On Liturgical Preaching: The Body of Christ in Time

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Notes

George M. Bass, The Renewal of Liturgical Preaching (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1967), 32.

William Skudlarek, The Word in Worship: Preaching in a Liturgical Context (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1981), 26.

Geoffrey Wainwright, “Preaching as Worship,” in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 28, no. 4 (Winter 1983): 325–36.

Gerard S. Sloyan, “Liturgical Preaching,” in Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching, eds. William H. Willimon and Richard Lischer (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 312–13.

Gerard S. Sloyan, “Some Thoughts on Liturgical Preaching,” in Worship 71, no. 5 (1997): 386.

“Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” The Documents of Vatican II (Lake Charles, LA: American Press, 1966), 149.

“[T]here are at least four types of ‘expository’ sermons … These four types … vary from a verse-by-verse biblical lecture on a passage of Scripture to a real and relevant biblical sermon. For this and other reasons the term ‘expository preaching’ is being discarded in favor of ‘biblical preaching’ and/or ‘liturgical preaching.’” George M. Bass, The Renewal of Liturgical Preaching (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1967), 16.

Bass, 18–19.

Skudlarek, 15.

Gustav Wingren, The Living Word, trans. Victor C. Pague (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 22.

Bass, 7.

“In the Protestant tradition … the sermon was the central and all-important feature of the service … All else was ‘setting’ designed to show off the gem that the preacher had polished and perfected during the preceding week. Prayers, hymns, anthems, and lessons prepared the audience for the moment when the houselights would be dimmed, the pulpit illuminated, and the preacher would rise to announce the text and launch into a half-hour display of current commentary, verbal dexterity, and biblical expertise designed to entertain, enlighten, and inspire. When the sermon was over there was little left to do except leave a contribution … . Liturgy was thus reduced to the level of introduction and wrap-up” (Skudlarek, 65–66).

“The liturgical sermon guards the balance between liturgy and preaching by proclaiming Christ in such a way that the worshiper is led to the altar and the Eucharist” (Bass, 19).

Jean-Jacques von Allmen, Preaching and Congregation, trans. B. L. Nicholas (London: Lutterworth Press, 1962), 41; quoted in Skudlarek, 66–67.

Odo Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, and Other Writings, ed. Burkhard Neunheuser.(Westerminster, MD: Newman Press, 1962), 99.

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Notes on contributors

Melinda A. Quivik

Melinda A. Quivik is associate professor of Christian Assembly at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, where she teaches both liturgy and homiletics. She is author of Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (Fortress Press, 2009) and A Christian Funeral: Witness to the Resurrection (Augsburg Fortress, 2005). She has contributed homiletical commentaries to Feasting on the Word, www.workingpreacher.org, and New Proclamation.