Academy of Homiletics

Call For Papers: The “Call to Preach” is riddled by Scripture, riddled with theology, and to be sure riddles our preaching. One’s theology of preaching is often expressed through a theology of call. Divine inspiration and divine sanction raise critical questions about call narratives in Scripture. The voice of the pulpit claims authority in the Church for devotional lives of personal faith and public lives of moral action or social justice. At times, distorted notions of call mark tragic theological and social barriers to pulpit access. Who is allowed to preach? What is allowed in preaching? How? Homiletic methodology and pedagogy wrestle no less with these same dynamics from The Call to Preach. Both our students’ embrace and passive resistance to the tasks of learning homiletics in our classrooms revolve often around sacred appeals to call. The anguish over sermon critique consistently reveals distress to call narratives and divine activity. And yet the in-breaking mystery of revelation in preaching, even with all of our inadequacies, abuses, or frailty, is somehow illumined by the mystery of call. This year’s conference theme and “call” for papers offer no fewer challenges and opportunities to learn, explore, and press our scholarship. We welcome your paper submission to one of the nine available workgroups.

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