Listening to Listeners: Homiletical Case Studies (Channels of Listening) - Softcover

McClure, John S; Allen, Ronald J; Andrews, Dale P

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0827205007 ISBN 13: 9780827205000

Publisher: Chalice Press, 2004

Synopsis

Many preachers long to understand the dynamics of thought, feeling, and behavior at work in congregations. They use many techniques to evaluate the needs of their congregation and to sharpen their sermons, but preachers seldom give members of their congregation the opportunities to identify qualities of preaching that motivate them to engage sermons, and qualities of sermons that prompt disengagement. This book draws on one of the first large scale attempts in North America to do just that. Drawing on extensive interviews and analysis based on traditional rhetorical categories derived from Aristotle-the listener's perception of the character, personality and trustworthiness of the preacher (ethos), the appeals to reason in the content of the sermon (logos), and the role of feeling in the event of preaching (pathos)-the authors present case illustrations to help preachers listen pastorally to their own parishioners, to understand how their listeners' participation in the sermon is affected by the ethos, logos, and pathos, and how the pastor can use this understanding to preach in ways that engage listeners. Pastors are encouraged to compare and contrast their own perceptions of preaching with those expressed by their parishioners and to reflect more broadly and deeply about preaching in the preacher's own congregational setting.

About this title

Review:

"Good sermons express passions that help listeners care, convey concerns that invite listener involvement, communicate life and faith in ways that ring true, and embody these gifts as a communication of the word of God that can become words of life. This book introduces preachers to the essential tools of effective communication, demonstrates how to identify their effect in the talk of listeners, and then sends preachers out to become ethnographers of effective communication for their own congregations. Listening to Listeners is the rare book that provides preachers and students with real talk about how listeners experience a ministry of preaching as part of their own faith formation. If you long for more than 'Good sermon, pastor' and a handshake, this is the book of the real conversations preachers have been hungry to hear."

About the Author:

G. Lee Ramsey, Jr., is Associate Professor of Pastoral Care at Memphis Theological Seminary Dale P. Andrews is Martin Luther King, Jr., Chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology and Co-Director of the Center for Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology in Boston, MA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0827205007
• ISBN 13: 9780827205000
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 195