From Model to Sermon

The ?New Homiletic? introduced by Fred Craddock, Eugene Lowry and many other teachers of preaching, vigorously criticized the propositional discursive and deductive preaching normative in much North American Christianity in the first three quarters of the 20th century. Such preaching was often mocked as ?Three Points and a Poem.? Advocates of the New Homiletic proposed a variety of models to replace that style of preaching. These models tended to be inductive in shape, valued narrative and attended to the form of the Biblical text as well as its content in shaping the sermon. The New Homiletic aimed to evoke an experience of the gospel rather than to teach key propositions about the faith. While the New Homiletic is no longer ?new? and propositional discursive preaching has experienced a very considerable revival due to the introduction of Power Point to worship, it remains useful to preachers (and a relief to listeners) to preach in a variety of forms and styles. Students will preach two of the four models.