Aaron Edwards

The Violence of Bureaucracy and the Gospel of Peace: A Theological Response to an Academic Problem

Why do academic theologians spend most of their time complying with (and complaining about) bureaucracy? To what extent are the bureaucratic pressures upon theology a form of violence, and how might theology respond? This article engages social anthropologist David Graeber’s creative critique of bureaucracy in The Utopia of Rules (2016) and applies it towards a distinctly theological reading of the bureaucratic problem. Drawing widely on a number of thinkers, including Arendt, Foucault, Webster, Calvin, Hauerwas, Ellul, and others, the article diagnoses the inherent complexity of any theological response to bureaucracy, before offering an alternative mode of revolutionary compliance via the Biblical proclamation of the gospel of peace. If unspoken violence is indeed the heart of the bureaucratic problem, theology might respond with its own imaginatively interruptive language which proclaims how Christ—the Giver of peace armed with a gospel of peace—confronts all totalitarian systems, especially the unacknowledged.

Kierkegaard as Socratic Street Preacher?: Reimagining the Dialectic of Direct and Indirect Communication for Christian Proclamation

Is it possible to believe that the implications of the Christian Gospel are of such a kind that it cannot be communicated directly, and that the implications of the Christian Gospel are of such a kind that it ought to be preached on the street? Whether such a view is indeed “possible” did not bother the great paradoxical thinker, Soren Kierkegaard, who appeared to hold it. Indeed, one of the most enduring elements of Kierkegaards theological legacy is his rigorously dialectical approach to Christian communication. For the reader of Kierkegaard, comprehending his (in)direct communication is typically both a frustrating and inspirational affair. On the one hand, Kierkegaard believed that the Gospel—precisely because of its unique existential consequences—cannot be preached directly; and on the other hand, he believed in the impassioned proclamation of this very same Gospel for the very same reasons. Traveling through his enigmatic authorship, one finds both of these aspects side by side, back to front, or sometimes one on top of the other. It is well noted that although Kierkegaard displays different stages of emphasis, he never totally relinquishes the importance of either method. It is the question of this article to re-engage this dialectical quandary, and to see how the paradoxical juxtaposition might prove both directly and indirectly instructive to a theology of Christian proclamation.

Preacher as Balanced Extremist: Biblical Dialectics and Sermonic Certainty

Preachers are called to take seriously the theological tensions within Scripture alongside the contingent sense of ‘certainty’ that ought to accompany the preaching moment. Addressing this paradox often invokes a call to ‘balance’, which sometimes proves to be as equally unbiblical as outright extremism. Drawing upon Barth’s notion of dialectical ‘one-sidedness’ and Chesterton’s expression of the ‘furious opposites’ of theological paradox, this article sketches the possibility of dialectically dogmatic preaching. This concept will be partially illustrated via an unexpected source, the influential British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who exemplified a dialectical awareness which chaperoned his famously ‘dogmatic’ emphases. Such an approach highlights the vital importance of retaining the particularity of a theological truth in its radical fullness without ignoring its dialectical opposite, nor swamping the pulpit in perpetual ambiguity.

Thus Saith the Word: The theological relationship between biblical exposition and prophetic utterance in preaching

Preaching has often had something of an awkward place in Christian theology. Is it a reflection on the Word of God, proclamation of the Word of God, or is it the ‘Word of God’ itself? In many accounts, the event of preaching is seen as nothing more, nor less, than exegesis. Although this is what preaching should aim to be, it is more than the public interpretation and explanation of a biblical text. Preaching is a unique speech event in which the Spirit speaks prophetically, through Scripture. But is preacherly speech more authoritative than any kind of speech which attempts to interpret Scripture? Many theological conceptions of preaching maintain that there is a unique authority which may accompany the preacher’s words from the pulpit. Traditional Reformation accounts, particularly Calvin’s, stress the exposition of the biblical text as the primary ‘event’ of preaching, irrespective of any ‘fresh’ prophetic work of the Spirit which may occur. This article attempts to speak of preaching as a unique pneumatological event which nonetheless retains Scriptural exposition as the essential sermonic content. Preaching is the moment in which the biblical text is fully consummated as spoken proclamation, even as it speaks beyond the aesthetic confines of the text itself. Such an event maintains both the authority of Scripture and the ongoing – perhaps even ‘surprising’ – work of the Spirit in the interplay between biblical text, prophetic sermon and ecclesial context.

The difference between a poet and a prophet: Dialectical rhetoric and the role of the Spirit in preaching, with reference to Karl Barth and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Do preachers really preach? Aiming for the relative safety of the ‘both/and’, many preachers slip into sermonizations of the Word of God, neglecting the activity of the Spirit. Barth’s early preaching (especially the infamous ‘Titanic sermon’) often flaunts rhetoric and ‘paradox’ rather than heraldic proclamation. Famous preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones was well known for his criticisms of Barth’s dialectical theology. Though rarely considered as feasible interlocutors, Lloyd-Jones’s call for prophetic ‘unction’ in preaching reveals a remarkably similar homiletic to the later Barth. Preaching as ‘prophecy’ emphasizes the active expectation of the preacher to be impacted by the power of the Spirit.

Waddling geese in the pulpit: Kierkegaard’s hermeneutics and preaching:

This article shall outline the significance of Kierkegaard’s method of Bible reading for preaching. The key concepts in Kierkegaard’s hermeneutics (De-Familiarization, Appropriation and Consequentiality) will be applied to his condemnation of pulpit hypocrisy in nineteenth-century Denmark. This is best illustrated in his humorous parable, ‘The Tame Geese’. Kierkegaard’s critique of preaching will then be compared with Fred B. Craddock’s ‘New Homiletic’. Though superficially similar, it will be shown that Kierkegaard still upholds the authority of the preacher in a way that diverges from many postmodern misinterpretations of his work. In the light of contemporary critiques of preaching, this reflection will emphasize how Kierkegaard’s hermeneutics might be helpful in shaping a renewed approach to proclamation that catalyses genuine transformation in its hearers, beginning with the preacher’s personal engagement with the text.