Durham E-Theses The Vital Importance of the Imagination in the Contemporary Preaching Event BRUCE, KATHRINE,SARAH How to cite: BRUCE, KATHRINE,SARAH (2013) The Vital Importance of the Imagination in the Contemporary Preaching Event , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9399/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Kathrine Bruce The Vital Importance of the Imagination in the Contemporary Preaching Event Abstract This thesis suggests that the imagination is vital in the contemporary preaching event. It enables the preacher to speak into some important themes identifiable in postmodern thought. Noting the broad range of understandings of the term ‘imagination’ in an overview of approaches in Western history, and in a wide selection of homiletic texts, a framework for mapping the imagination is offered as an heuristic device for the homiletics classroom. A theology of imagination is presented to demonstrate the importance of imagination in the life of faith and to allay fears that it may be seen to connect preaching with fiction. Allied to this is an analysis of the sacramental nature of preaching and the role of imagination in enabling such sacramental ‘seeing-as’. Connected to enabling new seeing, preaching in the lyrical voice is discussed along with the importance of preachers shaping sermons for the ear. As imagination also has a vital role in how the preacher sees the preaching task itself, exploration of various theological entailments flowing from seeing the role of preacher through the lenses of particular governing metaphors is presented. The connections between imagination, preaching, and personality are explored, along with a critique of the understanding of imagination operating in the Myers- Briggs literature and exploration of the use of imagination in the SIFT method of preaching. A number of key issues for the practice and teaching of preaching are proposed. The Vital Importance of the Imagination in the Contemporary Preaching Event Kathrine Sarah Bruce A Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD Department of Theology and Religion Durham University July 2013 Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: A Homiletic for the Twenty-First Century 1.1 The Lack of Trust in the Dominance of Metanarrative 5 1.2 Many Truths, No Centre 8 1.3 A Loss of Trust in Authority 16 1.4 Deconstructionism: A Destructive Force? 22 1.5 The Rational is Dethroned 25 1.6 Creative Playfulness 28 Chapter Two: Diverse History of Imagination 2.1 Surveying the Field: Imagination in Western History 37 2.2 From Broadus to Brueggemann: Imagination in a Range of Homiletic Texts 48 Chapter Three: Understanding the Imagination: Framework and Theology 3.1 Framing Imaginative Function 87 3.2 Imagination and Scripture: Problem, Mandate and Use 99 3.3 Imagination as Theology’s Vital Tool 110 3.4 Imagination: The Human Point of Contact 113 3.5 Incarnation: The Shekinah in Skin 120 3.6 Imagination as a Divine Attribute 124 3.7 Imagination as a Divine Gift 126 Chapter Four: The Sacramental Potential of Preaching 4.1 Sacramentality: Naming the ‘More’ 131 4.2 Painting New Vistas 139 4.3 The Sacramentality of Preaching 142 4.4 Implications for Homiletic Praxis 148 Chapter Five: Preaching in the Lyrical Voice 5.1 What is Lyrical Preaching? 154 5.2 The Presumption of Language 157 5.3 Tools of Lyrical Preaching: Analogy, Simile and Metaphor 160 5.4 Through the Ear you See 175 Chapter Six: Imagining the Preaching Task 6.1 The Preacher as Teacher 181 6.2 The Preacher as Herald 189 6.3 The Preacher as Artist 199 6.4 The Preacher as Spiritual Director 202 6.5 The Preacher as Jazz Musician 209 6.6 The Preacher as Jester 213 Chapter Seven: Preaching and Personality 7.1 Psychological Type Theory 220 7.2 The MBTI: An Overview of the Type Dichotomies 222 7.3 The MBTI: Understanding of Imagination 225 7.4 The Importance of Type Dynamics for Preaching 226 7.5 The SIFT Method of Preaching 230 7.6 Imagination as Central to SIFT 231 7.7 Critique of the SIFT Method of Preaching 235 7.8 Is SIFT Really Necessary? 239 7.9 Worked Example: SIFT as an Imaginative Tool 247 for the Preacher Chapter Eight: Implications for the Practice and Teaching of Preaching 8.1 Mystery and the Mundane: The Practice of Imagination as a Spiritual Discipline 250 8.2 Radical Openness: Engagement with the Imagination Throughout the Sermonic Process 253 8.3 Develop a Repertoire: The Willingness to Try New Sermonic Structures and Performance Methods 255 8.4 Implications for Homiletics Teaching 257 Chapter Nine: Drawing the Threads Together 264 Bibliography 268 “The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged.” Acknowledgements Particular and heartfelt thanks to Revd Professor Jeff Astley and Revd Professor David Wilkinson for great supervision, wisdom, support, and humour. Also warm thanks are due to St John’s College Council for allowing me a sabbatical and to colleagues who covered my workload during that time; family and friends for your support and care, Mum for paying for the binding; and to Cecilia Goodman, without whose wise counsel this thesis would never have been written. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Women’s’ Continuing Ministerial Education Trust Fund, Bible Society, CODEC, and the Diocese of Durham. Thanks are also due to Durham and Newcastle Deacons, students on the CODEC MediaLit 13 course and preachers at the Blackburn Cathedral preaching workshop for your warm reception of the ideas presented in chapter three. Dedication This thesis is dedicated to: The congregations of St Matthias Church, Burley, Leeds (who let me loose in the first place); Holy Trinity Church, Ripon; St Oswald’s Church, Durham; St Mary’s, Shincliffe, and St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Belmont, for the opportunity to preach among you and for your willingness to let me play with new ideas and methods; the many participants in the Durham Preaching Conferences, whose commitment to learning more about preaching is such a great encouragement; students in the preaching classes at Cranmer Hall and the Wesley Study Centre, St John’s College, Durham, who demonstrate such an interest in and care for the art of preaching. We have laughed a lot, and I trust we have learned something. Introduction The following thesis argues for the vital importance of imagination in contemporary preaching. If preaching is to capture and captivate it must forge connections with the hearer. Arguably, achieving such connection requires the active engagement of the imagination of the preacher as they seek to spark the same in their hearer. With this in mind, imagination needs to feature in homiletics teaching, both as a subject in its own right and as a factor shaping the teacher’s approach to the structure and delivery of curriculum content. Homiletics is here understood as the theoretical and theological underpinning of the practice of preaching. Preaching is defined as the design and delivery of an oral event which is based, in some form, on scripture and earthed in a particular cultural context. It occurs usually, though not necessarily, in a liturgical setting,1 actively involving hearer as well as speaker, and is created in the hope of joining in with the narrative of transformative encounter between the divine, the gathered congregation, the individual, and the wider community. Imaginative engagement has always been needed in preaching, but it is particularly striking that imagination seems to connect with a number of discernable features of the postmodern landscape. The thesis begins by establishing these connections, rooting the argument in the current context. The question of how we might speak cogently about the imagination in terms of its function is crucial since the term has been understood and valued variously in Western history and, although a number of contemporary homileticians refer to it, the homiletic literature offers no clear, cogent framework for speaking of the imagination. Chapter two begins by examining the diverse ways in which 1 See Stuart M. Blythe, Open-Air Preaching as Radical Street Performance, A Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD (University of Edinburgh, 2009), <http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5813> [accessed 5th April 2013]. Blythe argues for the importance of open-air preaching, critiquing the negative attitudes displayed towards this preaching form in much of the homiletic literature, and indicating that in-church preaching can learn from aspects of open-air preaching. Blythe shows how this form of preaching recognises and responds to a variety of gathered hearers, seeking to attract and interest the listener, and being open to a variety of performative styles. Whilst my own thesis focuses on in-church preaching, the argument for the centrality of imagination in preaching leaves the door wide open to learning from all forms of spoken discourse in order to connect with the diverse nature of the gathered community.