The Witness Of Preaching Analysis

The Basic Form of the Sermon

This reading reaction seeks to give a clear summary of chapter 5 in the book “The Witness of Preaching” by Thomas G. Long. The summary will concentrate on some key points in an attempt to capture the essence of this chapter and its teaching. This reading reaction also seeks to engage with this chapter by highlighting important concepts, and also questioning unconvincing themes and information before its conclusion.

Chapter 5 in the book “The Witness of Preaching” by Thomas G. Long starts by highlighting the vital importance of form to the meaning and effect of a sermon. Form is thus recognised as the unique vital force which shapes and energises the sermon to have meaning. Hence the author states that: “Form is
In this point three homileticians are presented with their ‘sermon form models’. These homileticians are not presented as the only people to present ‘sermon form models’, but they represent a vast number of homileticians who continue to struggle toward achieving the ideal sermon form. The first homiletician presented in the chapter is Fred Craddock. Fred Craddock insists that sermons be shaped according to the same creative discovery applied in exegetical work. “Sermons, therefore, ought to re-create imaginatively this inductive quest so that the listeners can share the preacher’s experience of illumination. The implication is that hearers’ best listen to and learn from sermons precisely the way preachers listen to and learn from biblical texts” (Long, 2005, p. 125). With this model, Craddock introduces a partnership between the listeners and the preacher. Rather than the preacher doing exegesis alone, Craddock advises that the exegesis be done in the pulpit along with the listeners. This means, the preacher and the listeners create a joint sermon in which they arrive to the same conclusion or problem
The author reminds the preacher that the sermon does not only have to reflect on the preacher. But the essence of a sermon is to deliver the gospel message from God, through the preacher to the listener or congregation. But the chapter also invokes some critical questions about the relationship between the sermon form and the emotional invocations of the listener. In trying to achieve the perfect sermon form, does the preacher become locked in the preparation so much that they forget the receiver of that message? Does sermon form only seek to inspire the listener to get an Aha! Moment, or tries to invoke feelings in the listener from the world unknown? Does it seek to take the listener on a journey of discovering God, or only the preacher? Even though homileticians have been trying their best to find models of achieving sermon forms, we still need African homileticians to capture the African sermon form. But most importantly, theologians need to find models in which the sermon form can be achieved by linking God, the text/scripture, the preacher, and most importantly the listeners. So that in this journey new relationships of revelation are