Performance in Preaching (Engaging Worship)

Bringing the Sermon to Life

Childers, Jana, Schmit, Clayton J., Jana Childers, Clayton J. Schmit

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN:
  9780801036132
• eBook ISBN:
  9781585588206
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

This volume, which launches the Engaging Worship series from Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, offers a unique study of sermon delivery. While many books offer advice on how to prepare, write, and preach a sermon, this volume is distinctive in approaching the subject from the perspective of performance.

The authors, who teach at a variety of seminaries and divinity schools across the nation, examine how the sermon can bring God's word to life for the congregation. In that sense, they consider the idea of performance from a wide range of theological, artistic, and musical viewpoints. These thoughtful essays will engage clergy and students with new ways of looking at the art of preaching.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Truth and Truthfulness: Theological Reflections on Preaching and Performance
• 2. Preaching, Performance, and the Life and Death of “Now”
• 3. At the Intersection of Actio Divina and Homo Performans: Embodiment and Evocation
• 4. Performative Language and the limits of Performance in Preaching
• 5. Reversal of Fortune: The Performance of a Prophet
• 6. Performance and the new Testament in Preaching
• 7. The Use of the Body in the Performance of Proclamation
• 8. Finding voice in the Theological School
• 9. The Preacher’s Creative Process: Reaching the Well
• 10. What comes next? Performing Music and Proclaiming the Word
• 11. The Musicality of Black Preaching: Performing the Word
• 12. Performance Study in Service to the Spoken Word in Worship
• Bibliography