Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

matches the order in which I undertook the study. Briefly
stated, the research concentrated on two parallel fields.
First, in the arena of theology, I studied the writings
of several mid—twentieth century preacher/theologians.
(This time period is most crucial to this study. Leading
figures active within the time period from 1935 to 1965
would have exerted great influence on the theological
settings in which today's lecturers in preaching received
their education. *
During and after their formal study, these
lecturers developed their own theologies of preaching.)
From those persons writing and preaching in the middle of
this century, I selected seven key leaders, making my choice
on the basis of three criteria: their relevance (to
preaching), distinctiveness (from one another), and
significance (the potential for broad influence), as seen in
their writing.
No list of twentieth century theologians of importance
could omit the names o.f Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and Rudolf
Bultmann. In addition to these, Karl Rahner arguably stands
as the most influential Roman Catholic theologian of the
century. The other three selected models are known more for
actual preaching, as opposed to seminal theological thought.
These three do serve, however, as worthy representatives of
relatively distinctive doctrinal schools of thought. Harry
Emerson Fosdick's preaching held forth the classic American
idealist theology. =5 D. Martyn Lloyd—Jones exemplified
the theologically conservative wing of the church, while
James S. Stewart held the banner of another important group,