In Chapter Two, we explored the significance of metaphor as we considered its potential to shape a person’s framework of perception. In other words, we understand and make sense of the world by thinking, often implicitly, with complex metaphoric relationships. Metaphors weave a tacit web of relations between this and that, whichguide the way we perceive, feel, and act in the world. These implied metaphors are not a matter of mere words; they are a force shaping how we live. By applying this insight to metaphors associated with identity, whether chosen or given, personal or professional, we can see how metaphors shape the ways in which identities are lived and experienced. More specifically, if we apply this argument to identities given to the Christian preacher (hereafter referred to as homiletic identities), we can trace a nexus of relationships and theological assumptions in a given identity that encourage certain homiletic practices and reveal presuppositions related to proclamation.
In the next two chapters, we will explore how the metaphors associated with two
traditional homiletic identities have shaped the practice of preaching. We will investigate how a given metaphor applied to a homiletic identity shapes who a preacher is to be and what particular entailments that metaphor has for the preacher. In this chapter we will focus on THE PREACHER AS TEACHER (didache) and in the next chapter we will turn to THE PREACHER AS HERALD(kerygma). Both of these identities have long traditions in homiletic history; consequently, both have considerably influenced assumptions of what a preacher is to accomplish in the pulpit. Though on the surface they may seem closely related, each is guided by subtle but significant differences of theological emphasis. We will argue that THE PREACHER AS TEACHER places a burden of responsibility on the human agency of the preacher to communicate the “right” Biblical ideas, while THE PREACHER AS HERALD places particular importance on divine agency in proclaiming the gospel, at the potential risk of underestimating the nature and significance of the human contribution.
Since the flowering of classical culture, there has been a close link between education and virtue that exalted the role of thinkers and teachers. Following his teacher, Plato
suggested that philosophers should rule the ideal state. While he was less ambitious in this regard, Aristotle himself suggested “the true aim of education is the attainment of happiness through perfect virtue.”1 This assumption that truth is connected to
happiness and virtue also underlies the Church’s exaltation of the role of teachers within the society of the blessed. As in the world, teachers in the Church perform basic tasks that can be summarized as follows:
1. A teacher is one whose occupation or vocation is to teach. 2. A teacher causes others to know something.
3. A teacher guides the studies and development of students. 4. A teacher imparts knowledge.
5. A teacher instructs by example.
6. A teacher forms habits and practices of learning.
In the modern pulpit, THE PREACHER AS TEACHER is one of the normative homiletic identities. THE PREACHER AS TEACHER is a homiletic identity that understands the event of preaching as an act of catechesis.2 That is, the preacher’s goal is
to offer sermons that give clear and persuasive instruction on the meaning of Scripture, the doctrines of the Church, and the ethical implications of both for Christian living.3
Christian preachers who are shaped by this metaphor serve as an instructional aid for the baptized. As a result, the sermon is designed to help the listener grasp and assimilate the main ideas of a scriptural text, doctrine or creed into an assenting belief that shapes daily life. In this sense, according to Ronald Allen, THE PREACHER AS TEACHER understands him- or herself to be an authoritative agent for the intellectual and moral formation of the Christian Church.4 The preacher assumes that what people need or are
1 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (New York: Penguin Classics, 2003) X,VIII.
2 See Milton McCormick Gatch, “Basic Christian Education from the Decline of Catechesis to the Rise of the Catechism,” in A Faithful Church: Issues in History of Catechesis, ed. John H. Westerhoff and O.C. Edwards, Jr. (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Barlow, 1981), 79-108.
3 For definitions of the preacher as teacher, see John H. Westerhoff’s description in “Teaching and Preaching,” in Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching, ed. William Willimon and Richard Lischer, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 467-469. See also Ronald J. Allen, “The Preacher as Teacher,” in Preaching and Practical Ministry (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), 29-46; Ronald J. Allen, The Teaching Sermon (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 13-16; Clark M. Williamson and Ronald J. Allen, The Teaching Minister (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1991), 26-46; and Clark M. Williamson and Ronald J. Allen, The Vital Church: Teaching, Worship, Community, Service (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1998), 78-80. 4 See Allen, Preaching and Practical Ministry, 33.
looking for when they come to church is more knowledge, both theoretical and practical. The purpose of this identity can be conceived as a bridge spanning a gulf, where the freight of Biblical and theological wisdom can be passed over the expansive distance between pulpit and pew. The preacher and congregation who operate with this homiletic identity expect a sermon to clearly communicate ideas extracted from the Bible and Church doctrine in such a way that it will enable congregants to integrate these ideas into daily living.5 The end goal is always to teach the Bible or Christian doctrine.6
In what follows in this chapter, we will identify the ancient source of THE PREACHER AS TEACHER and then explore a modern example to demonstrate how this homiletic identity has more recently shaped the purpose, content, language, and form of sermons. We will next highlight the cultural context of this identity in modernity to investigate its influence before analyzing some of the entailments of this model. At the conclusion of the chapter, we will discuss both the promise and the perils of this identity for today’s preacher.