C.M.A. van Ekris MAKING SEE A Grounded Theory of the prophetic dimension in preaching Lit II III IV V VI MAKING SEE A Grounded Theory of the prophetic dimension in preaching (with a summary in English) SEHEND MACHEN Eine Grounded Theory über die prophetische Dimension der Predigt (mit einer Zusammenfassung in deutscher Sprache) TE ZIEN GEVEN Een Grounded Theory van de profetische dimensie in prediking (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor in de godgeleerdheid aan de Protestantse Theologische Universiteit te Amsterdam – Groningen, op gezag van de rector, prof. dr. M.M. Jansen, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen te Groningen (op donderdag 24 mei des middags te 2.30 uur) door Cornelis Marius Adrianus van Ekris geboren op 23 juni 1972 te Veenendaal VII Eerste promotor: Prof. dr. F.G. Immink Tweede promotor: Prof. dr. E. van ‘t Slot Co-promotor: Dr. T.T.J. Pleizier Cover: Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh, Icon by Wasili Wasin Financial support from the Stichting Meijers Van Meer the G.J. Brinkfonds and Paradosis made the publication of this dissertation possible. CIP-GEGEVENS VIII Ich glaube, man könnte bei allen wirklich großen theologischen Gestalten zeigen, daß neue theologische Aufbrüche nur dann ermöglicht werden, wenn zuerst ein prophetischer Durchbruch da ist. Solange man nur rational weiterarbeitet, kommt nichts wesentlich Neues. Es wird vielleicht immer genauer systematisiert, es werden immer subtilere Fragen erfunden, aber die eigentlichen Durchbrüche, in denen dann wieder große Theologie neu entsteht, kommen nicht einfach aus dem rationalen Geschäft der Theologie, sondern aus einem charismatischen, prophetischen Anstoß heraus. Insofern, glaube ich, gehören Prophetie und Theologie eng zusammen. Die Theologie als wissenschaftliche Theologie im strengen Sinn ist nicht prophetisch, aber sie wird nur wirklich lebendige Theologie, wenn sie von einem prophetischen Impuls angeschoben und erleuchtet ist. Joseph Ratzinger, Das Problem der christlichen Prophetie Propheten reifen in der Regel nicht in heilen Welten. Rudolph Bohren, Prophetie und Seelsorge My task which I am trying to achieve, is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see. That – and more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: Encouragement, consolation, fear, charm – all you demand – and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask. Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the Narcissus Keep your vision clear, Tony, so that you can see, and help us see, God with us in the places where God’s holy presence is desperately needed and far from obvious: In the defeats and the losses that come from war, from illness and death, from misplaced hopes, from our repeated failure to trust God more than ourselves. Ellen Davis, Ordination of Anthony Petrotta, Sermon on Isaiah 6 IX X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I lectured Old Testament Theology in Indonesia (Java), the first student who wrote her thesis under my guidance was a young Moluccan theologian. It was in the early years after the conflict in the Moluccas, and she and her family had been marked by violence and loss. She approached me with the idea of writing a small missiology for her Moluccan context, based on the Isaian Songs of the Suffering Servant. It was her desire to return home, to serve the church and her people as a Christian minister who knew how to build bridges instead of deepening distances, how to bear suffering instead of inflicting it on others. She longed for a time to heal and for preaching that facilitated healing. In her way of believing, in her homilies and in how she studied Theology, she taught me not to flee from danger, but to search for a way of being a redemptive presence amidst of it. While writing the final draft of this PhD study, I have been thinking of her. Not only of her, but of other Christian ministers as well who, in complex and sometimes dangerous contexts, search for truth, integrity and wisdom. Though this study will predominantly analyse sermons from well-known preachers, I am deeply convinced that the subject we discuss, (namely living prophetic speech), is performed by a numerous amount of anonymous, local preachers, male and female, world-wide and in a variety of ways. Preachers, who in their own contextual circumstances discern destructiva, embody grace, search for redemption, and make congregations resistant. Where we use ‘he’ or ‘she’ in this study, this background should be considered. In this book, we offer a reconstruction of an intriguing feature in the practice of preaching, heuristically called the ‘prophetic dimension in preaching'. The challenge of the study was to select paradigmatic examples of this dimension, to describe the phenomenon in a consentient way and to develop a conceptual grip on this elusive factor in preaching. It is my hope that the joy of studying and analysing these sermons resound through this book, that the captivating, often paradoxical, power present in the sermons will inspire others and that my conceptual reconstruction will stimulate further study. XI In this PhD project, I have been accompanied and guided by a fine team of scholars: prof. dr. Gerrit Immink, prof. dr. Edward van ‘t Slot, dr. Theo Pleizier and dr. Bert de Leede. Through their encouragement and discipline, their scholarly sharpness and shared experience in serving the church, they have stimulated me in this study, and I am grateful for the opportunity I received to theologise in the company of these four scholars. I especially thank prof. Immink, who guided me from the start of the project as promotor. The way he combines a love for the Protestant theological and ecclesiastical tradition with a solidarity to the present context, has been a source of inspiration for me these years. Writing the acknowledgements of a book is a way of deepening the awareness of how connected with others one’s own life is. This study is not written in a vacuum. Thankfully, there always was a congregation to be part of and to be nourished by. In Indonesia, the Christian Church in Northern Central Java (GKJTU), in the Netherlands, the Reformed congregations in Breukelen and in Zeist. I am thankful for the stimulating way dr. Michael Rainer from LIT Verlag made the publication of this study possible, and I am honoured that the study is published in the series of ‘Homiletische Perspektive’. During the research, I had the opportunity to join three international colloquia, and the discussions with prof. dr. Albrecht Grözinger, prof. dr. Jan Hermelink, prof. dr. David Plüß and their PhD students, increased the joy of studying Theology and doing practical theological research. I also thank the Dutch local preachers whose sermons I will discuss in chapter 8, for their consent to analyse their sermons. With respect and gratitude, I want to name Tobias Hendrik van der Hoeven (1957-2014) here. In my coming of age years, it was his example and his friendship that convinced me of the dignity, the freedom, and the joy of being a minister in the congregation of Jesus Christ. In the last months before publishing this study, Els Veurink-Geurtsen meticulously screened the text and made it readable and accessible, Gerard Bakker was prepared to look at this book with the eye of a designer and to help me prepare it, and Ira Wilhelm translated the summary in German. The icon on the cover of this book, of Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh, is from Wasili Wasin and is used with permission (from www.galeriezwijsen.nl). In an original way, the icon illustrates and integrates the power of the illuminative (see Moses) and the interruptive (see Aaron) dimension in prophetic speech. Finally, thankfully there always was a family to be part of. Christian Wiman wrote that ‘life is always a question of intensity, and intensity is always a matter of focus’. I am grateful to have been raised in a family and by parents who taught me to XII focus on the things that will not vanish, to love and serve God, and who initiated me into a degree of intensity that makes the experience of life deeper and richer. I am grateful for Arianne, from whom I learned perseverance and vulnerability. We learned to see that life can never be taken for granted, but always is a gift. Thank God, we continued to receive this precious gift. May our children Sem and Lionson, when they have reached their adult years, live to share in the vision that pulsates through this study, of God, the God of all comfort, making things well. XIII XIV CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Part I Practical theological and methodological prolegomena Chapter 1 | Perceptions of the prophetic Phenomenological and practical theological introduction Chapter 2 | Research journey: Motives and method Homiletical and methodological introduction Part II Empirical research: Five concepts of the prophetic dimension of preaching Chapter 3 | Exposing destructiva The expository dimension Chapter 4 | Interrupting dominant discourses The intervening dimension Chapter 5 | Recognising the Word The illuminative dimension Chapter 6 | Overcoming destructiva The cathartic dimension Chapter 7 | Edifying the congregation The mystagogic dimension Part III Conclusions and homiletical proposals Chapter 8 | Making See Closing argument Chapter 9 | Learning to See Epilogue on the interplay between the inductive and the illuminative in prophetic speech XV XVI CONTENTS (EXTENDED) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS