Performance in Preaching

This article also shares much in common with Clayton J. Schmit’s contribution on the relationship between the patterns and inevitabilities that make up excellent music and the patterns and flow of great preaching. These connections allow him to develop the argument that developing our preaching gifts is analogous to the way musicians develop their talents. This article, much like Jana Childers’ article on how to move forward when creativity seems to dry up, offers preachers a real treasure trove of ideas and inspiration. This article also deserves praise for its useful insights on how to find space and time for creativity, even in our busy modern lives. While not all preachers will feel attracted to all the ideas presented here, there are enough suggestions here to move even the most stubborn preacher’s block.

Unfortunately, not all of the articles will be as well received. Mary Donovan Turner’s examination of Miriam’s song in Exodus 12: 20-21, for example, seems to have fallen into the trap of assuming an interpretation before beginning exegesis. Her view of the song as not only a ritual celebration of the recent victory over the Egyptians but also as a bold assertion of the position of women as speaking (or in this case singing) subjects (p. 96) is interesting but unproven. It gives little place to more conservative readings and conveniently forgets the outcome of Miriam’s assertion of her right to speak in Numbers 12. In this case, her question “Has He [God] not spoken through us also?” (Numbers 12:2 NKJV) actually resulted in severe punishment, rather than in the establishment in a stronger position for women. This is not to say the Bible is against women as speaking subjects. Throughout the scriptures, we find women such as Ruth, Esther, Mary Magdalene and Priscilla all provided with the right and occasion to speak. Nevertheless, it is anachronistic to assume the presence of a feminist ideology wherever women’s voices are heard in scripture.

The article by Ronald J. Allen entitled “Performance and the New Testament in Preaching” could also come under criticism. While he is quite right to assert that the original oral nature of much of the Bible must impact our reading of it, Evangelical readers may feel that he takes this too far when he gives readers and preachers license to critique the Word of God when “a passage runs against the grain of a preacher’s beliefs” (p. 112). The problem here is that there are absolutely no limits put on this process, allowing the most heretical teaching to be accepted as a legitimate interpretation. It also weakens the power of the Word of God to transform as it is precisely in having our beliefs challenged by the Word that we are changed (cf. Acts 2: 36-47, Romans 12: 1-2, Ephesians 5: 26, 2 Timothy 4: 1-4, Hebrews 4: 12 etc).

The book closes with a contribution by Charles L. Bartow whose earlier work is much-quoted throughout this volume. He reminds us once again that, while performance studies has its uses in theology, there are limits. By exploring these limits within the context what the Bible says about truth and our duties as preachers, Bartow ensures that the focus of preaching remains the fact that God chooses to reveal Himself through our words and not on the skills we might possess. Given the tendency of one or two scholars in this volume to go too far in their analysis, this article is an entirely necessary contribution.

Tags: performance, preaching

Category: Ministry, Winter 2011