Preaching, Performance, and the Life and Death of "Now"

Chapter 2 Paul Scott Wilson “Preaching, Performance, and the Life and Death of “Now” pp. 37-52.

Wilson builds a case for the present time being more than a momentary, static point in discourse. He views time more as a description of a cluster of events, or as a wave, with a crest, a front, and a back, all in motion. Performance is an important factor in dealing with a text which is living in a time which is also living. He suggests that presentation of a text is, in some way, performative, though he hesitates to say that our own performative and creative work is the same as the divine work. Following Nicholas Lash, Wilson ties performance and interpretation together. To accomplish this we must find an interpretation of “now” which includes our encounter with a text, our contemplation of the text, our presentation of the text, and the audience’s understanding and response. At this point in the book, I write the words “Mysticism 101” in the margin, as it seems that Wilson is suggesting that the text of Scripture may well have different meanings to different people and that the preacher’s role is to cause people to understand the Scripture, as they would not be able to receive God’s speech otherwise.

To move from the back to the front of the wave which Wilson is picturing, the preacher performs the text in such as way as to instill hope and change, looking to future events and conditions. To this end, Wilson insists that the preacher should use a manuscript or outline only as a guide, developing much of his sermon in the moment as he reads the response of the congregation and tries to point them in a particular direction.

In order to accomplish this, Wilson observes that we need to die to ourselves and accept the idea that God works outside of time. He terms this the “death of now.” It is not clear what Wilson intends us to think of as time. He seems to be reacting to a modernist construct of time as a linear series of points. Yet this mathematical definition of time does not account for the varied experience every individual brings to a situation. It does not allow for differences in responses and the timing of those responses. I fear in his reaction to a modernist concept of time, Wilson becomes a postmodernist rather than embracing a more biblical and premodern view of time, delivery of a message, and varying responses to that message. In his attempt to remove some of the limits from our concept of time, Wilson simply erases one concept without successfully proposing another.

The Canonical Principle

Chapter 1 “The Canonical Principle” pp. 9-34

The Reformation was driven by the Bible. As the Word of God was placed into the hands of many of the laity God’s Spirit ignited the flames of the Reformation. Theology in the Middle Ages, though it was based on Scripture, was treated differently by the Reformers than by their opponents. Luther and his followers developed their theology based on the authority of the Gospel content, rather than the authority of canonical history. This content-based view of the authority of Scripture immediately short-circuits arguments against the Bible based on its history, manuscripts, or means of inspiration. The Bible is to be believed because it presents Christ faithfully. Scripture, then, is rightly interpreted historically and philologically, not in an allegorical manner.

Over against more recent scholarship, the Lutheran Reformation viewed the Bible as a reliable and cohesive set of documents which faithfully record God’s work in Christ. Later theologians and critics tend to reject this view. Lutheran theology, by and large, is still based on God’s Word, read publicly and treated as authoritative based on the gospel content. This guards against both fundamentalism and liberalism.

Braaten 2007

Carl E. Braaten. Principles of Lutheran Theology 2nd edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007

Luther's Anthropological Matrix

Chapter 1 “Luther’s Anthropological Matrix” pp. 23-32

A study of anthropology includes analysis of the presuppositions of life in the target time and culture. Kolb and Arand assert that few people consider their own anthropology. This leads to a weak understanding of people in toher places and times. After examining modern and postmodern anthropology they suggest a “theological” view of anthropology. In this discussion the Reformation matrix of two kinds of righteousness comes to bear. The Reformers recognized a “passive righteousness” which comes from God without human contribution, as well as an “active righteousness” in which we act within society for good. Luther and his followers saw that an excessive focus on either was unhealthy. They also saw that the Roman church had conflated the two. When rightly considered, we need to be full of both passive and active righteousness at the same time, cultivating both the vertical and the horizontal life. This allows us to preserve the proper relationships with God and man, living our humanity to the full.

Kolb & Arand, 2008

The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church Robert Kolb & Charles P. Arand  Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008

The Truth and Truthfulness: Theological Reflections on Preaching and Performance

Chapter 1 Marguerite Shuster “The Truth and Truthfulness: Theological Reflections on Preaching and Performance” pp. 19-35.

Shuster states at the outset that the reader may well, and probably should, be uncomfortable with the idea of absolute truth and with performance being related to preaching. She ties truthfulness of the preacher to the truth which is propounded from the pulpit. It is necessary that the preacher be someone the congregation can recognize as true. Conveying the truth in a manner which does not persuade the congregation of that truth and of the sincerity of the preacher may, in Shuster’s opinion, erode the truth. On pp. 24-25 she  draws a distinction between proclamation of truth and beauty in words and proclamation of truth and beauty in artistic representation. Shuster’s thesis is that the truth and beauty conveyed in words is dependent on the presentation of the speaker, while in art, possibly because the artist is more masked, the truth and beauty is not dependent on the artist and is not concrete or “properly judged by moral criteria” (p. 25). The goal of the speaker is to present truth in such a way that it is truthful and will be perceived as truth. This requires careful attention to presentation style and methods. Using a positive mode of presentation will make this truth, which (p. 33) Shuster affirms to be personal in nature, more palatable to the congregation.

Shuster’s approach to truth and beauty is fairly postmodern. She views truth as something which may well be different for different individuals. This same philosophy shows up in her references to art. While the emphasis on presentation skills and adequate physical and mental preparation to communicate a message is important, her understanding of the nature of the message is flawed. Truth is truth, otherwise it is nothing.

Performance in Preaching

Childers, Jana & Clayton J. Schmit (editors). Performance in Preaching: Bringing the Sermon to Life. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.