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A Praxis of Oral Homiletics: Preaching from the Heart Weiwen Tu Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-10-2019 A Praxis of Oral Homiletics: Preaching from the Heart Weiwen Tu Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the Practical Theology Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Tu, W. (2019). A Praxis of Oral Homiletics: Preaching from the Heart (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1775 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. A PRAXIS OF ORAL HOMILETICS: PREACHING FROM THE HEART A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Weiwen Tu May 2019 Copyright by Weiwen Tu 2019 A PRAXIS OF ORAL HOMILETICS: PREACHING FROM THE HEART By Weiwen Tu Approved March 29, 2019 _________________________________ __________________________________ Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Dr. Calvin L. Troup Professor of Communication & Rhetorical President, Geneva College Studies Visiting Scholar (Committee Chair) (Dissertation Director) _ _________________________________ __________________________________ Dr. Richard H. Thames Dr. Janie M. Harden Fritz Associate Professor of Communication & Professor of Communication & Rhetorical Rhetorical Studies Studies (First Reader) (Second Reader) __________________________________ __________________________________ Dr. James C. Swindal Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Dean, The McAnulty College and Chair, Department of Communication & Graduate School of Liberal Arts Rhetorical Studies Professor of Philosophy Professor of Communication & Rhetorical Studies iii ABSTRACT A PRAXIS OF ORAL HOMILETICS: PREACHING FROM THE HEART By Weiwen Tu May 2019 Dissertation supervised by Dr. Calvin L. Troup Christian preaching has been a central and significant custom to the practitioners of biblically confessional and creedal communities in worship, evangelization, and discipleship. Yet modern preachers confront two challenges presented by the New Homiletic and the media environment. Undue favor toward narrative-based form, audience-oriented eventfulness at the expense of biblical authority, and shifting media that alter the preacher’s identity and incapacitate the preacher’s orality have led to a dissonant handling of form and content and thus a profound decline in the quality of the Christian pulpit. This project grows out of an attempt to integrate an Augustinian hermeneutic and homiletic, Ciceronian coordinates, and an Ongian perspective on orality and literacy. It proposes an oral homiletic praxis, in anticipation of rectifying current homiletic deficiencies, that proceeds in the fashion of comprehension-internalization-proclamation. iv The design and plan of this homiletic praxis fulfills Augustine’s two-sided scheme of treating the Holy Scriptures, performs Cicero’s five rhetorical arts, and proclaims the gospel in a spontaneous, memorable, extemporaneous, and eventful way like the speakers of primary oral cultures do. A sound praxis of oral homiletics fuses form and content, oriented toward a harmonious treatment of scriptural authenticity and contemporary eventfulness. The acknowledgement of human depravity in temporality demands a Christian inventio that can address the reality of complex and obscure signs with faith, hope, and charity. The delivery carries force from the heart, breaks through the barrier of literacy, and connects listeners together in an empathetic way. Throughout the whole process of sermonic preparation and proclamation, the interplay between the skills of biblical interpretation and the practices of orality presents the picture of a literate, textual message first taken in and then spoken out orally by the preacher. v DEDICATION To the loving Trinity who is to be enjoyed solely. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Calvin L. Troup, my dissertation director. His piercing guidance has exerted constructive inspiration on this project. Thanks to the education of Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University by which I gain a novel, rhetorical perspective to preach the Whole Counsel of God. Most important of all, I could not be able to accomplish this work without the constant support of my wife, Tingting Chan. Her loving company exemplifies the charity of God and extends a resting harbor for me during this scholarly adventure. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ........................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1. Research Question……………………………………………………….….……...1 2. Literature Review………………………………………………………….……....2 3. Interpretive Approach……………………………………………………….……12 4. Chapter Outline and Description………………………………………………....13 Chapter 2 The Current Condition of Homiletics 16 1. The Relation of and Separation between Homiletics and Rhetoric……….……...19 2. The New Homiletic’s Challenges to Christian Preaching……………….……….24 3. The Decay of Preaching under Media Environment……………………….…….45 Chapter 3 Augustinian Rhetoric and Philosophy of Communication 62 1. Augustine’s Adaptation of Ciceronian Rhetoric…………………………….…...64 2. The Controlling Issues of On Christian Doctrine………………………………..72 3. The Contemporary Pertinence of Augustinian Rhetoric……………………........82 Chapter 4 Ciceronian Coordinates 90 1. Impetus for the Creation of Ciceronian Rhetoric………………………………...91 2. Ciceronian Coordinates…………………………………………………………..98 3. Christian Implication………………………………………………………........110 Chapter 5 Recovery of Orality through Ong 124 1. Communications Media, Human Sensoria, and Transformations of the Word...126 viii 2. The Perils of Spatializing the Word…………………………………………….132 3. The Interplay between Orality and Literacy……………………………………140 4. Features of Oral Homiletic……………………………………………………...148 Chapter 6 Proposing an Oral Homiletic Praxis 161 1. The Praxis of Internalization……………………………………………………162 2. Internalizing the Scripture………………………………………………………164 3. Composing the Sermon…………………………………………………………175 4. Internalizing the Sermon……….....…………………………………………….184 5. Proclaiming the Truth…………………………………………………………...190 6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………196 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….200 ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Research Question How might Ciceronian rhetoric, in light of Augustine’s insights regarding hermeneutics and homiletics as well as Walter Ong’s contributions concerning orality and literacy, strengthen contemporary homiletic praxis? Christian preaching has been a central concern to the practitioners of biblically confessional and creedal communities in worship, evangelization, and discipleship. Yet modern preachers are impotent to undertake this service due to ignorance of orality caused, to a great degree, by the contemporary media environment, as T. David Gordon indicates (15, 58–59). The unduly audience-oriented tendency induced by the New Homiletic, meanwhile, has endangered the authority of biblical texts. Confronted with these challenges, thus, this project attempts to propose a kind of oral homiletic that both reflects biblical authenticity and engages audience’s attentiveness. Cicero’s rhetorical theory has been mined by Christian orators since Augustine distributed On Christian Doctrine, and it arguably still sheds light on the composition of sound, logical, and effective messages. Ciceronian rhetoric, particularly the inseparability of matter and form, can assist preachers in the consideration of issue, argument, evidence, sermonic design, and attentiveness to audience, which can help them accomplish a steadfast resonance between biblical content and faithful listeners. Furthermore, Ong’s scholarship reminds us of the powerful and impressive oral ability people possessed before widespread literacy in human society. Thus, this project is suggesting a homiletic praxis from these elements: the restoration of Ciceronian rhetoric in homiletics through 1 both the implications of Augustine’s insights on hermeneutic and homiletics and Ong’s insights on orality and literacy. 2. Literature Review Aiming at the Protestant evangelical preacher, pastor, and student, this project will work from an Augustinian perspective on hermeneutic and homiletics that unites with Ciceronian rhetoric and Ongian insights on orality and literacy to synthesize a guide for oral homiletic praxis today. At the same time, homiletic literatures from various Christian traditions will be consulted, considered with theological, hermeneutical, and homiletic discernment. The proceedings will review the current condition of homiletic scholarship; Ciceronian rhetoric and its relationship to Christian homiletics; and Ongian orality and literacy related to its potential to enhance homiletic praxis. The normal homiletic approach, influenced by Ciceronian rhetoric, has been to present a thesis. Ancient orators employed a formula or stasis to discover what can be said about a subject by inventing an argument or thesis. Orators determined whether
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