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The practice of preaching is at a crossroads. The last three decades have witnessed an abrupt change in the content and form of preaching. The dominance of exposition has given way to a new homiletic, characterized by narrative suggestion and inductive movement. These changes in homiletic approach are closely aligned with dominant trends in the nature of public discourse. In the quest to be heard, preachers look to culture for their communication clues. Thus, changes in the culture continue to dictate the form of preaching.
The influence of culture upon preaching is seen in the cultural changes evident in the latter half of the twentieth century and the corresponding changes in the practice of preaching. For instance, the modern climate of the latter half of the current millennium was dominated by reason and prescription. As reasonable discoveries were made, people were duty bound to accept them and integrate them into their lives. It is no coincidence, then, that expository preaching with its emphasis upon rational discovery and prescriptive demand, should develop under such conditions. Similarly, as the culture began moving in the direction of a less objective, more personal "postmodern" approach to public discourse, homiletics followed the trend developing new sermon models that were less demanding and more intuitive. As expository preaching began to decline under the influence of a new cultural climate, encounter forms of preaching flourished in its stead.
Given the likelihood that culture will change again, one wonders as to the possibility of a homiletic that would be less susceptible to cultural change. The "global" preaching model is one such paradigm. "Global" preaching understands the task of preaching in terms of two intersecting axes, authority and apprehension. Authority represents the struggle between the objective given of the word of God and the subjective position of the listener. Apprehension describes the divergence between cognitive exposition and experiential encounter. "Global" preaching seeks to integrate these concerns in such a way that the concerns of text and listener, exposition and encounter, are held in concert, thus creating a holistic approach to the preaching task that is not dependent upon the vagaries of culture, but which could speak powerfully in any cultural situation.
Preachers should not have to choose between authority and relevance. Sermons that hold both are better able to communicate within an accelerated world. Preachers that can offer the authority of God's word within the context of people's lives will win a hearing at any time in any place.