The International Journal of Homiletics Volume 3 (2018)

The International Journal of Homiletics Volume 3 (2018) International Journal of Homiletics: Volume 3 (2018) Editorial We, the co-editors of the International Journal of Homiletics along with the entire Editorial Board, are glad to present the third volume of our journal – containing six articles and a “Homiletical Squib” written by scholars from the United States, Korea, and South Africa. In 2017 Protestant churches all over the world remembered and celebrated “500 years of Reformation.” The first two articles in this journal offer a homiletical rereading of Martin Luther and John Calvin, two of the most important Reformers of the 16th century. Both articles show how fruitful it can be to reread homiletical traditions in order to find responses to today’s questions about political preaching and preaching in the context of the life realities of refugees. Timothy Andrew Leitzke analyzes the ambiguity in Luther’s positions towards political questions in his time and is well aware of the history of interpretation and misinterpretation of Luther’s words in the centuries to come. By working through Luther’s theology of Trinity, Leitzke develops a theologically grounded way of preaching politically in a Lutheran tradition. Andrew Thomson Scales shows the hermeneutical, societal and political background of Geneva in 1550 – a city in which almost half of the population (!) were refugees and the social tensions were immense. Calvin discovers the “plain sense” of the words of the prophet Micah in order to address Micah’s words to the people of Geneva and to his diverse congregation directly. Scales argues that for Calvin, “God becomes prochain, the neighbor, and the decision to love the neighbor is a recognition that one cannot love God without treating others with justice and equity.” At the same time, Scales’ article highlights Calvin’s covenantal theology and argues for what this theology may mean in discussions about preaching the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. The two following articles work on the theology of preaching in very different contexts. David Schnasa Jacobsen offers insights from the Homiletical Theology Project at Boston University School of Theology. The basic claim of this project is that “theology” is not something which is “applied” by the preacher, but is the inevitable “habitus” (disposition) of a preacher which dialogues critically and reflectively with texts, contexts and situations in the process of sermon preparation and preaching. Jacobsen writes: “Preaching is doing theology, for preachers and homileticians are specifically doing contextual theology of the gospel in relation to a text and/or situation.” Young Hyun Choi analyzes the situation of the Protestant churches in Korea. He stresses the importance of preaching in these churches and describes the basic problem of an incorrect and deceptive theology, which he sees as the basis of too much Korean preaching. Instead of continuing this problematic theological path, he suggests rereading the tradition of apophatic theology (=negative [i] theology) in the works of Evagrius Ponticus. The reform of the Korean Protestant Church and of its preaching must begin with a reform of its theology. We are very glad to present this article in its Korean original version and in Peace Lee’s (Duke, NC) translation. Andrew Wymer, USA, presents a rather provocative article on preaching as “anti-fascist resistance.” After carefully defining the terms fascism and anti-fascism he elaborates on a homiletical anti-fascist minimum and writes: “As I define it, the homiletical anti-fascist minimum is active resistance to palingenetic, populist, ultra-nationalism, and, in the particular context of the USA, active resistance to white supremacy.” Wymer’s own context is the United States in the time of Donald Trump’s presidency, but his article, which questions the issue of “violence” in preaching in many aspects, is surely a valuable contribution to preaching in many contexts around the world. Robert O’Lynn, also from the USA, asks fundamental questions on the relevance and result of preaching and is especially interested in the transformative dimension of preaching. Does preaching really transform the listeners/the congregation? His definition is as follows: “Preaching is transformative when it is scripturally grounded, theologically informed, and culturally relevant.” Volume 3 of IJH closes with a “Homiletical Squib” written by Johan Cilliers from South Africa. Cilliers stresses the importance of time for preaching. The very same sermons can be terribly wrong or completely right – and it may not be a question of content, nor a question of space and congregation, but a question of time. Timing grace is Cilliers’ phrase for the chance and mystery of preaching. In August 2018 the 13th International Conference of Societas Homiletica took place at Duke University in the USA. The theme “Fearing God in a Fear-Filled World? Homiletical Explorations” proved to be extremely rich for homiletical discussions in an international context. We will present a selection of keynotes and papers in a Supplementum Series of our Journal soon – and are already looking forward to the next meeting of Societas Homiletica, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary, from July 24 to 29, 2020. In the meantime, we wish you a fruitful time reading the articles of this volume and invite you to submit your articles as well as reactions to the present articles to the editors. On Behalf of the Editorial Board, Alexander Deeg, University of Leipzig Marlene Ringgaard Lorensen, University of Copenhagen Co-Editors of IJH [ii] Table of Contents Editorial i Perichoretic Preaching, or: Dancing for Your Neighbor Timothy Leitzke 1 Justice and Equity: Calvin’s 1550 Sermon on Micah 2:1 Andrew Thompson Scales 16 The Practice of Homiletical Theology in a Confessional Mode: An Interim Report David Schnasa Jacobsen 30 Falling and Rising: Korean Protestant Preaching and the Possibility of Apophatic Theology Young Hyun Choi 43 하강과 상승: 한국개신교설교의 전망과 부정신학의 가능성 Young Hyun Choi 62 Punching Nazis? Preaching as Anti-Fascist Resistance Andrew Wymer 81 Developing a Transformative Theology for Preaching Robert O’Lynn 99 Squib: Timing Grace Johan Cilliers 112 International Journal of Homiletics: Volume 3 (2018) Timothy Leitzke: Perichoretic Preaching Perichoretic Preaching, or: Dancing for Your Neighbor Luther’s Trinitarian Homiletic as a Path to Preaching Social Justice Timothy Leitzke Abstract How can we preach on current political and social issues without simply adding Christ’s name to a political philosophy? More precisely, how can those who claim the heritage of Luther and the early Reformation do this? Luther withdrew from advocacy for the poor around 1525, and central parts of his theology (and the tradition that bears his name) emerged only after this withdrawal. This article argues that Luther’s theology of preaching, which conceived of proclamation as part of the Trinitarian economy, provides a doctrinally sound method for preaching on matters of social justice. After establishing the early Luther’s record on advocacy founded in the commandment to love neighbor and assessing reasons for Luther’s about face on poor relief in 1525, the article examines Luther’s understanding of preaching as “perichoretic,” part of the movement of the Trinity. As such, preaching joins in God’s mission to move people to acts of love of neighbor, sometimes acts that constitute great personal or material risk. “As long as he doesn’t preach politics from the pulpit!” That was the condition a Congregation Council member laid down for calling me as their pastor. While the ELCA parish I serve embraces social action, those sentiments were not entirely unknown within the fabric of congregational life, and probably would have prevailed at most mainline Christian congregations. Reasons vary, and I am not here to assess them all. I am interested in preaching that is faithful to Jesus’ life, and to the call Jesus issues to us. In 2017, churches the world over marked the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and acknowledged that since the Reformation is felt in every corner of Christianity we all have at least a little to do with Luther and his theology. As that anniversary recedes into the background, a fair question is, “What now?” Contrary to Luther’s late-in-life assertion, Christ has a lot to do with politics and social justice. Must the Church today leave Luther behind in order to preach faithfully on contemporary political matters? This is not an idle question. A draft of this essay took shape the same day that a group of interfaith clergy was arrested at the US Senate Office Building for protesting a bill that would cut taxes for the rich and corporations, while giving the poor little and eventually taking that little away. IJH vol 3: 1–15 [1] Timothy Leitzke: Perichoretic Preaching That is political theology in action outside of worship. Can we talk about it in the pulpit? Can I preach it, being faithful to my understanding of Christ as Luther describes it? Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, reduced to its simplest form in De Lamar Jensen, states, “The church is necessary to comfort and strengthen believers; the state is to protect, supervise, and discipline them.”1 In such a worldview, the preacher must preach the gospel, and trust that the listener will act properly within the state. Experience argues this may be the best option: the most famous engagement with politics by the heirs of Luther’s theology was in support of the Third Reich.2 Nazis now march in American streets and political discourse has begun treating fascism as merely “right-leaning” political philosophy. Given Lutherans’ legacy, the question may not merely be “can we” preach politics, but also “is it a good idea?” In this essay, I will argue that Martin Luther’s trinitarian homiletical theory provides an avenue for preaching on matters of current political importance.

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