Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Table 2
Lecture content relatin g to:
the Bible 69.8%
the congregation receivin g a sermon 66.0%
the construction of a sermon 66.0%
communication skills 64.2%
the preacher's personal spiritual
life 37.7%
the purpose of preaching 34.0%
the theological content of
preaching 26.4%
prayer 15.1%
the person of Jesus Christ 15.1%
breadth of preaching content 11.3%
the work of the Holy Spirit 11.3%
"power" 11.3%7
Other questions relating to content in the teaching
of preaching include one (no. 7) which asked the
lecturers for a "quick (twenty-five words or less)
definition of preachin g ." In examining these
definitions, I looked for two different features.
First, I noted the key verb(s) in each definition.
(In cases where a noun stood in the place of a verb, I
included the thought of the noun's co gnate verb in my
reckonin g . For example. I considered a definition to
include the concept of "proclaiming," if either the verb
itself, or the noun, "proclamation," appeared in the
response.) The verbs in the definitions indicate each
lecturer's view of the purpose or function of preaching.
categories:
I found I could group the verbs into four
Table 3
Communication - verbs focussing on
delivery and reception of a message 57.7%
Proclamation - verbs focussing on
authoritative delivery of a message 53.8%
Interpretation - verbs focussing on the
exposition or explanation of Bible content
25%
Modification - verbs focussing on a change