Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Fortunate Art”: Short-Writing And Two Of Its Practitioners In Colonial New England, David Powers

Sermon Studies

Following the publication of Timothie Bright’s Characterie: An Art of shorte, swifte and secrete writing by Character in 1588, a spate of books on shorthand appeared in England. This technology echoed long-forgotten methods which had developed centuries before, while providing fresh techniques for composing and recording spoken speech. From their very beginnings these new systems proved especially applicable to religious purposes, though they also found academic, legal, and governmental applications. Clergy from those centuries left hundreds of “short-writing” manuscripts which are as yet untranscribed.

This article describes the principles behind “short-writing” as exemplified in two major systems in use in …

Recycling A Colonial Puritan Sermon: A Case Study, David M. Powers

Sermon Studies

Notes which the teenager John Pynchon took in the 1640s as he listened to the Rev. George Moxon’s sermons in frontier Springfield, MA, have become the inspiration and the ingredients for sermon performances in 21st century New England. The project began with a word-for-word transcription of a symbol-for-symbol manuscript based on a code invented by Pynchon. Then a very few words which the notetaker skipped, in his rush to record just what he heard, were added to provide essential clarification. So, too, was introductory material to frame the experience by encouraging the listening congregation to “stretch” a bit to appreciate …

“Wild Mobs, To Mad Sedition Prone”: Preaching The American Revolution, Barry Levis

Sermon Studies

The Church of England in the American Colonies was really not a single institution. Because no local bishop governed the church in America, falling as it did under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, the clergy tended to have differing loyalties. Especially in the southern colonies, local vestries ruled the clergy because they controlled their stipends; therefore the clergy followed the lead of the local squirearchy and suppressed their personal views regarding independence. The New England Anglican clergy were equally in a difficult position. Midst the hostility of Puritanism and the Sons of Liberty, they seemed like an alien …

Preaching In Britain’S “Parish Church”: Sermons At London’S St. Paul’S Cathedral, In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries, Frances Knight

Sermon Studies

This paper will address the conference themes of ‘space, place and context’ with an examination of the development of preaching at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, over the course of two hundred years. Completely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, on a scale which was intended to rival St Peter’s in Rome, the new St Paul’s was explicitly designed as a Protestant cathedral. Preaching, therefore, was highly valued. Yet, despite the adoption of Wren’s ‘preaching box’ plan, speaking in the colossal space, potentially to a congregation of many hundreds, presented considerable challenges. As one would expect over a two-hundred-year …

The Sunday After The Tuesday: The 2016 Presidential Election In The Pulpit, Matthew Boedy

Sermon Studies

The 2016 presidential election divided Christians along racial, economic, and theological lines. The central question of my study was how did ministers frame the election, if at all? Through analysis of transcripts of 47 sermons from across the country (14 states plus Washington D.C.), from multiple denominations and various sized congregations given on November 13 or thereabouts, I claim that the paradox of the dual citizenship of Christians was the predominant theme in these sermons. Second, only one minister directly endorsed a candidate and only a handful indirectly endorsed. Many preached a form of unity.

Protests From The Pulpit: The Confessing Church And The Sermons Of World War Ii, William S. Skiles

Sermon Studies

This article examines sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship during World War II, and specifically explores the messages of opposition against the regime. The approach of most historians has focused on the history of the Christian institutions, its leaders, and its persecution by the Nazi regime, leaving the most elemental task of the pastor - that is, preaching - largely unexamined. To understand Confessing Church opposition during World War II, I have analyzed 255 sermons delivered in pulpits, published in pamphlets, and broadcast over the airwaves. Furthermore, I have examined sermons delivered "out in the open" …