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Much has been written about the practice of preaching. Little has been written about the teaching of preaching. Tom Long, Lenora Tubbs Tisdale, and many of their colleagues at the Academy of Homiletics, have sought to do something about this with the publication of this new anthology on the teaching of preaching as a Christian practice. Teaching Preaching…" is offered as a “new approach in homiletical pedagogy.” While little is said about the perceived inadequacies of the _old pedagogy, the authors think that improvements can be made if we were to view preaching as “a Christian practice.”
It is the word, “practice” that is important. “A practice,” the authors contend, “is a constellation of actions that people have performed over time that are common, meaningful, strategic, and purposeful (12).” The point seems to be that preaching has developed an identifiable pattern and set of expectations. Over time, a body of knowledge has developed around the discipline of preaching that people can learn. A set of recognizable skills have evolved that can be taught.
Much like pitching a baseball, or cooking a meal, there are sets of actions that are “not arbitrary, but coordinated in light of a received tradition with its tested insights and procedures (23).” Preaching, then, ought to be taught like the practice of law or medicine is taught. Preachers must learn the “skills, procedures, traditions, and ways of thinking that are appropriate to these practices (5).”
What are some of these practices that must be learned? There are the expected matters of “interpreting texts,” “use of language,” “creation of form,” and "voice and Diction. But there are other, more surprising matters offered such as “exegeting the congregation,” “interpreting the larger social context,” developing “the preaching imagination,” and “cultivating historical vision.” Whether one thinks of all these as relatively equal in their importance might depend upon one’s theological convictions about the nature and practice of preaching. Yet one cannot argue the value in thinking each of these matters through. The various authors are helpful in guiding us to think, not only about how to develop these skills in ourselves, but how to develop them in others.
As I hear preaching today, both in the church and in the classroom, it seems that everything is “up for grabs.” Points of commonality seem few as people communicate however they feel called and according to their gifting. Contemporary communicators seem to have little time for the wisdom of the ages as it bears on the way we go about our preaching. Much of this is right and good, yet, I can’t help but agree with the authors that we may be over-reacting, just a little. While we always ought to be open to fresh ways of communicating, there is wisdom to be had by looking at the understandings that have accumulated.
The old question asks whether preachers are born or built. I’m certain that the answer is both born and built. Teaching Preaching… can be helpful with the latter.