The tools of the spiritual trade: Strategies of expert and novice sermon writers

Sermons are unique rhetorical and artistic works by disciplined writers, each with a distinctive mindset and array of strategies for the task. These writers' processes and perspectives of the rhetorical situation are the subject of this study. This study explores how these factors differ among expert and novice preachers, and how seminaries might better prepare their students for the challenges of sermon writing, particularly female students preparing for the ministry.; First, eight preachers, including experts and novices, liberals and conservatives, and men and women, were observed as they delivered sermons. Four of these preachers were interviewed regarding their seminary preparation, composing strategies, and attitudes toward their task. Participants also described problems and considerations concerning their audiences, their feelings about why they preach, and the metaphors that best describe their weekly routines. Lloyd Bitzer's model of the rhetorical situation was used to synthesize the views of rhetoricians, theologians and homileticians, and the participants. The sermon's exigence asks, “Why am I in the pulpit and what do I hope to accomplish?” Three “urgencies” seem to compel the sermon: its primary place in Christian history; the authority of the preacher to deliver it; and the preacher's own spiritual and professional needs. For the women respondents, the patriarchal roots of Christianity and their own frustrations in job seeking significantly shape their perceptions of authority. Theorists such as Burke, Ong, and Perelman provide a matrix for discussing the preacher's relationship with the audience: expert pastors seem to internalize a “composite” audience, while novices are distracted by individual personalities and unfamiliarity with other listeners. Finally, the constraints of the sermon include time and distance issues, cultural and personal barriers to understanding, and, for female pastors, gender issues.; As the participants' differences became apparent, some could be attributed to expert-novice distinctions, while others were related to gender, personality, and training. Experienced pastors are more efficient composers, each with a proven weekly routine; novice preachers spend more time searching for topics and illustrations. Experienced pastors trust spiritual inspiration to augment study and rehearsal; novice pastors produce a full, typed manuscript and do not deviate from it. In addition, male preachers seem to rely more on ethical appeals than do female preachers, probably because of patriarchal roles and pastoral authority. The sermon's traditional rhetorical situation served the experienced, male pastors well; however, issues of authority—a woman's very right to speak—make the rhetorical situation vastly different for female clergy. Female pastors' options seem to consist of creating their own voices as women and perhaps antagonizing their audiences or minimizing gender differences to conform to male traditions.