Preaching and Preachers

Preaching and Preachersmay remember the story of the poor woman leaving a service in afamous church in Edinburgh where a great and learned professor hadbeen preaching. Somebody asked her on the way out whether she hadenjoyed the sermon, and on her saying that she had, asked her further,'Were you able to follow him?' To which she replied, 'Far be it fromme to presume to understand such a great man as that!' That was theold attitude far too frequently; but that has gone, that is no longer thecase. We are now in a new position in which the pew is asserting itselfand more or less trying to dictate to the pulpit.This is something which expresses itself in many different ways.Here are some statements of it from different angles. One writer, forinstance, says, 'The world is dying for want, not of good preaching butof good hearing.' That is a criticism of the listener in the pew. So hefeels that the great problem today is good hearing and not goodpreaching. However, whatever particular form the criticism takes thegreat emphasis is upon modern man, and the modern situation confrontingus. Here are statements by the Dutch theologian Kuitert, ofthe Free University, Amsterdam, who is becoming increasingly popularin Europe. He says, 'Moreover it is of no genuine help to aChristian trying to find his way through God's world of this day andthis place.' That is his criticism of the traditional theology and thetraditional type of preaching. Or again: 'A great many Christians,convinced that faith and works are inseparable, are none the lessunable to discover for themselves how to focus this unity on the issuesof our own time.' That is the emphasis. Or again: 'We have to knowthe issues, what is at stake in our time and place. It is here and nowhereelse that the truth must be done.' Note the constant emphasison, 'here and now', 'the situation today', 'the man of today'. Thesame emphasis is found in Bultmann whose basic argument fordemythologising the Gospel is that you cannot expect the modernman, with his scientificbackground and outlook to believe the Gospel-the message which he says he is anxious to convey-as long as it istied up with the miraculous element which such a man cannot possiblyaccept. In other words, you see, it is what the modem man can 'accept'122