FOUNDATIONS OF BIBLICAL PREACHING (ONLINE)
Designed by:
David Lose
Marbury Anderson Assoc. Professor of Biblical Preaching
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN

Online Facilitator: Dr. Karoline Lewis

Corse Description
This course introduces the fundamentals of preaching with a goal toward developing in students the capacity for transformative proclamation for the sake of the life and mission of the church. With close attention given to biblical exegesis; theology; the sermon’s language, imagery, and design; and the basics of effective delivery, this course helps students develop interpretive, theological, homiletical, and practical disciplines that will inform and shape their preaching and lay the groundwork for lifelong learning and improvement.
Course Objectives In order to develop students’ ability to craft and deliver transformative biblical sermons, the course pursues the following learning objectives:

1) Apprehending the Gospel as a distinct message with theological, relational, liturgical, and rhetorical dimensions.
2) Developing proficiency in the primary elements of preaching as a distinct genre of oral communication: a) exegetical study, b) development and preparation of the sermon, c) attending to congregational context, and d) oral execution.
3) Maturing in one’s self-understanding as one called to proclaim and confess the faith publicly in the context of Christian worship by maintaining respect for the congregation, fidelity to the tradition, and integrity to one’s own voice and identity.

Procedure
The course is designed around six types of learning experiences:
1) Weekly presentations prepared by the Luther Seminary faculty that cover the primary elements of biblical preaching.
2) Readings assigned for each topic that prepare for and supplement the weekly presentation
3) Online discussion with other students and instructor on the readings and topics according to a posted schedule;
4) Group and individual exercises germane to the subject matter;
5) Two sermons to be preached in a congregational context. The course facilitator will receive both sermons in written form. The first sermon needs to be video recorded so that the student can review the sermon for delivery; and
6) Facilitation of a Parish Response Group (PRG) involving educational exercises and discussion of sermons.

Weekly Course Guide (Friday – Thursday)
• Before reading, watching, or listening to any of the course material, respond to the Opening Questions in the course site. This is in a journal form. No one but you and the instructor/facilitator can see the journal. Write your first response to the questions, including “I don’t know.” After you have read, seen, and heard the session material. Go back to the Opening Questions and see if you would now respond the same or differently. Add these additional reflections.
• Sometime Friday-Monday read, view, and listen to the session material
• Tuesday post your session assignment
• By Thursday respond to at least 2 people in your class beginning with the person who has the fewest responses.
Additions: during sessions 3 and 9 there will be an online chat with the whole class.

Expectations and Evaluation
This course is evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Those who pass are given a certificate of completion by Select Learning. The facilitator bases the evaluation of pass/fail on the student’s participation in the online forums and the written sermons.
Requirements
• Purchase required books.
• Arrange with a congregation to preach 2 sermons during the course. It will be very helpful to space these sermons about 3-4 weeks apart.
• Enlist 4-6 persons to serve on your Parish Response Group. This group will meet two times with you during the semester. (The pastor of the congregation in which you are preaching may, but does not need to, be on the PRG.)
• Participate in all discussions and completion of all assignments as specified in the syllabus (see “Schedule”) and course program in a timely fashion.
• Preach 2 sermons in a congregational context.
• Facilitate the Parish Response Group.

Parish Response Group: You will invite four persons from your congregational context to serve as your Parish Response Group (PRG). They will meet with you the first time, before you preach to talk with you about preaching, this course, the process you will employ together to evaluate your sermons, and to study the text(s) together. The group will meet again to study the texts before the second sermon. This group should be committed to working with you to improve your preaching and should be somewhat diverse (in terms of age, gender, ethnic or vocational backgrounds, etc.). The pastor of your congregation may be very helpful in identifying persons and may, but does not have to, serve on the PRG.
Sermons: You will preach 2 sermons during the course (preferable about a month apart), one on the Gospel reading, and one on the Old Testament reading or on the Epistle reading. Sermons should be new material, written for this class and congregation, and should run between 8 and 16 minutes. ( The first sermon should be video recorded so that you can view your own delivery. You can also record the second sermon so that you can see if you have changed in your delivery. The sermon text and your exegetical notes should be sent to the course facilitator the day after you preach.)

Class Materials
• Required Bible, NRSV
• Thomas G. Long, The Witness of Preaching (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2005).
• Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life (Boston: Cowley Publications, 1993).
• Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1977).

Recommended Books (good additions to the preacher’s library; not required for class)
• Jana Childers, ed., Birthing the Sermon (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001).
• Gerhard Forde, Theology is for Proclamation (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1991).
• Justo L. Gonzalez and Catherine G. Gonzalez, The Liberating Pulpit (Wipf & Stock, 2003).
• Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997).
• Paul Scott Wilson, The Four Pages of the Sermon (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999).

Schedule
Orientation week: Jan. 30 – Feb. 3, 2012
Orientation Conference Call Thursday Feb. 2 6:30 PM Central Time
Sessions: Feb. 3 – April 20, 2012 (one week break at Easter)

Topics, readings, presentations, and sermons
Session 1: Why Preach?
Reading: Romans 10:13-17
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 1-51
Rogness & Lose, “The Marks of a Good Sermon” (link)
DVD Presentations: “Introduction” & “Why Preach”
Sermon: Taylor

Session 2: Preaching & the Word of God
Reading: John 1:1-18
ELCA Constitution, Confession of Faith (link)
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 52-68
Taylor, The Preaching Life, 3-39
DVD Presentations: “John 1” & “The Word of God”
Sermon: Lose #1

Session 3: Engaging the Biblical Text
Reading: Luke 1:1-4, John 20:30-31
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 63-98
Taylor, The Preaching Life, 54-66
DVD Presentations: “What Does This Mean?” & “Biblical Exegesis for Preaching”
Sermon: Skinner #1, Shore #1

Session 4: Telling the Truth Twice: Preaching Law & Gospel
Reading: Genesis 1:1-27, Hebrews 4:12, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
Buechner, Telling the Truth
DVD Presentation: “Preaching Law & Gospel”
Sermons: Jacobson #1, Lose #2

Session 5: Focus & Function
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 99-116
DVD Presentation: “Focus and Function”
Sermon: Westermeyer

Session 6: Sermon Design
Reading: Psalm 100, 120, 51, 88
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 117-171
DVD Presentation: “Sermon Design”
Sermons: Martison, Shore #2

Session 7: The Sanctified Imagination
Reading: Luke 15
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 198-224
Taylor, The Preaching Life, 40-53
DVD Presentation: “Imagination in Preaching”
Sermons: Tiede, Limburg

Session 8: Openings and Closings
Reading: Acts 1
Long, Witness, 172-197
DVD Presentation: “Openings and Closings”
Sermons: Lose #3, Finnegan

Session 9: The Contexts of Our Preaching
Reading: John 1:1-18, 1 Corinthians 13
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 233-244
Taylor, The Preaching Life, 81-91
DVD Presentation: Preaching & Context
Sermon: Rogness

Session 10: Delivery
Reading: Exodus 4:10-17
Long, The Witness of Preaching, 225-232
DVD Presentation: Delivery & Closing Remarks

Support Material: Preaching the Old Testament
Reading: Hebrews 1
DVD Presentation: “Preaching the Old Testament”
Sermons: Jacobson #2, Schifferdecker, Gaiser, Lewis

Support Material: Preaching Biblical Genres
Reading: Romans 3
DVD Presentation: Preaching Biblical Genres
Sermons: Long,Thomas

Support Material: Preaching & Worship
Reading: Luke 24
Taylor, The Preaching Life, 67-80
DVD Presentation: Preaching & Worship