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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Storytelling in Preaching: The Response of a German Parish to an American New Homiletic Style of Preaching.

Storytelling in Preaching: The Response of a German Parish to an American New Homiletic Style of Preaching.

Latossek, Volkmar

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Religion General

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ISBN10: 1243660848
ISBN13: 9781243660848
Publisher: Proquest Umi Dissertation Pub
Pages: 158
Weight: 0.65
Height: 0.34 Width: 7.44 Depth: 9.69
Language: English
This ethnographic study examines the author's preaching in Lutheran Stadtkirche St. Marien, a central church in Celle/Germany. The particular preaching situation is described, paying attention to the German-American homiletic divide. This divide has led to many similar results in homiletical theory without intense dialog across the Atlantic and a strong difference in modes of actual preaching. The rich tradition of oral storytelling and influences of communication theories in America are discussed as the basis for the New Homiletic's emphasis in storytelling which has been influential in North America but not Germany. The author preached two sets of sermons; one set with virtually no stories and the other set of sermons dominated by storytelling guided by the work of Fred B. Craddock. Qualitative research with congregational members who listened to the two sets of sermons generated data from two focus-groups of regular listeners. The data showed a strong individualistic tendency of listening and a surprising underlying effect of the stories even in persons who expressed skepticism in the use of stories in sermons. Three groups of listeners were differentiated as analysis-seekers, storytelling-utilitarians, and storytelling-aficionados. Whereas the first group fit many categories of Aristotelean rhetoric, the second was interested in stories as usefull examples (if at all). The third group loved and enjoyed stories for their own sake; stories were perceived as creating images. Richard Schechner's anthropoligical differentiation of the ritual efficacy versus entertainment continuum can be applied to homiletical storytelling as liminal performance, enabling listeners to be drawn into the effective ritual. Yet the limiting factors are recognized in the German tradition of teaching sermons and its church reality, described by the open character of Stadtkirche, and the Volkskirche- and Lighthouse- images. Further studies that may be helpful to categorize listeners of sermons include a combination of rhetorical criteria, Howard Gardner's theory on Multiple Intelligences, and Bordieu-style milieu-studies. Based on this study, I have concluded that future preaching in Stadtkirche Celle ought to be more balanced in style, incorporating storytelling and other rhetorical forms in order to address diverse intelligences and tendencies within the church's diverse congregation.

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