Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Theology

Supervisor

Rev Dr. Stephen McClatchie

Abstract

This paper examines homiletics through the technical and aesthetic lens of music and the relationship between sensory experience and imagination, which is crucial to the modern homiletic style. For centuries, musicians and composers have used inductive processes to build meaning. The New Homiletic now seeks to construct reality in sermons in a similar manner. Yet, over the last 500 years, society has elevated reason over sensual experience and logic over artistic mystery. Disregarding the aesthetic power of the senses disregards how hymns can illuminate and shape an ecclesiological identity through a doctrinal reality. Fostering a poetic imagination in preaching and liturgy reconnects us to understanding, creating space for the Spirit to act in revelation.

A large body of work on Homiletics and Liturgy examines the art of biblical interpretation and preaching. However, few authors approach theology or preaching from a musical or aesthetic perspective. Here, we explore what music can teach us about biblical interpretation and communication. As secular society moves further from religion, its connection with the language of the church becomes more difficult. Finding ways to teach and translate the foreign symbols of Scripture into secular society becomes imperative for the church’s future success.

Several seemingly disparate influences converge to demonstrate their impact on homiletics and liturgy, and what they can teach us about preaching as we enter the third millennium. Tracing Augustine’s influence on Western theology through the Reformation theologians and on to the Wesley brothers, who challenged the rejection of the senses and embraced a theology of edification through hymnody, connections are made to the modern era where the New Homiletic challenged the status quo of legalistic, doctrinal, and lecture hall sermon styles in favour of narrative and more engaging preaching.

The influence of Platonism on Augustine’s theology has a lasting impact on modern caution concerning aesthetic appeal and sensual arousal, prioritising reason over feeling. Aesthetics can illuminate homiletics by translating the unknown language of religion into a more accessible form for modern hearers. Embracing aesthetics brings balance to church doctrine and intellectual appeal.A large body of work on Homiletics and Liturgy examines the art of biblical interpretation and preaching. However, few authors approach theology or preaching from a musical or aesthetic perspective. Here, we explore what music can teach us about biblical interpretation and communication. As secular society moves further from religion, its connection with the language of the church becomes more difficult. Finding ways to teach and translate the foreign symbols of Scripture into secular society becomes imperative for the church’s future success.

Several seemingly disparate influences converge to demonstrate their impact on homiletics and liturgy, and what they can teach us about preaching as we enter the third millennium. Tracing Augustine’s influence on Western theology through the Reformation theologians and on to the Wesley brothers, who challenged the rejection of the senses and embraced a theology of edification through hymnody, connections are made to the modern era where the New Homiletic challenged the status quo of legalistic, doctrinal, and lecture hall sermon styles in favour of narrative and more engaging preaching.

The influence of Platonism on Augustine’s theology has a lasting impact on modern caution concerning aesthetic appeal and sensual arousal, prioritising reason over feeling. Aesthetics can illuminate homiletics by translating the foreign language of religion for modern hearers. Embracing aesthetics brings balance to church doctrine and intellectual appeal.

Summary for Lay Audience

Since the Romantic Period, our understanding and interpretation of language have undergone significant changes. In the age of secularity with an increasing population of religious nones, music can help lay participants understand the Gospel message through participation in communal singing. This paper examines how the building blocks of symbol and syntax are essential to meaning and understanding, and how our senses are equally important in this process. The imbalance towards reason over the senses has harmed our ability to find meaning in stories, including sermons and Scripture. Hymnody helps modern church attendees learn and understand the church’s ancient language that is tied to the balance of the cosmos.

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