I am a United Methodist preacher serving under appointment since 1991. My mission is to help pastors and preachers, including myself, do the very best job of proclaiming the good news about Jesus that they can. I also want to make original contributions to the field of homiletics through continual research and writing. Supervisors: Paul Scott Wilson and David Schnasa Jacobsen Phone: 3346187990 Address: 1568 Venice Avenue Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547
The New Homiletic has often avoided the concept of application in sermons, preferring to allow li... more The New Homiletic has often avoided the concept of application in sermons, preferring to allow listeners to respond to the gospel as they will without the need for the preacher to prescribe their response. The result has been artful and poetic sermons that may not focus on empowering and explicitly inviting listeners to participate in the gospel being proclaimed. This thesis offers the concept of appropriation to homiletics as a rethinking of the notion of application. Appropriation is the preacher’s and hearer’s embodied, active response to God’s Word in the biblical text. A theology of God’s Word as aiming toward appropriation is discovered in the theology of Deutero-Isaiah and particularly in Isaiah 55:10-11. This theology will be seen to be supremely expressed in the Church’s understandings of the incarnation of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
The hermeneutic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is examined to explain how narratives and metaphoric language fund the capacity to act in the human imagination on an individual level and in social imaginaries on the corporate level. Appropriation is found to be a key Ricoeurian concept in the movement from action described in texts to actions lived out through bodies. The thesis grounds Ricoeur’s general hermeneutics to specifically Christian hermeneutics at the point of the sacramental. Preaching and sacrament(al)s are understood as embodied liturgical appropriations of God’s Word. The sacramental theologies of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley are examined to see how appropriation is the aim of both preaching and the sacraments. The work of several Protestant and Catholic homileticians reveals how preaching can be aimed more purposefully at appropriation through a process of 1) encountering God’s Word in the text/sermon; 2) playfully suspending reality to consider possible actions; and 3) appropriating God’s Word as one’s own through hearer-determined confession and ethical behaviour. Several practical strategies toward appropriation are offered as well as specific thoughts about the teaching of preaching as appropriation.
This essay considers the use of the word " I " in Christian sermons. Preachers commonly use " I "... more This essay considers the use of the word " I " in Christian sermons. Preachers commonly use " I " in three ways: 1) in reference to themselves; 2) as they stand in for the listener or share the stories of others; and 3) as they stand in for God. The essay examines why the word should be employed in each voice and how these uses and stances offer rhetorical risks and benefits. An ethical framework of love and liberty is developed as a series of norms by which uses of " I " can be guided. The ethical uses of " I " are examined in turn, inviting preachers to use the power of this small word to help identify with hearers rather than to coerce belief or action.
The New Homiletic has often avoided the concept of application in sermons, preferring to allow li... more The New Homiletic has often avoided the concept of application in sermons, preferring to allow listeners to respond to the gospel as they will without the need for the preacher to prescribe their response. The result has been artful and poetic sermons that may not focus on empowering and explicitly inviting listeners to participate in the gospel being proclaimed. This thesis offers the concept of appropriation to homiletics as a rethinking of the notion of application. Appropriation is the preacher’s and hearer’s embodied, active response to God’s Word in the biblical text. A theology of God’s Word as aiming toward appropriation is discovered in the theology of Deutero-Isaiah and particularly in Isaiah 55:10-11. This theology will be seen to be supremely expressed in the Church’s understandings of the incarnation of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
The hermeneutic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is examined to explain how narratives and metaphoric language fund the capacity to act in the human imagination on an individual level and in social imaginaries on the corporate level. Appropriation is found to be a key Ricoeurian concept in the movement from action described in texts to actions lived out through bodies. The thesis grounds Ricoeur’s general hermeneutics to specifically Christian hermeneutics at the point of the sacramental. Preaching and sacrament(al)s are understood as embodied liturgical appropriations of God’s Word. The sacramental theologies of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley are examined to see how appropriation is the aim of both preaching and the sacraments. The work of several Protestant and Catholic homileticians reveals how preaching can be aimed more purposefully at appropriation through a process of 1) encountering God’s Word in the text/sermon; 2) playfully suspending reality to consider possible actions; and 3) appropriating God’s Word as one’s own through hearer-determined confession and ethical behaviour. Several practical strategies toward appropriation are offered as well as specific thoughts about the teaching of preaching as appropriation.
This essay considers the use of the word " I " in Christian sermons. Preachers commonly use " I "... more This essay considers the use of the word " I " in Christian sermons. Preachers commonly use " I " in three ways: 1) in reference to themselves; 2) as they stand in for the listener or share the stories of others; and 3) as they stand in for God. The essay examines why the word should be employed in each voice and how these uses and stances offer rhetorical risks and benefits. An ethical framework of love and liberty is developed as a series of norms by which uses of " I " can be guided. The ethical uses of " I " are examined in turn, inviting preachers to use the power of this small word to help identify with hearers rather than to coerce belief or action.
Uploads
Thesis by Sam Parkes
The hermeneutic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is examined to explain how narratives and metaphoric language fund the capacity to act in the human imagination on an individual level and in social imaginaries on the corporate level. Appropriation is found to be a key Ricoeurian concept in the movement from action described in texts to actions lived out through bodies. The thesis grounds Ricoeur’s general hermeneutics to specifically Christian hermeneutics at the point of the sacramental. Preaching and sacrament(al)s are understood as embodied liturgical appropriations of God’s Word. The sacramental theologies of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley are examined to see how appropriation is the aim of both preaching and the sacraments. The work of several Protestant and Catholic homileticians reveals how preaching can be aimed more purposefully at appropriation through a process of 1) encountering God’s Word in the text/sermon; 2) playfully suspending reality to consider possible actions; and 3) appropriating God’s Word as one’s own through hearer-determined confession and ethical behaviour. Several practical strategies toward appropriation are offered as well as specific thoughts about the teaching of preaching as appropriation.
Papers by Sam Parkes
The hermeneutic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is examined to explain how narratives and metaphoric language fund the capacity to act in the human imagination on an individual level and in social imaginaries on the corporate level. Appropriation is found to be a key Ricoeurian concept in the movement from action described in texts to actions lived out through bodies. The thesis grounds Ricoeur’s general hermeneutics to specifically Christian hermeneutics at the point of the sacramental. Preaching and sacrament(al)s are understood as embodied liturgical appropriations of God’s Word. The sacramental theologies of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley are examined to see how appropriation is the aim of both preaching and the sacraments. The work of several Protestant and Catholic homileticians reveals how preaching can be aimed more purposefully at appropriation through a process of 1) encountering God’s Word in the text/sermon; 2) playfully suspending reality to consider possible actions; and 3) appropriating God’s Word as one’s own through hearer-determined confession and ethical behaviour. Several practical strategies toward appropriation are offered as well as specific thoughts about the teaching of preaching as appropriation.