Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1986

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Steven P. Vitrano

Second Advisor

Robert M. Johnston

Third Advisor

Garth Thompson

Abstract

Problem. There are two basic methods into which all preaching falls, deduction and induction. Homiletical literature advocating either method extols the virtues of the one over the other. However, such literature offers little supportive data based upon listener responses and preferences. An historical survey of preaching reveals that the preaching of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament was dominantly inductive, whereas the preaching of the post-New Testament church has been generally deductive. Therefore, it was the task of this project to seek listener response to deductive and inductive preaching in the Pioneer Memorial Church in order to ascertain listener preference for one or the other of these two sermonic methods.

Methods. Eight sermons, preached in Pioneer Memorial Church during the fall of 1985, intentionally alternated between the deductive and inductive methods. A group of randomly selected listeners reacted to each sermon through a standard evaluative questionnaire. Based upon their responses, listener preference for deductive and inductive preaching was ascertained.

Results. The response of the listeners has conformed to the expectations of some of the homiletical literature. On the other hand, it was discovered that in numerous instances the listeners in Pioneer Memorial Church demonstrated a wide range of responses and preferences that prevents any categorical advocacy of one method over the other. This opportunity to establish a dialogical relationship with certain parishioners of the congregations has resulted in a growing awareness that pastoral preaching must reflect the inherent diversity and differing preferences within the congregation.

Conclusions. The responses of the listeners in this project indicate that the choice of sermonic method alone is not the determinative factor in eliciting a prescribed listener response. While it may be concluded that a slightly greater degree of listeners preferred the inductive method over deduction, it is clear that in fact listeners prefer a combining of deductive and inductive preaching. Any homiletical strategy for the future must incorporate both methods consistently and regularly in order for the Word of God to be effectively communicated in Pioneer Memorial Church.

Subject Area

Preaching

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/208/

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