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- Title
A New Teaching without Authority: Preaching the Bible in Postmodernity.
- Authors
Davies, Andrew
- Abstract
The response of the citizens of Capernaum to Jesus' proclamation in Mark 1:21-28 highlights the 'paradigm shift' that his ministry inaugurated in the sphere of preaching. In comparison with the teaching of the scribes, Mark tells us, Jesus taught with authority. This paper uses this underestimated pericope as a springboard to explore the concept of authority in preaching, particularly in the light of the postmodern distaste for external authority, and seeks to assess the need for a further remodelling of the preaching paradigm, in terms of its very conception as much as with respect to its style. Does reconceptualizing power structures in society in general mean the death of the teacher-pupil and preacher-listener binary oppositions? Is the concept of authority now so firmly embedded in our concept of preaching, not least as a result of the ministry of Jesus, as to make it inherently 'modern' and doomed to irrelevance? If so, can literary criticism and the postmodern emphasis on story offer a useful model for non-authoritarian preaching (presuming the latter is both possible and desirable)? On the way I will address the question of whether cultural-critical approaches and the present focus on literary and iconic reception of the biblical texts have been the primary contribution of academic biblical scholarship to the present poor health of expository preaching before concluding with some practical suggestions for the way ahead.
- Subjects
BIBLE; PREACHING; JESUS Christ -- Preaching; LECTIONARIES; CRITICISM; CAPERNAUM (Extinct city)
- Publication
JEPTA: Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, 2007, Vol 27, Issue 2, p161
- ISSN
1812-4461
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1179/jep.2007.27.2.007