The Preaching Church

The Poor as Sacra Praedicatio

Vincent J. Pastro

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781498287586
• eBook ISBN: 9781498273992
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

This book proposes a theology of preaching from the perspective of the poor. Traditional homiletic methodology concentrates on the "how" of preaching. Pastro maintains that the real question for a renewal of preaching is theological, the "who" of the preaching. The center of the "who" is the Triune God living in the poor community.

Part One

In-Between

Theology is . . . a hazardous business, because the theologian establishes himself (herself) completely in the reality of revelation with the whole of his (her) human spirit and thinking mind. Theology is faith itself, alive in a thinking spirit. This thinking on the part of the human spirit is never finished. . . . But this emphasis on the use of philosophy in theology is inevitably accompanied by the danger of one-sidedness, the danger . . . that the aspect of mystery . . . may be forgotten. The contrary, however, is also true. In stressing this aspect of mystery and the saving significance of the reality of revelation, many modern theological movements also pay insufficient attention to the necessity of the determinatio fidei, the accurate definition of what enables the content of faith to be intelligibly understood within the mystery. This results in dogma becoming less clearly defined, and there is a serious threat that it may become emptied of content, or at least rootless.12

Edward Schillebeeckx’s observation, written over sixty years ago, is even more valid today. Theology is a “hazardous business.” The use of theological ratio these days—and ratio itself—is suspect. Is theology even a valid endeavor, when all things “religious” are, along with many academic disciplines, subject to the “hermeneutic of suspicion”? Perhaps preaching is presently among the ratio disciplines most highly suspect. So to take “churchy” endeavors like preaching and theology and place them under the microscope of analysis seems foolhardy at best! A “new paradigm” for preaching is necessary—and, like Schillebeeckx’s theological ratio, a very “hazardous business.” This “new paradigm” combines the ratio of the theology of preaching with experience of the poor in the twenty-first century, while respecting the Great Mystery that is the Triune God. For, after all, is not theology the “contemplation of the Holy Trinity,” as the Fathers and Mothers would have it? The Holy Trinity desires nothing more than to “self-communicate,” in the words of the great Karl Rahner, with the pueblo deeply loved.13 The auto-communication of God regarding the Holy Preaching must theologically, within the divine mystery, account for the concrete Word-sacrament and its presence within the pueblo, the preaching Church community of the poor; it must be a healthy, non-oppressive, realistic preaching of the cross today; it asks the question “who” and not “how” regarding the Holy Preaching; it contemplates the Holy Trinity by looking at its “icon,” the Church community; it looks for the presence of the Word in the pueblo; and it is, finally, attentive to the Spirit of Mystery. This kind of theology finds itself “in-between.” Its task is two-fold: to avoid the “daunting dualisms” so prevalent in traditional theological ratio, and to “ratify the Real.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer can be called the “theologian of the Real.” What better way to begin a theology of preaching for the twenty-first century, where the priority is the poor preaching Church of the Sacra Praedicatio?

12. Schillebeeckx, The Schillebeeckx Reader, 89–90.

13. Rahner, Foundations of the Christian Faith, 116–37. The word pueblo—not used as such by Rahner—is a Spanish word used extensively in Latin American theology. It is really not translatable, but “poor people” would be a good English equivalent.

Chapter 1

The Real and Discipline in the Holy Preaching

It is absolutely astounding, I believe, that so much has been written in the last fifty years about the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and, yet, so little about his theology of preaching.14 Though preaching is often referred to in works about Bonhoeffer, and there has been fine work done on Bonhoeffer’s theology of the word,15 the fact remains that there is little that deals directly with what the pastor does on every Sunday of the year—preach. More importantly, very few have looked closely at Bonhoeffer’s theology of preaching regarding the presence of Christ in the community—the community as the Holy Preaching. Preaching is important in Bonhoeffer precisely because of the historical context in the Germany of the Nazi era, in which he theologically looks closely at the victim.

The preaching ministry was deeply important to Bonhoeffer. Many sermon texts, like the Fathers and Mothers, form part of his theological corpus. We are also aware that Bonhoeffer moved in his theology from the academic chair to the ambo (it has been suggested that the ambo—the pulpit—is the academic chair of the preacher; Anna Carter Florence says that the preacher is the “resident theologian” of the community),16 and from the ambo to the “world.” There is no Bonhoeffer scholar who would not say that preaching held a central place in the activity of Bonhoeffer the theologian. But the only concerted effort I am aware of dealing directly with Bonhoeffer’s theology and ministry of preaching in the English-speaking world is Clyde E. Fant’s Worldly Preaching. Fant’s book is an exegesis of Bonhoeffer’s theology of preaching and, most especially, a commentary on, and translation of, the Finkenwalde lectures on preaching compiled from student notes. Bonhoeffer scholarship owes a largely unrecognized debt to Dr. Fant.17

My hope is to address the question of Bonhoeffer and the Holy Preaching in the first two chapters of this book—though perhaps in an untraditional way—by looking at a contextual reading of Bonhoeffer’s theology of preaching. I will suggest something Bonhoeffer may not have considered when thinking about “the preacher” and preaching—although it is certainly present in his theology and life. This “implicit theology of preaching,” fostered by 1) his Christological ecclesiology (the phrase is Eberhard Bethge’s) and 2) the centrality of preaching in Bonhoeffer, will be the primary focus here: the Gemeinde-Church community as “preacher,” the capacity of the pueblo to preach. Preaching is a charism of baptism, and ordination builds on baptism; but even in the sacramental traditions, the sacraments have their foundation in baptism and Eucharist.18

As theologians tell us, the Church community is the people of God, the body of Christ, and the creation of the Holy Spirit (Vatican II, Hans Küng). In Latin American theology, the word pueblo is directed toward the community and the poor. How is the pueblo—specifically, the Mexican immigrant Church community in the United States—“the preacher”? How is the pueblo the preaching?

Bonhoeffer scholars have dealt extensively with the Christological ecclesiology that many consider the focal point of his theology. It revolves around what has become a catch phrase in Bonhoeffer studies: the Church is “Christ existing as Church community” (Christus als Gemeinde existierend).19 This phrase, specifically used in Sanctorum Communio, is implicit in all of his later writings—including the Letters and Papers. Bonhoeffer held to this strong identification of Christ and the Church community despite opposition from theological colleagues. The Church community is Gestalt Christi,20 the form of Christ, the Christus praesens (De Lange), Christ existing as community.

Similar to Bonhoeffer’s identification of Christ with the Church community, preaching and the pueblo, in Bonhoeffer’s theology, form an inseparable unity. ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Notandae
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part One: In-Between
• Part Two: Within
• Part Three: Among
• Conclusion: An “Ontonomy” of the Holy Preaching
• References Cited