“The sacred orator is quickened by the analytic study of the sacred volume into a freedom, freshness, and force, that are utterly beyond his reach without it” (Shedd, p. 7).
The Basic Task
“In the presence of both nature and revelation, men, as Lord Bacon phrases it, is a minister and interpreter, and not a creator and lord” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 5).
Paul and the Rhetorical Schools
“Paul disavows the grand style of the Asiatic rhetoric, while actually practicing the plain style of the Atticist rhetorician” (Overstreet, Persuasive Preaching, p. 53).
Ordered Glory
“Order is the strength and glory of all things” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 36).
True Balance
Ministers should cultivate “a mixed air of simplicity and majesty, decent neatness and elegance, without flaunting pomp and gaiety” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 34).
Persuasion to What?
My adaptation of Weaver is: Rhetoric is persuasive communication in the service of Truth that creates an informed appetite for the Good” (Overstreet, Persuasive Preaching, p. 27)
The Rosetta Stone of Sermons
“We ought to preach in such a way that, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then our sermons are utterly incomprehensible” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 83).
So Not Just an Indoor Job With No Heavy Lifting
“Preaching is hard work, requiring the cultivation of a host of skills that are difficult to develop” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 72).
Yeah, Imagine That
“Imagine being asked to stand before a grand gathering of the good and the wise and being asked to make a speech about goodness, beauty, the meaning of life, the point of history, the nature of Almighty God, or some such high subject and having no material at your disposal but an account of a …
Veiled Pulpit Arrogance
“False humility in preaching is a kind of veiled arrogance that proudly asserts its own vaunted humanity and refuses to bend one’s life in service to the Word” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 61).