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{"id":924,"date":"2006-01-09T05:45:52","date_gmt":"2006-01-09T10:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/09\/the-evangelical-giveaway-6\/"},"modified":"2006-01-09T05:45:52","modified_gmt":"2006-01-09T10:45:52","slug":"the-evangelical-giveaway-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/09\/the-evangelical-giveaway-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evangelical Giveaway 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

David Fitch\u2019s The Great Giveaway<\/em> turns in chp 5 to the \u201cPreaching of the Word\u201d and he sub-titles his chp \u201cthe myth of expository preaching.\u201d What do you see as the primary function of preaching? To be an exposition of the biblical text itself in a verse-by-verse fashion (or close to that) so that each of us can live more effectively? Or is it a communal act of interpretation?
\nFitch then really drives the point home by the continuation of the subtitle: \u201cWhy me must do more than wear scrolls on our foreheads [the Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries].\u201d He\u2019s picking a fight here, and he wants to. What is preaching really all about? Is it possible, we might ask, to support \u201cexpository\u201d style by appeal to biblical preaching and texts?
\nFitch pushes the button of postmodernity here: pastors are tempted to turn expository preaching into agendas and so Fitch proposes, somewhat along the line of D. Pagitt, Preaching Re-imagined<\/em>, which I responded to with Brad Boydston here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>. (Fitch\u2019s book approaches this issue more philosophically, while Pagitt\u2019s is more personal.)
\nAfter a brief history of expository preaching in the USA (where he finds his favorite targets: modernism and seeker-friendly churches), Fitch proposes to uncover the myth of expository preaching: exegesis and history do not yield a consensus meaning of the text so the preacher himself (or, less likely) herself adjudicates meaning for the congregation. But, he continues, the congregation never quite comes to the \u201csame\u201d meaning.
\nExpository preaching assumes that individual preachers can speak to isolated, individual selves in the congregation.
\nPostmodernity, Fitch contends, contends that \u201cmeaning and truth can only be worked out in the language we speak and the lives we negotiate\u201d (133). It encourages the community to live as a community while expository preaching encourages individualism. He argues that it takes a community to interpret the Word because the Holy Spirit is at work in the community of faith. [Here Fitch assumes a democratization of the Spirit; I\u2019m not so sure this is consistent with the prophetic Spirit of the NT where the Spirit overwhelms individuals. But, his point about the community is needful today.] Interpretation, then, is communal \u2014 whether the individual preacher knows it or not. There is an ongoing tradition out of which each of us speaks.
\nWhat we need, Fitch argues, is to come together to submit to the Scripture together in the Spirit.
\nThe danger of ripping Scripture out of the community is that preachers can dogmatize their own social habits and not be challenged by the community.
\nFitch proposes a \u201cnarrative-based\u201d preaching: the narrative re-shapes our identity. We are invited to participate (Pagitt\u2019s sense of \u201cimplicate\u201d) in the grand narrative. This kind of preaching is \u201cdescription\u201d (unclear just what he means) and it funds counterimagination. Thus: \u201cwe must first truly engage and live into the world of Jesus Christ as Lord\u201d (144). Instead of showing how the Bible is like or relevant to our world, we are to draw folks into the narrative web of the Bible. It invites \u201cresponse\u201d rather than \u201capplication.\u201d
\nPractices:
\n1. Return to the lectionary
\n2. Practice performative reading (oral interpretation; this is a huge need in my view)
\n3. Tailor the conclusion for response: submission, repentance, obedience, praise. Lord\u2019s Supper.
\n4. Employ narrative-based preaching
\n5. Promote communal discourse (he mentions \u201cPaggit\u201d but means \u201cPagitt\u201d).
\n6. Persevere in times of conflict.
\nMany of us are deeply committed to and concerned about preaching, and this chapter gives us lots to think about.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"