Arts and Preaching
An Aesthetic Homiletic for the Twenty-first Century
Foreword by John S. McClure
Imprint: Cascade Books
In our highly sensory and interactive age, how might drawing upon various arts--music, film, architecture, dramatic performance, painting, fashion, and more--expand the aesthetic experience and mode of preaching? This book presents a critical, practical answer to the question. As our society becomes more visually oriented, art-seeking, and body-positive, the practice of preaching is likewise challenged to demonstrate the mind-body, word-visual, and artistic proclamation of the Sacred (after all, isn't the writing of the Bible itself highly art-full and aesthetic?). In this book, Sunggu A. Yang, a seasoned preacher and experienced teacher of preaching, encourages preachers to utilize their unique artistic talents as critical sources of theological and homiletical imagination and as hermeneutical-perspectival tools to aid their rigorous exegetical process of interpreting Scripture, eventually toward artistic-holistic sermon composition and delivery. A sample syllabus, included in the appendix, will greatly assist any preaching instructor who wants to offer a creative course on arts and preaching.
Sunggu A. Yang is Assistant Professor of Christian Ministries at College of Christian Studies and Portland Seminary, George Fox University. He is the author of two books, including King’s Speech: Preaching Reconciliation in a World of Violence and Chasm (2019).
“Yang develops a multidimensional approach of homiletical aesthetics for the encounter of the Holy Mystery in preaching. This volume must be a stimulating read for all preachers and teachers of homiletics.”
—Birgit Weyel, Chair of Practical Theology, University of Tübingen
“He calls for preaching not just about the arts or with the arts but as an art that can learn from other art forms—all on the way to evoking deeper and more holistic encounters with God.”
—Ted A. Smith, Professor of Preaching and Ethics, Candler School of Theology
“Yang’s holistic-aesthetic vision of preaching recovers its identity as art, a medium through which the numinous is both made possible and experienced.”
—Alyce M. McKenzie, Director of the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence, Southern Methodist University
“In this absolutely superb book, Yang shows us dazzling forms of relationships between art and preaching. Art here is not a subdued artifact to be explored for the sake of preaching but rather a luminous partner that shares light with Scripture in the formation of a sermon.”
—Cláudio Carvalhaes, Associate Professor of Worship, Union Theological Seminary, New York City
“This provocative work is clearly driven by Yang’s longing for preaching (and spiritually formed preachers) to meet and engage contemporary congregations through aesthetically informed proclamation that is both astonishingly familiar and yet wonder-filled, with the hope that they might together encounter the mysterium tremendum. A wonderful gift and invitation!”
—Kimberly Wagner, Assistant Professor of Homiletics, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago
“As a preacher, Yang’s project makes me want to stop at every chapter and play around with sermon design in novel ways. As a teacher of preaching, Arts and Preaching makes me want to overhaul the syllabus and bring students into a more aesthetic, embodied space for sermonic creation.”
—Casey T. Sigmon, Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship, Saint Paul School of Theology
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