Delivering the Word: Preaching and Exegesis in the Western Christian Tradition

One of the most consistent features of Christian life has been the extensive use of the biblical texts in sermons; to evangelise, to educate, to edify, to exhort, and even to terrify those who heard them. Yet, surprisingly little scholarly attention has focused on the dynamics at work as these texts were taken by preachers and transformed into the largely aural experience encountered by their audience. Pre-formed and performed thus, scripture was communicated and made relevant through the use of the sermonic form to audiences inhabiting a broad range of socio-historical settings, including those whose social status or illiteracy might otherwise have completely precluded any access to biblical texts. In this volume, case-studies of biblical reception within and through preaching have been taken from two millennia of homilies, with each being examined to see how the text-preacher-audience dynamic has influenced the interpretation, understanding and impact of the Bible. Examples include Paul, Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aimee Semple McPherson and Chris Brain.