| This dissertation will seek to demonstrate how the concept of regenerate church membership, which distinguishes free churches from both Roman Catholic and many Protestant counterparts, also demands a unique theology of preaching. The Radical Reformation sparked a distinctive preaching tradition, and more specifically a distinctive theology of preaching that the earliest Anabaptists had a critical role in shaping.;Chapter 1 limits the parameters of research as well as defming both the concept of theology of preaching and the Free Church. A brief overview of Anabaptists' contributions to ecclesiology will help establish the basis for researching Anabaptist theology of preaching. This chapter also introduces the primary Anabaptist theologians.;Chapter 2 analyzes the historical context from which the Free Church tradition emerged, primarily in regard to theology of preaching. This chapter will set the stage to distinguish clearly between Catholic, Reformation, and Free Church varieties of preaching. Catholic preaching focused on sanctification and Reformation preaching focused on justification, while the Anabaptists charted a different course.;Chapter 3 articulates the positive vision of a Free Church theology of preaching. Two particular goals found in Free Church preaching, evangelism and ethics (which was typically expressed as following the example of Christ) comprise the overall purpose of preaching for the Anabaptists. This author has chosen to describe this as preaching for discipleship.;Chapter 4 explores the nature of preaching provided by a Free Church theology of preaching. For Anabaptists, their doctrine of Scripture, view of the authority of the preaching, and understanding of preaching in the life of the congregation all aid us in comprehending the nature of preaching in the Free Church.;Chapter 5 details the more practical expressions of a Free Church theology of preaching in an attempt to present to the reader what preaching would have been like in a sixteenth century Anabaptist congregation.;The final chapter provides a brief summary of the arguments drawn in this project, as well as practical implications of the research for contemporary homiletics. |
