead to widespread persuasion because my headache is not your headache, but with stories less is more. Specific details rather than universal propositions are the stuff that listeners translate into their own experience. Stories can be powerful rhetoric because listeners imaginatively enter the story and identify with the speaker. They collaborate in their own persuasion.
A second way stories enchant is by prompting listeners toward closure. When a story begins, we all want it to have a middle and an end. We "will" the story on to completion. When that completion occurs, we experience the formal satisfaction of a chord resolved or a prayer that closes with "amen." And when listeners collaborate in the form of the story, acceptance of the story’s propositions is not far behind.
Based on the theological concept of God’s communication as incarnational, we have offered a rhetorical perspective on self-disclosure in preaching. It creates identification, builds ethos, and employs the beguiling power of story. The final section of this essay puts theory into practice.
Suggestions for Using Self-Disclosure in Preaching
Many homileticians have warned against the perils of using self-disclosure in the pulpit. For instance, Lloyd-Jones suggests that the response evoked from a congregation by a preacher’s self-disclosure is simply a "lust to know personal details" (233). In a similar vein, Buttrick states, "To be blunt, there are virtually no good reasons to talk about ourselves from the pulpit" (142). Buttrick claims that a personal illustration will "split the consciousness" of the congregation. In other words, some will follow the illustration as it illuminates the idea being discussed while others will simply remember the illustration as an example of the preacher’s character (142).
We recognize and affirm the concerns raised by those who reject the use of self-disclosure in preaching. Like any communication device, it can be used poorly. Preachers must not brag about themselves in their self-disclosures. Neither should they use the pulpit as a therapy session for themselves. And they should not reveal themselves as a substitute for revealing Christ and his gospel. But poor self-disclosure does not negate the argument we have presented. Therefore, we offer the following suggestions to help the preacher avoid the pitfalls of misuse.
1. Consider your motives.
Darin Lantham suggests four reasons preachers use self-disclosure: to illustrate, to identify, to shock, and to purge conscience (12). Of these four, only the first two are valid. Graphic details which shock cause the congregation to recoil from, rather than identify with, the preacher. Robinson illustrates this with the story of a preacher who in the interest of complete transparency said to his congregation, "I too know the power of lust. In fact, I have lusted after some of you" (Bringing 131). This type of self-disclosure is obviously inappropriate and will disillusion a congregation and obscure the message rather than clarify or illustrate it. The pulpit is not the place for preachers to resolve their own issues with God and others. Self-disclosure from the pulpit should not be confused with self-disclosure to God, one’s spouse, and to close personal friends and family.
2. Count the cost.
With transparency and vulnerability come risk. The potential for enhanced identification and trust is great but so is the potential for estrangement and gossip. A thorough consideration of the risks involved can help the preacher avoid using self-disclosure haphazardly. Preachers should not only count the cost for themselves but the for their congregation as well. Our purpose is not to burden people with our emotional baggage but rather to encourage them by demonstrating God’s grace.
3. Get permission from others involved.
Although this seems like an obvious caveat, many preachers neglect it, especially with regard to their own children. By gaining permission from our children we make them part of the process of edifying the church, not simply the raw material.
A preacher should usually avoid using personal illustrations that involve current members of the congregation. However, if it seems appropriate to use such an illustration, the preacher must always secure the permission from the other persons involved. If this is not done, the preacher will lose credibility and trust.
4. Honesty above all.
The apostle Paul encourages us to be sober-minded about ourselves (Romans 12:3). Therefore, our illustrations must be honest and sincere. As witnesses and heralds of God’s grace, we should present our true selves to the congregation, not sanctified or vilified versions. John Stott warns, "There must be an exact correspondence between our experience and our testimony. We must be strictly honest" (Portrait 74). Hypocrisy from the pulpit will not be tolerated by a congregation nor should it be.
5. Appropriate level and timing of self-disclosure.
There are no simple guidelines for determining how much and when to disclose from the pulpit. The rule of thumb is simply that the level of self-disclosure should be appropriate to the point being made, the level of intimacy between the preacher and the congregation, and the occasion of the message. Backing up an emotional dump truck and burying a congregation with a load of intimate details can create awkwardness and distrust rather than a sense of intimacy and trust.
6. Disclose resolved difficulties.
This is a general, not universal, guideline. Lantham comments, "When using personal weakness or struggles as illustrative material it is usually wise to speak only of resolved situations. Using an unresolved situation can unsettle and distract an audience" (11). While it is true that disclosing unresolved issues can create identification (the preacher is seen as "one of us"), a resolved struggle can elicit the same response with the added benefit of the wisdom that comes from years of reflecting on the experience. Furthermore, the preacher’s account of coming through a struggle can be seen as a light at the end of the tunnel. Those in the midst of similar circumstances can be encouraged that God will bring them through this struggle.
Robert Morgan writes, "Nothing disheartens a church more than a leader who broadcasts his darkness before he has discovered the source of light (109)." Richard Exley adds, "I am careful to disclose them [personal temptations] in such a way that the worshipers’ attention is focused not on my struggle but on the grace of God . . . . If I admit sinful actions, they should be ones I’ve repented of and, if possible, made right" (119). Exley continues, "My preaching should inspire hope, not amusement or sympathy, or worse yet, doubt. When we make our congregations privy to our present temptations, we inevitably threaten them" (120). The preacher’s job is to offer hope. Otherwise, we speak about thirst but offer no water.
7. Beware of the "cult of personality."
This is Bonhoeffer’s phrase. He states: "Every cult of personality that emphasizes the distinguished qualities, virtues, and talents of another person, even though these be of an altogether spiritual nature, is worldly and has no place in the Christian community" (Fant 104). How then does the preacher balance his/her duty to present the person of Jesus Christ with the need to preach "incarnationally" out of his/her own heart and experience? The words of the Apostle Paul come to mind:
"When I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Paul’s statement is not critical of self-disclosure. On the contrary, The statement itself discloses much about the apostle. However, the disclosure is done in such a way as to magnify the power of God, not to obscure it.
8. Self-disclosure is not a preaching technique but a style of life.
Self-disclosure is less a preaching technique than a paradigm for living. Stott quotes William Temple concerning this matter: "It is quite futile saying to people, ‘Go to the cross.’ We must be able to say, ‘Come to the cross.’ And there are only two voices which can issue the invitation with effect. One is the voice of the Sinless Redeemer, with which we cannot speak; the other is the voice of the forgiven sinner, who knows himself forgiven. That is our part" (Portrait 74). Augustine said, "What I live by, I impart."
It is not enough for preachers simply to tell stories about themselves. Remember that self-disclosure includes non verbal communication. Unless the preacher "owns the message" and speaks out of the fullness of his heart and mind, the message will be hollow, void of life-changing power. Thus the need for what Stott calls the "culture of the soul": "The preparation of the heart is of far greater importance than the preparation of the sermon. The preacher’s words, however clear and forceful, will not ring true unless he speaks from conviction born of experience" (Portrait 76). The preacher must be committed to a genuine and open relationship with God first, family and friends second, and the congregation third.
9. Don’t overlook the ordinary in search of the extraordinary.
A congregation can have difficulty relating to story after story of a preacher’s adventure climbing the Andes mountains or performing an emergency appendectomy in the back of a bus racing through the streets of Bosnia. Although these experiences can be used effectively from the pulpit, the preacher must remain sensitive to the fact that the congregation is made up of mostly ordinary people, with ordinary concerns, and ordinary lives. Exley states, "If I miss the ‘little’ moments, I will be the poorer for it, and so will my preaching (121)." In fact, it is these "little" moments with our spouse, our children, our God and each other that most acutely illustrate the grace of God working in our lives. The extraordinary fact is that God has come down to dwell with the ordinary; our preaching and our lives should reflect this, the most extraordinary of all truths.
10. Share positive and negative experiences.
It seems that some preachers find it easier to share about their struggles than their victories. Their preaching sounds like the evening news which runs stories of murders, bombings, hurricanes, and scandals instead of stories of peace, harmony, and community. Perhaps these preachers think that the congregation will find stories of sin and struggle more interesting than stories of peace and contentment. However, even if the congregation does exhibit a proclivity for "negative" seld-disclosure, the preacher should resist giving them a steady diet of it. Other preachers share only "positive" stories of victory. Eventually their self-disclosures ring hollow, for we all know that "life just ain’t like that." The Christian life exists in the interplay of both experiences. Therefore, the role of the preacher should disclose what is true about himself, both his victories and his defeats. This will spur the congregation on to both genuine repentance and joyous celebration.
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