Ars Praedicandi: Preaching with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

As anyone who lives within earshot of cable news knows, my city of Baltimore has been particularly troubled in the past few weeks. Because I have the good fortune of not preaching every week, I did not have to address the riots in their immediate aftermath, but had the luxury of a week and a half to think about how and whether to address the issue. You can see the results here.

The great 20th century Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth is often quoted as saying that one should preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (it turns out that he never said this in quite this way, but he said things close to it). Things happen in the world and preachers must respond to them, to cast the light of the Gospel upon them, so as to help their congregations read the signs of the times. But this is a risky business. The risks are several:

  • You can succumb to the instapundit temptation, feeling compelled by events to say something before you’ve had time to adequately reflect on either the Gospel or the events.
  • You can let events set the agenda, ignoring the appointed readings or twisting them to address events that they don’t really address.
  • You can polarize your congregation by preaching that is overly partisan, or at least appears to some to be so.
  • You can preach on a very narrow set of current issues (e.g. abortion or religious freedom or poverty or the death penalty) and annoy those who do not share your hobby horses, while making those who do smug and self-satisfied. Catholic social teaching is broad enough that it should make everyone uncomfortable at some point.
  • You can betray the Gospel by preaching about events in the world in a way that is so bland that no one could ever possibly be offended.

Even in the face of risks such as these, we still need to preach in a way that engages not only the personal lives of our congregations, but the social lives of our cities, states, and nations.

Fritz Bauerschmidt

I am a professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland and a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, assigned to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

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10 responses to “Ars Praedicandi: Preaching with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.”

  1. Joshua Vas

    The link is broken.

    Reply
    1. Fritz Bauerschmidt Avatar
      Fritz Bauerschmidt

      Now fixed.

      Reply
  2. Austin Fleming

    As excellent as your homily is, I’m even more grateful for your notes on the risky business of preaching on current events. This should be required reading in every homiletics course – and for bloggers of faith everywhere.

    Reply
    1. Fran Rossi Szpylczyn

      I was just thinking the same thing that Austin Fleming said in his comment. The temptation is so strong to respond before any wisdom has set in.

      Thank you for this Fritz!

      Reply
  3. Peter Rehwaldt

    Well said, Fritz.

    The risks of ignoring the newspaper are also worth mentioning:

    Letting the lectionary drive a sermon apart from what’s happening outside the doors of the sanctuary encourages a mindset that says “the Bible doesn’t connect with the real world.

    If homily after homily fails to connect with people’s everyday lives and the events thereof, this will inevitably lead to a lack of connection between the people and the priest. “He just doesn’t get it” will be a familiar refrain in such a parish.

    When people repeatedly fail to connect with the homily, they will — not might, but will — look for another source of wisdom to help them make sense of their world and their lives. At best, they will seek something to help supplement what is lacking from their parish priest (a Bible study group or another parish that does try to make these connections, for instance). At worst they will reject the church entirely and seek something else to help them in their confusion.

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  4. Rita Ferrone Avatar
    Rita Ferrone

    Princeton Theological Seminary has a blog post about this quote, and here is their conclusion:

    “Perhaps the most clear statement on the record from Barth concerning these matters comes from a Time Magazine piece on Barth published on Friday, May 31, 1963.

    “[Barth] recalls that 40 years ago he advised young theologians ‘to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.’”

    I think the quote has been handed down to suggest these two sources, Bible and newspaper, mutually inform one another and not, as Barth would have it, that the Bible must be the lens through which we interpret the newspaper.

    Thus Liberal theology snatches the ball from Neo-orthodoxy.

    Of course, on the other hand, it could be argued that Barth was deliberately recontextualizing an idea that would already be dear to Liberal Protestants and it’s an irony of history that people quote Barth on this, but subvert his intention.

    I don’t think this changes the list of risks that Fritz lists above.

    The best thing I’ve read on the subject Fritz is raising is Walter Burkhardt’s “Preaching the Just Word” in Liturgy and Social Justice, edited by Mark Searle. There’s another point Burkhardt raises that should be named here: the obligation to share with the congregation your own passion for justice. If they “never know” you’ve cheated them.

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  5. Karl Liam Saur

    The thing is that the news cycle is often quite independent of what people in a given time and place are experiencing directly themselves – indeed, its funtion in our culture is much less to inform and much more and entertain or divert or, worse, stir pressure points in our character to make us buy something. (I particularly love the canonical role of health-related news items in the morning that stroke people’s anxieties about their weight – accompanied by ads for breakfast foods that, when eaten, will temporarily salve anxiety. The pattern, however, is much deeper and broader than that.)

    Reply
  6. Ed Nash

    Fritz:

    Posted article great.

    Homily awesome, really awesome. I need to think about it.

    Reply
  7. Paul Inwood

    As I read the excellent homily, my mind went inexorably to

    Jesus Christ is waiting
    Tune: Noel Nouvelet
    Metre: 11 11 10 11

    Jesus Christ is waiting,
    Waiting in the streets;
    No one is his neighbour,
    All alone he eats.
    Listen, Lord Jesus,
    I am lonely too.
    Make me, friend or stranger,
    Fit to wait on you

    Jesus Christ is raging,
    Raging in the streets,
    Where injustice spirals
    And real hope retreats.
    Listen, Lord Jesus,
    I am angry too.
    In the Kingdom’s causes
    Let me rage with you.

    Jesus Christ is healing,
    Healing in the streets;
    Curing those who suffer,
    Touching those he greets.
    Listen, Lord Jesus,
    I have pity too.
    Let my care be active,
    Healing just like you.

    Jesus Christ is dancing,
    Dancing in the streets,
    Where each sign of hatred
    He, with love, defeats.
    Listen, Lord Jesus,
    I should triumph too.
    On suspicion’s graveyard
    Let me dance with you.

    Jesus Christ is calling,
    Calling in the streets,
    ”Who will join my journey?
    I will guide their feet.”
    Listen, Lord Jesus,
    Let my fears be few.
    Walk one step before me;
    I will follow you.

    ©1988 WGRG, Iona Community, Govan, Glasgow G51 3UU, Scotland

    — especially verse 2.

    Reply
  8. Scott Pluff

    I’ll never forget the homily that I heard on the Sunday following 9/11. I have surely forgotten whatever was said, but I distinctly remember the priest didn’t even mention the catastrophic events of the week prior. He just continued on as if nothing had happened. There may have been a small mention in the prayers of the faithful but nothing more.

    Reply

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