Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Precisely for this reason, that each preacher
uniquely translates the truth for his hearers, Rahner
felt that the preacher must internalize and personally
experience that truth. His knowledge of both content and
congregation must be intimate, if he is to speak
accurately and relevantly. Experience with God, in the
depths of a priest's being, precludes easy talk about
him." Likewise, "the preacher should be able to hear
his own sermon with the ears of his actual audience.
Then he, in experience, will automatically begin to find
out that he has to 'translate' and the best way of
translating.""
Rahner held that the very nature of God as 'mystery'
required the preacher's active personal involvement in
his message. Otherwise, he falls to deadly pride and
conveys the heretical concept that God, as he is, can be
known. '" 73 "The concept 'God' is not a grasp of God by
which a person masters the mystery, but it is a letting
oneself be grasped by the mystery which is present and
yet ever distant."' When the priest allows himself
to be grasped by God, it brings a radical freshness to
his preaching. He discovers that "he does not do
somethinci, but does himself." As the congregation
receives this personal message, they are able to respond
appropriately, not 'doing something but themselves'.
D. Tillich
1. Sources
The last of the four preacher—theologians frequently