The Experience of Studying Hebrew as a Student Who is Blind
Sarah Blake is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN). She is available to provide biblical teaching, ministry seminars, or music ministry for your church. Hear samples from some of her presentations and contact her for booking information.
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Preaching to Postmoderns is a survey of methods of biblical study with attention to how they apply to preaching. Robert Kysar and Joseph Webb warn that the the church is in danger of succumbing to literalism and propose that choosing an exegetical method that allows for speaking to the needs of the congregation will address this problem. They devote chapters to discussing historical criticism, social-scientific criticism, the "new literary criticism," liberation criticisms, and deconstruction theories. The final chapter is devoted to the question, "What is meaning?" Most chapters include a general discussion of the method and its application to preaching and then conclude with a sermon demonstrating the use of the method discussed in the chapter. The exception is the chapter on deconstruction. This chapter spends a great deal of time attempting to explain the theory, which is extremely complex. The final chapter attempts to summarize the work and encourage the preacher to ponder the question of meaning in order to choose the method that best serves the purpose. The final case study includes not only the sermon but also demographic information about the congregation, demonstrating that when planning the sermon it is important to consider not only the text but also the audience.
In my two teaching settings, the class demographics were quite different though the class members were primarily in the same age range. One group included people who had varying levels of education; and many had not spent all of their lives attending Church of God congregations. A number of the members were people who had come to know the Lord as adults. In the other group, members were long-standing members of Church of God congregations and generally well-educated and well-read theologically. The two groups preferred quite different teaching styles. The first preferred to stick to the text and how it spoke to them, occasionally digging for a piece of historical information for clarification of specific details. The second group found that historical information was helpful in shaping the way that text acquired meaning. I learned after beginning to work with the second group that I could not use the same teaching style for every group of people.
Webb and Kysar present a great deal of very useful information about various study methods and ways to use them in planning sermons. However, I expected them to recommend particular methods appropriate to postmodernism. Their initial discussion seemed to suggest that the historical-critical method is falling out of favor. If this is true, and if their conclusion is that the methods discussed later in the book are more preferable for use with “postmoderns,” I fear we are on as dangerous a slope as if we slid into interpreting the Bible literally. There is certainly a place for the idea that a text can have multiple meanings. However, at some point, there is some danger of readers running away with the text, especially if they have no interest in studying its background. Being faithful to the text should not have been a little point made at the end of the book. I felt that the authors should have spoken with more conviction about how to help postmoderns to connect with unchanging truths.
I found the discussion of deconstruction completely confusing. It was not simply the least helpful part of this book. It was completely unhelpful. I felt that I had begun to read a completely different writing style, and this made reading the rest of the book extremely difficult for me.
I came away from the book uncertain of whether I should have been guided or equipped with a full toolbox of things to choose from. Perhaps as I learn more, I will settle that question in my own mind. My gut instinct is to not rely so much on the definition of postmodernism but to use this book as a handy reference on study methods and application to preaching so that I can use whatever works in a given circumstance.
Kaiser, Robert and Joseph Webb. Preaching to Postmoderns. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006.
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Sarah Blake graduated from Anderson University with an M.Div., professional distinction in Hebrew, in August, 2009. She provides biblical teaching for retreats, church services, and other special events; music ministry; and education for churches and community groups seeking to develop strategies for including people with disabilities. For more information about booking Sarah to speak at your church or community event, visit her services page.
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Sarah J. Blake