presentation at Adult Forum by
The Rev. Dr. Kenyatta R. Gilbert,
Professor, Homiletics, Howard University School of Divinity
and guest preacher in Duke Chapel
October 6, 2019
The Rev. Dr. Kenyatta R. Gilbert,
Professor, Homiletics, Howard University School of Divinity
and guest preacher in Duke Chapel
October 6, 2019
Some of the material presented is drawn from his recent book Exodus Preaching.
Here is a link to a video of a fuller version of much of the content we heard in this class.
Terms/Concepts
- Homiletics
- the theological study of preaching and the development and delivery of sermons.
- Pedagogy
- teaching method
- Postcolonial criticism
- deconstructing (reducing to its constituent parts) Western imperial history, texts, and practices to reveal the devastating impact of colonial exploitation.
- Biblical Hermeneutics
- determining how to apply the ancient Bible in and for the present.
- Eschatology
- a Christian doctrine that refers to "last things."
- Millennialism
- refers to religious and political perspectives about history's end coupled with an optimistic view of a promising future.
- Pre-millennialism
- a doctrinal view of world deterioration as the sign of the end and not progress or improvement.
- Post-millennialism
- a doctrinal view that Jesus will return after a literal thousand-year reign of peace and prosperity.
- Dispensationalism
- an approach to theology and the Bible that is based on dividing history into "dispensations" or "economies," which are seen in different phases of God's progressive revelation.
- Apologetics
- a theological/homiletical approach that uses categories of knowledge to defend Christian faith in response to explicit or implicit misunderstandings, challenges, and attacks in order to commend that very faith.
Sources:
Frederick Ware, African American Theology: An Introduction.
Joseph L. Price, Eds. A New Handbook of Christian Theology.
Donald McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms.
Ronald J. Allen and O. Wesley Allen Jr., The Sermon Without End.
In response to a query for recommended reading, The Rev. Dr. Gilbert highlighted:
- Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church by Barbara Holmes
- a few books by Howard Thurman:
- The Origin of Others by Tony Morrison
- a few novels by Colson Whitehead: