Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Presentation #1 Abstract
Building on two previously published papers, “Failure to Communicate” and “Necessities and Capacities,” (Journal of Modern Ministry, Winter 2011 and Spring 2011) this paper furthers the argument that print-age preaching is not well-suited for the digital age. The paper examines the “third way” options of Calvin Miller and Paul Wilson which seek to combine the best of expository preaching and narrative preaching. This paper does not assert there are no effective “print-age preachers” in pulpits today, nor does it suggest there are no “print-age listeners” in congregations. Rather, the point is that the significant shifts in culture, communication, and technology leave us with the unavoidable conclusion that the “the necessities and capacities of the hearers” have changed, particularly from the mid twentieth-century until the present. This paper identifies deductive preaching as classic, linear, print-age “expository preaching” and discusses the alternatives offered by the “New Homiletic,” particularly the inductive approaches of Fred Craddock and Gene Lowry. The paper concludes the “third way” options of Calvin Miller and Paul Wilson are uniquely helpful in our twenty-first century, North American context.
At-A-Glance Bios- Presenter #1
R J Gore Jr is Professor of Systematic Theology and Ministry, and Dean of the Seminary at Erskine Theological Seminary, Due West, SC. He holds the DMin degree from Erskine, the PhD from Westminster Theological Seminary, and is a retired Army Chaplain (Colonel).
Start Date
10-20-2017 8:30 AM
End Date
10-20-2017 10:30 AM
Recommended Citation
Gore, Ralph J. Jr, "DEDUCTIVE, INDUCTIVE . . . AND A THIRD WAY." Paper presented at the Conference on Sermon Studies: "Sermon: Text and Performance," Huntington, WV, October 2018.
https://mds.marshall.edu/sermon_conference/2017/All/9
DEDUCTIVE, INDUCTIVE . . . AND A THIRD WAY
Huntington, WV
Building on two previously published papers, “Failure to Communicate” and “Necessities and Capacities,” (Journal of Modern Ministry, Winter 2011 and Spring 2011) this paper furthers the argument that print-age preaching is not well-suited for the digital age. The paper examines the “third way” options of Calvin Miller and Paul Wilson which seek to combine the best of expository preaching and narrative preaching. This paper does not assert there are no effective “print-age preachers” in pulpits today, nor does it suggest there are no “print-age listeners” in congregations. Rather, the point is that the significant shifts in culture, communication, and technology leave us with the unavoidable conclusion that the “the necessities and capacities of the hearers” have changed, particularly from the mid twentieth-century until the present. This paper identifies deductive preaching as classic, linear, print-age “expository preaching” and discusses the alternatives offered by the “New Homiletic,” particularly the inductive approaches of Fred Craddock and Gene Lowry. The paper concludes the “third way” options of Calvin Miller and Paul Wilson are uniquely helpful in our twenty-first century, North American context.
