I’m reading Fred Craddock‘s book, Preaching, for a class on, well, preaching. In it, it notes – while avoiding the Augustine dispute with Donatus – that the preacher’s moral character is a part of the sermon.
I see the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 2. Paul is intent to give a good account of himself. He is no Sophist, he declares, using his talents to make money, to trick people, to be lazy. What he is has to give is too important to hold on too and to prevent by simply being lazy. He works to contribute to the community he is in. Sure, he says, he could sit and let people pamper him, fawning all over him, but his gospel is too powerful to recline on a sofa.
So, I was thinking… maybe Augustine is right. The efficacy of the preaching outweighs the moral character of the preacher, but if the preacher does not care about the moral character of him/herself, then this will get in the way of the message. The message will work, if given space… by a poor leader, a contemptible character will take up that space around him/herself so that nothing can work. If everyone is paying attention to the character of the speaker, the message will cease having a place to take hold.
By the way, the book thus far is awesome.
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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