Courses

“Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards metanarratives” (Jean-François Lyotard). Preaching Christ to hearers who are instinctively dismissive of universal truth claims yet open to spiritual experience is no small challenge. Nonetheless, after discussing post-Christendom culture as an extension of the postmodern ethos and assessing recent homiletical responses, we will endeavour to construct a workable model for contemporary proclamation that emphasizes narrative, community, Christology, and spirituality. Please note that this course assumes at least basic familiarity with sermon preparation.

Knowing

• To gain a basic familiarity with the characteristics of modernism, postmodernism, post-Christendom culture, and related developments.
• To assess the relevance of these concepts for proclamation of the Christian gospel.
• To explore models of communication appropriate to each of the foregoing perspectives.

Being

• To explore and experience the implications of modernist and postmodern models of personal, social, and corporate identity.
• To help students clarify the relationship between their own spirituality identity and contemporary cultural contexts.
• To develop and function corporately as a community of learning.

Doing

• To gain proficiency, as appropriate, in Scriptural exegesis for postmodern and subsequent cultural circumstances.
• To develop skills in the presentation and delivery of sermons.