The Practice of Homiletical Theology in a Confessional Mode: An Interim Report on the Homiletical Theology Project

Abstract

Preachers rightly fret about getting from text to sermon, but their commission is to go preach the gospel. While homiletical theology generally is focused on seeing preaching as a theological task focused on the “gospel in context,” confessional homiletical theology, as a particular type, considers preaching to be a theological enterprise centered on the gospel and brought into critical dialogue with texts, contexts, and situations. Consistent with the position of André Resner, who argues preachers start this dialogue from a “working gospel,” this article explores how this confessional, working gospel as theological habitus then dialogues critically with texts, contexts and situations reflectively and critically so the gospel might be heard for the life of the church and for the sake of the world that God so loves.