Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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preacher himself.
The first of this chapter's questions--the source of
preaching content--receives extensive consideration in the
earlier chapters. It does, however, merit reconsideration
here. The previous discussions primarily emphasize the
degree to which the Bible is seen as the source of
preaching. We now examine the relative values of several
potential sources, of which the Bible is only one.
This chapter's other two questions, unlike the question
of 'source', discuss, not simply one aspect of preaching in
isolation, but interaction among several.
For example, the question of selecting material for
preaching involves interplay among preaching's source,
content, and recipients, as well as its underlying purpose.
Is the preacher's primary concern the delivery of an
established body of truth? Or, is his essential focus the
satisfaction of congregational needs?
But yet another critical question remains, even after
the sources and subject matter have been chosen. In sermon
preparation and delivery, which takes priority, the content
(which itself is determined by the answer to the second
question) or the persons (both preacher and hearers)
involved?'
Survey responses document contrasting response to these
three questions. In each case, the composite responses of
lecturers identifying with one theologian concur with the
responses of a second such group, in contrast to the
positions stated by lecturers in the other two groups. (See