Abstract

BOSMAN, Lourens  and  MULLER, Julian. Preaching according to the metaphor of fiction writing. Herv. teol. stud. [online]. 2008, vol.64, n.3, pp.1413-1423. ISSN 2072-8050.

In this article the writers propose an alternative to modernistic linear and propositional ways of preaching. They argue that the context asks for preaching that is more in line with the dominant metaphors of the post-modern culture in which the listeners live their everyday lives. The preacher should be seen less as the bearer of final truths (the one who carries the light or acts as witness to the truth), and more as someone who participates in the reflection of ideas. They propose a narrative paradigm for preaching that moves beyond the use of stories as illustrations, to one where the preacher, in the narrative style, becomes the co-author of new life stories in the preaching event. The ABDCE model for fiction writing, proposed by Anne Lamott, is then used as a model for the structuring of the sermon. Structured along these lines, the sermon moves from a specific Action and its cultural and historical Background, through a Development, where something new starts to unfold before the listeners, to a Climax of new insight and an Ending that invites the listeners to take part in the telling and retelling of their own stories in the light of the Great Story of God and his people.

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